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South African immigrants

South African immigrants have historically represented a small portion of the overall immigrant population in the United States, with early arrivals dating back to the 1860s. Significant immigration began to increase in the 1960s, primarily among White South Africans escaping the oppressive apartheid regime. The end of national origin quotas in the US in 1965 further facilitated this influx, leading to an average of 1,000 South Africans immigrating annually by the 1970s, predominantly White. Following the end of apartheid in the early 1990s, which led to a dramatic political shift towards a more inclusive government, emigration continued as many sought better opportunities abroad amid rising crime and unemployment in South Africa.

In contemporary times, South African immigrants are concentrated in major US cities, where their English proficiency has aided their assimilation. A significant number are young professionals, contributing to the so-called "brain drain" as their skills and education leave the country. Moreover, South Africa has simultaneously become a destination for many migrants from other African nations, leading to complex discussions around immigration and resource allocation. As South Africa faces ongoing political and economic challenges, the emigration rate remains high, making it a relevant topic of interest for understanding broader immigration trends and sentiments.

Full Article

SIGNIFICANCE: Although South Africans have accounted for a relatively small part of the immigrants to the United States, white South Africans began immigrating in increasing numbers after the early 1960s, as their homeland’s apartheid policies raised political and social tensions. 

The first South Africans known to immigrate to the United States arrived during the 1860s. Their numbers were small, and few of their countrymen followed them to the United States until the 1930s. The national origins quotas of the US Immigration Act of 1924 limited South Africa to only 100 immigrants per year, and South Africans rarely filled their quota. Between 1924 and 1950, an average of only 61 South Africans immigrated to the United States each year. As late as 1960, only about 5,300 people of South African origin were living in the United States; by the mid-2020s, that population had grown substantially. The US Census estimated there were more than 140,000 US residents born in South Africa, alongside a larger second-generation population.

Apartheid and Immigration

After a half-century of independence as the Union of South Africa, South Africa became a republic in 1961 and left the British Commonwealth. By this time, South Africa had become a pariah within the world community of nations because of its rigid system of government-supported segregation known as apartheid. Under that system, virtually all political power was in the hands of the approximately 20 percent of the country’s population who were White. Asians and mixed-race “Coloureds” enjoyed some political rights, while the nation’s large Black African majority had almost no power. 

After South Africa began instituting its apartheid laws in 1948, immigration from that country began increasing. Some immigrants were non-White refugees leaving to escape the repressive segregation laws; others were White opponents of the new system. 

The US Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 overturned the four-decade-old system of national origin quotas and allowed many more non-European immigrants entry into the United States. The number of South Africans admitted to the United States then increased to an average of 1,000 per year. The vast majority of these new immigrants were White, and they constituted 95 percent of the South Africans living in the United States in 1970. 

In one of the most remarkable peaceful political transformations in world history, the South African government abandoned apartheid during the early 1990s and extended full civil and political rights to all its citizens, regardless of race or ethnicity. Under a new nonracial constitution, South Africans elected a new government in 1994. Nelson Mandela—who had long been a political prisoner—became the country’s first non-White president, and the African National Congress—which had long been banned as a subversive political organization—became the majority party in the country’s parliament. 

With the abolition of apartheid and the arrival of what was, in effect, black-majority rule, many people feared that South Africa would follow the example of its neighbor Zimbabwe and experience a mass exodus of White people. Since that time, numerous White South Africans have emigrated, but their numbers have not been as high as many predicted. 

Political and social changes have not been the only factors driving South African emigration. Since the 1990s, the country has been afflicted by rising crime and unemployment rates. Violent crimes remained a particular problem into the twenty-first century. Reported murder rates have remained among the highest in the world, with some periods in the 2020s registering the equivalent of dozens of homicides per day, according to national crime statistics. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate has steadily risen during the twenty-first century, reaching more than 33.56 percent in 2021, according to the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. South Africa’s official unemployment rate remained consistently above 30 percent in the mid-2020s, with broader measures that included discouraged workers exceeding 40 percent.

South Africans in the United States

During the early twenty-first century, South African immigrants could be found living in major cities throughout the United States, most notably in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, DC. As the vast majority speak English, they have tended to assimilate quickly. 

Thousands of young professionals, including many doctors, teachers, and scientists, have left their country in search of employment opportunities, many in the United States. According to Statistics South Africa, the three top overseas destinations between 2006 and 2016 for South African emigrants were Australia (26 percent), the United Kingdom (25 percent), and the United States (13.4 percent). Not surprisingly, the large number of educated people leaving South Africa has caused the country to experience a “brain drain.” According to the Pew Research Center, 69 percent of sub-Saharan African immigrants aged twenty-five and over in 2015 had at least some college experience; South Africa was one of the ten biggest source countries for sub-Saharan African immigrants. 

