The US State Department plans to reduce the number of US embassies and consulates in Africa that process visas.
According to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press, the nearly 50 embassies and consulates currently processing visa applications will be reduced to 20 “hubs” in the coming weeks.
Consular sections outside the 20 hubs will remain open but offer limited services. If implemented, the proposal could require some travellers in South Africa's neighbouring countries to travel to one of the designated hubs for certain visa services. However, the memo does not specify which services would remain available at embassies outside the hub network.
According to the memo, the 20 hubs to remain open for all processing are: Cape Town and Johannesburg (South Africa), Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Accra (Ghana), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Dakar (Senegal), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Djibouti, Kampala (Uganda), Kigali (Rwanda), Kinshasa (DRC), Lagos (Nigeria), Lomé (Togo), Luanda (Angola), Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), Monrovia (Liberia), Nairobi (Kenya), Port Louis (Mauritius), Praia (Cape Verde) and Yaoundé (Cameroon).
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