Overview
- The shift comes from an internal State Department directive approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that will reduce nearly 50 visa-capable embassies and consulates in Africa to 20 designated processing hubs, with the transition expected to begin in June.
- The memo names the 20 cities that will retain full processing, including Nairobi, Lagos, Accra, Addis Ababa and Johannesburg, and lists the other hub posts by country.
- Posts that lose full processing will remain open for passport help, emergency consular support, diplomatic visas and special national-interest cases but will no longer handle routine immigrant and non‑immigrant visa interviews.
- Applicants in countries without a hub will likely need to travel to a designated city to apply, which will raise travel costs, add logistical hurdles and could increase wait times for interviews and security screening.
- Officials say the change is meant to improve security screening and align resources with priorities, critics call it politically charged and possibly discriminatory, and news outlets have framed the plan differently while the State Department says it routinely reviews overseas operations.