In 2021, South Africa experienced a period of unrest and rioting in response to economic conditions and COVID-19 policies that led to violence and death. Yet, in the following years, South Africa continued to face political and economic challenges. High levels of unemployment and general instability have led South Africans to increase their emigration rates. In 2022, 915,000 South Africans emigrated, and while the top destinations remain overwhelmingly the United Kingdom and Australia, the United States remained the third most popular destination. 

In the 2020s, South Africa faced immigration challenges of a different sort. The country became the point of destination for many African migrants fleeing security, environmental, and economic conditions in their home countries. In many respects, the topic of immigration became as much a contentious political issue in South Africa as it had in other global locations such as the United States and Europe.  

In South Africa, a rapid influx of immigrants began in the mid-late 1990s, when South Africa began to accept large numbers of migrants into its borders. By 1996, 835,000 had entered the country. Two decades later, in 2022, South Africa's immigrant population swelled to 2.4 million. Eighty percent of this total were originally from sub-Saharan African nations such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Malawi. By the mid-2020s, immigrants totaled approximately 4 percent of the South African population.  

In the early twenty-first century, South Africans increasingly directed nativist rhetoric toward immigrants that resembled themes found in right-wing political movements in parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Critics of immigration commonly cited pressure on public services, housing, and employment opportunities, and immigrants were frequently blamed for perceived increases in crime. These narratives contributed to periodic outbreaks of xenophobic violence and sustained public debate over border enforcement. By the mid-2020s, most major South African political parties advocated tighter immigration controls. These ideas reflected a broader global trend in which concerns over sovereignty, labor markets, and security shaped immigration policy debates, including in the United States.


Bibliography

Akinwotu, Emmanuel. "The Impact of Migration and Xenophobia in South Africa’s Elections." NPR, 28 May 2024, www.npr.org/2024/05/28/nx-s1-4982095/the-impact-of-migration-and-xenophobia-in-south-africas-elections. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.

Anderson, Monica, and Phillip Connor. "Sub-Saharan African Immigrants in the U.S. Are Often More Educated Than Those in Top European Destinations." Pew Research Center, 24 Apr. 2018, www.pewglobal.org/2018/04/24/sub-saharan-african-immigrants-in-the-u-s-are-often-more-educated-than-those-in-top-european-destinations. Accessed 22 May 2019.

Beck, Roger B. The History of South Africa. Greenwood Press, 2000.

Botha, Ted, and Jenni Baxter, editors. The Expat Confessions: South Africans Abroad Speak Out! Jented, 2005.

Cocks, Tim. "Mandela’s Vision of Black Unity Fades As South Africa Closes Door to Migrants." Reuters, 23 May 2024, www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/safrica-election-fire. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.

Community Survey 2016: Statistical Release. Statistics South Africa, 2016, cs2016.statssa.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NT-30-06-2016-RELEASE-for-CS-2016-_Statistical-releas_1-July-2016.pdf. Accessed 22 May 2019.

"The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2022 ." US Census Bureau, 9 Apr. 2024, www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/acs/acsbr-019.html. Accessed 18 Dec. 2025.

Gumbi, Kopano. "South African jobless rate rises, more give up looking for work." Reuters, 13 May 2025, www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-africas-unemployment-rate-rises-329-first-quarter-2025-05-13. Accessed 19 Dec. 2025.

Marrow, Helen B. “Africa: South Africa and Zimbabwe.” New Americans: A Guide to Immigration Since 1965, edited by Mary C. Waters and Reed Ueda, Harvard University Press, 2007.

Mathabane, Mark. Kaffir Boy in America: An Encounter with Apartheid. Macmillan, 1989.

"South Africa." The World Factbook, US Central Intelligence Agency, 13 May 2019, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html. Accessed 22 May 2019.

“South Africa: Stock of Emigrants by Country 2020.” Statista, 16 December 2022, www.statista.com/statistics/1238117/stock-of-emigrants-from-south-africa-by-country-of-destination. Accessed 12 Mar. 2023.

"Understanding South Africa’s Immigrant and Internal Migration Stats." Department of Statistics South Africa, Republic of South Africa, 19 Feb. 2025, www.statssa.gov.za/?p=18042. Accessed 19 Dec. 2025.

Vigor, John. Small Boat to Freedom: A Journey of Conscience to a New Life in America. Lyons Press, 2004.

“The World Factbook - South Africa.” CIA, 2 Mar. 2023, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/south-africa/#economy. Accessed 12 Mar. 2023.

Full Article

SIGNIFICANCE: Although South Africans have accounted for a relatively small part of the immigrants to the United States, white South Africans began immigrating in increasing numbers after the early 1960s, as their homeland’s apartheid policies raised political and social tensions. 

