The United States is closing its visa services in Durban; South Africans who require a visa to visit the United States will need to travel to Cape Town or Johannesburg to apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US Department of State announced that it is realigning visa operations in Africa, transitioning to regional hubs as part of a long-standing initiative to enhance national security. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This approach seeks to ensure consistent standards in screening, vetting, and adjudication processes, as well as to improve operational efficiency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US Embassy said that the implementation of visa services at designated hubs has already yielded positive outcomes in various African countries and in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Embassy announced that the recent changes to routine visa processing do not affect the operational status of any embassies or consulates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They also said that the changes do not diminish the work these institutions continue to do for the American public. All routine visa services remain available, including both nonimmigrant and immigrant visas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This encompasses tourist and business-related nonimmigrant visas, as well as petition-based nonimmigrant visas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The immigrant visa services that are being realigned include immediate relative (IR), family preference (FP), and employment-based (EB) categories, as well as fianc\u00e9e\/fianc\u00e9 (K) visas, adoption cases, Diversity Visas, and follow-to-join asylee and refugee (V92\/V93) cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Applicants can complete their medical exam either in their home country, if a panel physician is available there, or at their designated processing hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Effective August 1, 2026, routine visa services at the following locations will be consolidated into a regional visa hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Citizens and residents of the specified countries planning to apply for a visa on or after August 1, 2026, must schedule an appointment and pay the required visa fee at the designated Nonimmigrant or Immigrant Visa locations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, visa suspensions established by Presidential Proclamation 10998, visa bond requirements, and temporary pauses on immigrant visas for certain nationalities will continue to be enforced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPresident Trump is putting America and Americans first by strengthening national security, cutting government waste, and ensuring government works in the interests of the American people,\u201d the US Embassy in South Africa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department of State said that it is continually evaluating its overseas operations to advance America\u2019s priorities as efficiently and effectively as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Embassy said that this includes a visa process that maintains high standards of security screening and vetting and aligns resources and operational capacity with America\u2019s national interests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Trump Administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans, and the State Department will continue to provide Americans with appropriate consular services and assistance at diplomatic posts around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The United States is closing its visa services in one of South Africa’s main provinces. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":867742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2082051194491404472","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[25947,25510],"class_list":["post-867737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-united-states-department-of-state","tag-united-states-embassy-and-consulates-in-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867737"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867754,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867737\/revisions\/867754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}City<\/strong><\/td> Country<\/strong><\/td> Region<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> Abuja<\/strong><\/td> Nigeria<\/td> West Africa<\/td><\/tr> Antananarivo<\/strong><\/td> Madagascar<\/td> East Africa \/ Indian Ocean<\/td><\/tr> Asmara<\/strong><\/td> Eritrea<\/td> East Africa<\/td><\/tr> Bamako<\/strong><\/td> Mali<\/td> West Africa<\/td><\/tr> Banjul<\/strong><\/td> The Gambia<\/td> West Africa<\/td><\/tr> Brazzaville<\/strong><\/td> Republic of the Congo<\/td> Central Africa<\/td><\/tr> Bujumbura<\/strong><\/td> Burundi<\/td> East Africa<\/td><\/tr> Conakry<\/strong><\/td> Guinea<\/td> West Africa<\/td><\/tr> Cotonou<\/strong><\/td> Benin<\/td> West Africa<\/td><\/tr> Durban<\/mark><\/strong><\/td> South Africa<\/mark><\/td> Southern Africa<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> Freetown<\/strong><\/td> Sierra Leone<\/td> West Africa<\/td><\/tr> Gaborone<\/strong><\/td> Botswana<\/td> Southern Africa<\/td><\/tr> Harare<\/strong><\/td> Zimbabwe<\/td> Southern Africa<\/td><\/tr> Juba<\/strong><\/td> South Sudan<\/td> East Africa<\/td><\/tr> Libreville<\/strong><\/td> Gabon<\/td> Central Africa<\/td><\/tr> Lilongwe<\/strong><\/td> Malawi<\/td> Southeast Africa<\/td><\/tr> Lusaka<\/strong><\/td> Zambia<\/td> Southern Africa<\/td><\/tr> Maputo<\/strong><\/td> Mozambique<\/td> Southeast Africa<\/td><\/tr> Maseru<\/strong><\/td> Lesotho<\/td> Southern Africa<\/td><\/tr> Mbabane<\/strong><\/td> Eswatini<\/td> Southern Africa<\/td><\/tr> N\u2019Djamena<\/strong><\/td> Chad<\/td> Central Africa<\/td><\/tr> Niamey<\/strong><\/td> Niger<\/td> West Africa<\/td><\/tr> Nouakchott<\/strong><\/td> Mauritania<\/td> West Africa<\/td><\/tr> Ouagadougou<\/strong><\/td> Burkina Faso<\/td> West Africa<\/td><\/tr> Windhoek<\/strong><\/td> Namibia<\/td> Southern Africa<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n