The United States has announced a new visa restriction policy targeting foreign nationals whom Washington says are responsible for or complicit in policies involving uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination or the incitement of imminent violence against minority racial or ethnic groups in South Africa.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the policy on September 15, which allows the Secretary of State to make a foreign national inadmissible when their entry into the US could have potentially serious adverse foreign-policy consequences.
The State Department said certain family members could also be covered by the restrictions.
The new policy does not name specific individuals. Instead, it targets foreign nationals who Washington determines are responsible for, or complicit in, the enactment or implementation of laws or policies that meet the criteria outlined by the State Department. It also called for steps to prioritize humanitarian relief and resettlement for Afrikaners facing what the order described as racial discrimination. The new restrictions come amid growing tensions between Washington and Pretoria over land reform, racial policy and other foreign-policy disagreements.
The announcement follows President Donald Trump ‘s February 2025 executive order on South Africa. That order accused the country’s government of discriminatory policies and cited the Expropriation Act 13 of 2024, while directing US agencies to halt aid to South Africa, subject to certain exceptions.
Rubio said the South African government had not adequately addressed concerns previously raised by the Trump administration and urged Pretoria to take action.
South Africa has rejected allegations that white South Africans are being subjected to systematic discrimination or persecution. President Cyril Ramaphosa has also called for efforts to counter what he described as false claims of white persecution.
Pretoria has said there is no evidence of such persecution and has argued that ideas of white racial superiority threaten the country’s post-apartheid unity and sovereignty, according to Reuters.
