Ghana Exempted As US Moves Visa Processing Services for 25 African Countries to Regional Hubs

• The US State Department announced it will realign visa services for several African nations to regional processing hubs
• Applicants from affected countries will travel to hub locations in neighbouring countries to attend their visa interviews
• The move aims to reduce appointment wait times and expand access to US visa services across the continent

The United States government has announced a significant restructuring of its visa service delivery across Africa, shifting consular operations for several countries to designated regional processing hubs.

In a press release on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, the US State Department confirmed the realignment set to take immediate effect on August 1, stating that applicants from the affected nations will no longer attend visa interviews at a US embassy in their home country.

Instead, they will be directed to attend appointments at hub locations in neighbouring countries, where the US maintains fuller consular capacity.

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Which African countries' visa services are affected?

According to an Envoy Global report, the countries impacted by the change span several sub-regions of Africa.

However, Ghana and a few countries have been exempted from the new changes.

The US State Department indicated that the realignment is designed to address longstanding backlogs and reduce the time applicants wait for interview slots, which have in some cases stretched into years.

Officials framed the move as an effort to make American visa services more accessible and efficient, rather than a reduction in services.

The regional hub model means that consular staff can be concentrated in key locations, processing higher volumes of applications than smaller missions are currently equipped to handle.

The list of African countries and visa processing hubs affected by the US government's realignment move is below:

1. Antananarivo (Madagascar)
2. Abuja (Nigeria)
3. Asmara (Eritrea)
4. Bamako (Mali)
5. Banjul (Gambia)
6. Brazzaville (Congo)
7. Bujumbura (Burundi)
8. Conakry (Guinea)
9. Cotonou (Benin)
10. Durban (South Africa)
11. Freetown (Sierra Leone)
12. Gaborone (Botswana)
13. Harare (Zimbabwe)
14. Juba (South Sudan)
15. Libreville (Gabon)
16. Lilongwe (Malawi)
17. Lusaka (Zambia)
18. Maputo (Mozambique)
19. Maseru (Lesotho)
20. Mbabane (Swaziland)
21. N’Djamena (Chad)
22. Niamey (Niger)
23. Nouakchott (Mauritania)
24. Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
25. Windhoek (Namibia)

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Which African countries are regional visa hubs?

1. Abidjan (Ivory Coast)
2. Accra (Ghana)
3. Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
4. Cape Town (South Africa)
5. Dakar (Senegal)
6. Dar-Es-Salaam (Tanzania)
7. Djibouti (Djibouti)
8. Johannesburg (South Africa)
9. Kampala (Uganda)
10. Kigali (Rwanda)
11. Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo)
12. Lagos (Nigeria)
13. Lome (Togo)
14. Luanda (Angola)
15. Malabo (Equatorial Guinea)
16. Monrovia (Liberia)
17. Nairobi (Kenya)
18. Port Louis (Mauritius)
19. Praia (Cape Verde)
20. Yaoundé (Cameroon)

How will US visa services realignment work?

Under the new arrangement, applicants from the affected countries will be required to travel to a hub city to complete their in-person interview.

The US State Department said it would work to ensure applicants receive clear guidance on where to present themselves and how to schedule their appointments under the revised system.

The department acknowledged that travelling to another country for a visa interview adds a layer of complexity for some applicants, particularly those in landlocked nations or areas with limited transport links.

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However, officials maintained that the overall benefit of faster processing times would outweigh those challenges for most people.

The realignment forms part of a broader US effort to modernise its consular network globally, with Africa emerging as a key focus given the sharp growth in visa demand across the continent in recent years.

US introduces rules limiting student visa stay

Earlier, YEN.com.gh detailed Trump's decision on US student visa stays with respect to international students, limiting most stays at four years and reducing the post-graduation grace period.

Critics argue that this move undermines the very essence of the American dream, raising fears that talented foreign students may now look elsewhere for their educational aspirations.

Source: YEN.com.gh