United States Embassy in Sana'a

U.S. Embassy Sana'a has been suspended since February 2015. The chancery on Sheraton Hotel Road remains the post's address of record on the State Department's published post list, but no in-country visa, passport or routine consular services are available, and the post is not staffed. The State Department operates a Yemen Affairs Unit and routes Yemen-related diplomatic business through other regional posts. For Yemeni visa applicants and U.S. citizens with Yemen-related consular needs, the practical routing has changed completely and the work happens at U.S. embassies elsewhere in the region. For Yemeni immigrant visa applicants — family-based IR/CR for spouses and children of U.S. citizens, F-class family preference, employment-based EB categories, K1 fiancé(e) cases and Diversity Visa lottery selectees — the State Department's designated alternate post is U.S. Embassy Djibouti. Yemeni IV applicants travel from Yemen to Djibouti for the interview when conditions allow; case files have been transferred from Sana'a-era dockets and the active IV pipeline now runs through Djibouti. For Yemeni nonimmigrant visa applicants — visitor (B-1/B-2), student (F-1), exchange (J-1) and petition-based work (H-1B/L-1/O-1) — the State Department has designated U.S. Embassy Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the standard processing post. Yemeni applicants who are physically present and lawfully resident in another country (Egypt, Djibouti, Jordan, Oman, Malaysia, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and others, depending on residence permit and visa rules) may also apply at any U.S. embassy or consulate that accepts third-country-national applications, with case acceptance and appointment availability varying by post. For U.S. citizens with Yemen-related consular needs — passport renewal or replacement, Consular Reports of Birth Abroad, notarial services, federal-benefits documentation, federal voting under UOCAVA and emergency assistance — the State Department has designated U.S. Embassies Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Djibouti (Djibouti) and Cairo (Egypt) as the designated alternate posts handling American Citizen Services for Yemen. Each of those posts maintains its own ACS contact procedures; U.S. citizens currently in Yemen should consult the State Department's most recent Yemen guidance and maintain Smart Traveler Enrollment Program registration so the regional posts can reach them with security alerts. The U.S. government's ability to provide in-country emergency assistance to U.S. citizens physically present in Yemen is constrained. The Yemeni-American diaspora — historically concentrated in the Detroit-Dearborn metropolitan area in Michigan (one of the largest Yemeni-American communities in the United States), the New York City region (with Brooklyn and the wider tri-state area as the secondary anchor), and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area — drives the family-route IV pipeline now processed through Djibouti. The historical chancery on Sheraton Hotel Road remains the post's address of record but is not operational.

American Citizen Services for U.S. citizens in or with ties to Yemen are handled by three designated alternate posts — U.S. Embassy Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), U.S. Embassy Djibouti (Djibouti) and U.S. Embassy Cairo (Egypt) — depending on the case and the geographic accessibility for the U.S. citizen. Each post maintains its own ACS contact procedures, published phone numbers and email inboxes for ACS work. Routine ACS services covered by these alternate posts include passport renewals and replacements, Consular Reports of Birth Abroad for U.S.-citizen children, notarial services, Social Security and Veterans Affairs documentation, federal voting under UOCAVA, and emergency assistance. The State Department's Overseas Citizens Services line is the after-hours channel for emergencies involving U.S. citizens in Yemen. STEP enrollment is the recommended way for any U.S. citizen with current Yemen presence to be reachable by Overseas Citizens Services and the regional posts.

No appointments are available at the historical Sana'a chancery. Yemeni immigrant visa applicants schedule their interviews at U.S. Embassy Djibouti through the procedures published by Djibouti; Yemeni nonimmigrant visa applicants schedule at U.S. Embassy Riyadh through Riyadh's procedures. ACS appointments are scheduled through the designated alternate post (Riyadh, Djibouti or Cairo) using that post's published procedures. Electronic devices are not permitted inside U.S. consular sections at any of the alternate posts; applicants should follow each post's published access guidance and bring printed appointment confirmations. ACS emergency cases reach the duty officer at the designated alternate post; the State Department's Overseas Citizens Services line covers after-hours emergencies.