The United States State Department plans to reduce the number of embassies and consulates in Africa authorized to process visas from nearly 50 to 20, a move that would end visa processing at the Abuja mission and require Nigerian applicants in the capital to travel to Lagos for visa appointments.

According to a report by the Associated Press citing three US officials and an internal memo, the 20 hubs designated to remain open for full visa processing include Lagos but not Abuja, meaning any Nigerian outside Lagos who needed a US visa would have to travel to the commercial capital. The change was expected in June, though no specific date had been set.

Under a directive approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, consular sections in countries without a designated hub would remain open but only for limited services including passport renewals for American citizens, emergency consular assistance, special national interest cases, and diplomatic visa applications. They would not be able to process visa applications for nationals seeking to travel to the United States.

Other designated African hubs include Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Dakar, Dar-es-Salaam, Djibouti, Johannesburg, Kampala, Kigali, Kinshasa, Lome, Luanda, Malabo, Monrovia, Nairobi, Port Louis, Praia, and Yaounde.

The reduction was described as part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to limit immigration to the United States and clamp down on individuals who travelled on temporary visas and overstayed. Visa processing in Africa had already been affected by country-specific travel bans, a requirement for applicants to post bonds of up to 15,000 dollars, and restrictions linked to the Ebola outbreak.