The U.S. Embassy in South Africa has warned prospective applicants that the refugee program has strict eligibility rules and that some cases will be closed without an appeal. The warning comes as the administration prioritizes Afrikaner admissions under its current refugee policy.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said that not everyone seeking admission will qualify. Officials review cases individually, and people deemed ineligible for continued processing should not contact the embassy or referral partners for more information.
The embassy’s guidance says those partners cannot reverse an ineligibility finding. “There is no appeal process for these findings.”
The notice also warns applicants not to pay for assistance. Referral, application and related services are free, and officials caution against anyone promising faster processing or guaranteed approval.
Applicants must meet five conditions before seeking a referral
The government’s eligibility guidance says the process is for South African nationals who are Afrikaners or members of a racial minority in South Africa. Applicants must describe a personal experience of past persecution, or a fear of future persecution, connected to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.
They must be 18 years old or referred with a parent, as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act. They also must live in South Africa. The program does not anticipate processing South African nationals who are outside the country.
Applicants who satisfy those conditions and have not been contacted by a referral partner should submit the online USRAP Intake Questionnaire. People who previously filed a Statement of Interest through an earlier link still need to submit the questionnaire if a partner has not contacted them.
Meeting the criteria does not secure a referral. The government weighs eligibility, the persecution claim and background-check results when deciding who may proceed. Applicants are to be notified whether they receive a referral.
Referral partners screen submissions, but the government decides access
The Department of State uses RSC Africa, operated by Church World Service, and Amerikaners as referral partners. They support processing and can contact applicants if they need additional information. Neither organization is connected to the South African government.
The government retains authority over access to the program. The embassy says applicants may wait an extended period after submitting their questionnaire, and not everyone will be referred for further consideration.
There is no fee to complete the questionnaire or receive referral services. The guidance specifically warns against paying anyone who claims to expedite a case or guarantee approval.
The FY2027 ceiling prioritizes Afrikaner admissions
President Donald Trump signed Presidential Determination No. 2026–24 on September 25, 2026. Published on October 1, 2026, the determination authorizes the admission of up to 17,500 refugees in fiscal year 2027, with admissions allocated primarily among Afrikaners from South Africa under Executive Order 14204.
The determination also ties admissions to other administration directives. Executive Order 14161 calls for stringent identity checks; Executive Order 14163 suspends refugee entry unless the secretaries of State and Homeland Security jointly find admission serves the national interest. Executive Order 14204 covers Afrikaner resettlement, while Proclamation 10998 restricts entry by certain foreign nationals.
The prior fiscal year’s determination set a ceiling of up to 7,500 refugees, primarily Afrikaners and other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their home countries. Separately, an emergency FY2026 determination authorized up to 10,000 additional white South African admissions, beyond that earlier ceiling.
About 6,500 Afrikaners entered between October 2025 and April 2026. In May, Trump announced plans to resettle 10,000 more that year.
An ad proposal and court challenge expose the policy dispute
An internal State Department proposal set out a $335,000 research and advertising effort to address lower-than-expected application numbers in South Africa. The proposal said officials had little research on why Afrikaners were not seeking referral. A State Department spokesperson said the government continued to process and admit Afrikaners escaping what it described as government-sponsored race-based discrimination.
South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola rejected claims of racial genocide, saying “there is no evidence” to support them.
The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) criticized the FY2027 determination, saying it continues to direct admissions primarily toward white South Africans while excluding other vulnerable refugees. Rricha deCant, IRAP’s senior director of policy and climate, said the 17,500 target fails to meet global displacement needs and leaves people who have waited years for resettlement shut out.
IRAP President Sharif Aly made a similar argument after the May increase, pointing to more than 120,000 conditionally approved refugees in the U.S. processing pipeline. He said expanding admissions for Afrikaners while excluding other refugees undermines the program and leaves families and religious minorities waiting.
On April 7, 2026, IRAP moved to amend a class action lawsuit challenging the administration’s approach. The amended complaint, filed in the Western District of Washington, added five plaintiffs. IRAP represents Church World Service, HIAS and Lutheran Community Services Northwest, as well as individuals representing a class of affected refugees.
The complaint alleges the government granted exceptions to the refugee ban to more than 3,000 white Afrikaners while refusing exceptions for other refugees. It also challenges applying a travel ban to refugees despite an express refugee exception, and says the FY2026 determination limited admissions to white Afrikaners and non-Black South African minorities.
Mevlüde Akay Alp, an IRAP senior litigation attorney, said the program had become “a discriminatory entity serving a 95% white population” and accused the government of using exceptions to create a separate admissions track.
Susan Fratzke, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, told FairPlanet that the Afrikaner admissions depart from the program’s traditional humanitarian and foreign-policy rationales. The United States admitted over 105,000 of the 188,000 refugees resettled worldwide in 2024.
