Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visa application centres have (a) opened and (b) permanently closed in African countries since January 2019.

Since 2019, one UK Visa Application Centre (VAC) has opened in Africa, in Khartoum, Sudan. No VAC has permanently closed in Africa between January 2019 to present.

VACs in Abuja, Lagos, Accra and Nairobi are currently open and fully operational with a five-day service. There are no Visa Decision Making centres in those locations, the only Visa Decision Making Centre in Africa is in Pretoria.

VACs overseas are operated by VFS or TLS on behalf of UKVI. Document Scanning Assistance is available in all VACs operated by TLS and 125 of the 131 VACs operated by VFS.