Nairobi retains U.S. visa processing as new Africa Hub designate

Kenyans seeking to travel to the United States have received a major boost after Nairobi retained its status as one of Africa’s designated regional visa processing hubs under a new system that officially takes effect on Saturday, August 1.

The changes are part of a major restructuring by the U.S. Department of State, which has shifted routine visa processing from several American embassies and consulates across Africa to selected regional hubs in a move aimed at improving efficiency and strengthening security screening.

Under the new arrangement, the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi will continue offering both immigrant and non-immigrant visa services, making Kenya one of only a select number of countries chosen to handle applications from across the continent.

Other regional visa hubs include U.S. missions in Accra, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Johannesburg, Kampala, Kigali, Kinshasa, Lagos, Lomé, Luanda, Malabo, Monrovia, Port Louis, Praia, Yaoundé and Abidjan.

The new system means that routine visa services have now been discontinued in more than 20 U.S. diplomatic missions across Africa, with applicants from those countries required to travel to designated regional hubs to complete their visa applications.

Among the affected missions are embassies and consulates in Abuja, Antananarivo, Asmara, Bamako, Banjul, Brazzaville, Bujumbura, Conakry, Cotonou, Durban, Freetown, Gaborone, Harare, Juba, Libreville, Lilongwe, Lusaka, Maputo, Maseru, Mbabane, N’Djamena, Niamey, Nouakchott, Ouagadougou and Windhoek.

In an update issued on Friday, the U.S. Department of State confirmed that the changes had now taken effect.

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The State Department cited the need to promote more uniform screening, vetting and adjudication standards while aligning visa operations with shifting U.S. immigration policy priorities.

“The U.S. Department of State is realigning visa operations in Africa to regional hubs as part of a long-standing practice that strengthens national security by promoting more uniform screening, vetting, and adjudication standards, as well as improving efficiency and adjusting to shifting U.S. immigration policy priorities and objectives,” the department said.

The State Department also confirmed that effective August 1, several U.S. embassies and consulates in Africa would no longer offer routine visa services, directing applicants to their designated regional processing centres instead.

For instance, the U.S. Embassy in Abuja will stop offering routine visa services, with Nigerian applicants now required to schedule appointments and pay visa fees through the U.S. Consulate in Lagos, which becomes the country’s designated processing location.

Despite the overhaul, the U.S. clarified that the changes do not affect the validity of visas that have already been issued and that embassies where routine visa processing has been discontinued will continue providing American Citizen Services and other diplomatic functions.

The visa restructuring was first announced on July 15 as part of President Donald Trump’s wider agenda of strengthening national security, cutting government expenditure and streamlining overseas diplomatic operations.

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