The United States Embassy in Abuja has officially stopped processing routine visa applications, with applicants now required to use the US Consulate General in Lagos for routine visa services.
The US Embassy announced the development in a reminder shared on its official X account, noting that the new arrangement took effect on August 1, 2026.
According to the embassy, routine visa applications will no longer be processed at its Abuja office.“Routine visa services are only available at the Consulate General in Lagos.
Effective August 1, 2026, U.S. Embassy Abuja no longer processes routine visa applications,” the mission stated.
However, the embassy assured applicants who already have scheduled visa appointments in Abuja that their appointments would still be honoured, although some dates may have been changed.
“All applicants who already have scheduled appointments will be honoured; however, those dates may have been rescheduled. Those with appointments in Abuja should check their email for their new appointment date,” the embassy said.
The mission also clarified that applicants with unused and valid Machine Readable Visa, MRV, application fee receipts can use them to schedule fresh appointments at the US Consulate General in Lagos.
“Applicants holding an unused and still-valid MRV fee receipt may use it to schedule a new appointment at the U.S. Consulate Lagos,” the statement added.
Lagos Becomes Nigeria’s US Visa Processing HubThe development is part of a broader decision by the US Department of State to realign routine visa operations across Africa by concentrating services in designated regional hubs.
Under the new arrangement, Lagos has been designated as Nigeria’s regional hub for routine US visa processing.Other designated visa processing centres across Africa include Accra, Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Dakar, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Yaoundé.
The US Department of State said the restructuring was designed to strengthen national security by ensuring more uniform screening, vetting and visa adjudication procedures while improving operational efficiency.
The US government had earlier clarified that the new visa processing arrangement does not mean the closure of the US Embassy in Abuja.The realignment affects both routine non-immigrant and immigrant visa services, including tourist and business visas, family-based visas, employment-based immigrant visas and other petition-related visa categories.
The latest development means Nigerians seeking routine US visa services will now have to make arrangements to attend appointments at the US Consulate General in Lagos, except for applicants with existing appointments that may still be processed under the transition arrangement.
