As the US government plunges into shutdown chaos in Washington, ripples of concern are growing thousands of kilometres away in Nairobi, where the American Embassy has issued a public advisory warning of limited operations.

In a statement posted to its official X account on Wednesday, the embassy warned of service disruptions due to the US government’s lapse in legal authority to spend money.

“Due to the lapse in appropriations, this X account will not be updated regularly until full operations resume, with the exception of urgent safety and security information,” the embassy said.

“Scheduled passport and visa transit services… will continue during the lapse in appropriations as the situation permits,” the embassy added.

The shutdown began on Wednesday midnight after the US Senate failed to pass a stopgap funding bill, with deep divisions between Republicans and Democrats over healthcare and federal programme cuts.

With no immediate resolution in sight, 750,000 federal workers face furlough, and the US economy could lose $400 million a day.

Although visa and passport activities are theoretically fee-supported and can presumably continue, embassies worldwide end up having indirect impacts, ranging from staff restraint to clogged document processing in prolonged shutdowns.

The Nairobi US Embassy has been one of the busiest in the continent for visa applications, especially by students, businesspeople and families. Without real-time information, most of them will be forced to seek answers from travel agencies and internet forums.