The first South Africans known to immigrate to the United States arrived during the 1860s. Their numbers were small, and few of their countrymen followed them to the United States until the 1930s. The national origins quotas of the US Immigration Act of 1924 limited South Africa to only 100 immigrants per year, and South Africans rarely filled their quota. Between 1924 and 1950, an average of only 61 South Africans immigrated to the United States each year. As late as 1960, only about 5,300 people of South African origin were living in the United States; by the mid-2020s, that population had grown substantially. The US Census estimated there were more than 140,000 US residents born in South Africa, alongside a larger second-generation population.

Apartheid and Immigration

After a half-century of independence as the Union of South Africa, South Africa became a republic in 1961 and left the British Commonwealth. By this time, South Africa had become a pariah within the world community of nations because of its rigid system of government-supported segregation known as apartheid. Under that system, virtually all political power was in the hands of the approximately 20 percent of the country’s population who were White. Asians and mixed-race “Coloureds” enjoyed some political rights, while the nation’s large Black African majority had almost no power. 

After South Africa began instituting its apartheid laws in 1948, immigration from that country began increasing. Some immigrants were non-White refugees leaving to escape the repressive segregation laws; others were White opponents of the new system. 

The US Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 overturned the four-decade-old system of national origin quotas and allowed many more non-European immigrants entry into the United States. The number of South Africans admitted to the United States then increased to an average of 1,000 per year. The vast majority of these new immigrants were White, and they constituted 95 percent of the South Africans living in the United States in 1970. 

In one of the most remarkable peaceful political transformations in world history, the South African government abandoned apartheid during the early 1990s and extended full civil and political rights to all its citizens, regardless of race or ethnicity. Under a new nonracial constitution, South Africans elected a new government in 1994. Nelson Mandela—who had long been a political prisoner—became the country’s first non-White president, and the African National Congress—which had long been banned as a subversive political organization—became the majority party in the country’s parliament. 

With the abolition of apartheid and the arrival of what was, in effect, black-majority rule, many people feared that South Africa would follow the example of its neighbor Zimbabwe and experience a mass exodus of White people. Since that time, numerous White South Africans have emigrated, but their numbers have not been as high as many predicted. 

Political and social changes have not been the only factors driving South African emigration. Since the 1990s, the country has been afflicted by rising crime and unemployment rates. Violent crimes remained a particular problem into the twenty-first century. Reported murder rates have remained among the highest in the world, with some periods in the 2020s registering the equivalent of dozens of homicides per day, according to national crime statistics. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate has steadily risen during the twenty-first century, reaching more than 33.56 percent in 2021, according to the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. South Africa’s official unemployment rate remained consistently above 30 percent in the mid-2020s, with broader measures that included discouraged workers exceeding 40 percent.

South Africans in the United States

During the early twenty-first century, South African immigrants could be found living in major cities throughout the United States, most notably in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, DC. As the vast majority speak English, they have tended to assimilate quickly. 

Thousands of young professionals, including many doctors, teachers, and scientists, have left their country in search of employment opportunities, many in the United States. According to Statistics South Africa, the three top overseas destinations between 2006 and 2016 for South African emigrants were Australia (26 percent), the United Kingdom (25 percent), and the United States (13.4 percent). Not surprisingly, the large number of educated people leaving South Africa has caused the country to experience a “brain drain.” According to the Pew Research Center, 69 percent of sub-Saharan African immigrants aged twenty-five and over in 2015 had at least some college experience; South Africa was one of the ten biggest source countries for sub-Saharan African immigrants. 

In 2021, South Africa experienced a period of unrest and rioting in response to economic conditions and COVID-19 policies that led to violence and death. Yet, in the following years, South Africa continued to face political and economic challenges. High levels of unemployment and general instability have led South Africans to increase their emigration rates. In 2022, 915,000 South Africans emigrated, and while the top destinations remain overwhelmingly the United Kingdom and Australia, the United States remained the third most popular destination. 

In the 2020s, South Africa faced immigration challenges of a different sort. The country became the point of destination for many African migrants fleeing security, environmental, and economic conditions in their home countries. In many respects, the topic of immigration became as much a contentious political issue in South Africa as it had in other global locations such as the United States and Europe.  

In South Africa, a rapid influx of immigrants began in the mid-late 1990s, when South Africa began to accept large numbers of migrants into its borders. By 1996, 835,000 had entered the country. Two decades later, in 2022, South Africa's immigrant population swelled to 2.4 million. Eighty percent of this total were originally from sub-Saharan African nations such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Malawi. By the mid-2020s, immigrants totaled approximately 4 percent of the South African population.  

In the early twenty-first century, South Africans increasingly directed nativist rhetoric toward immigrants that resembled themes found in right-wing political movements in parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Critics of immigration commonly cited pressure on public services, housing, and employment opportunities, and immigrants were frequently blamed for perceived increases in crime. These narratives contributed to periodic outbreaks of xenophobic violence and sustained public debate over border enforcement. By the mid-2020s, most major South African political parties advocated tighter immigration controls. These ideas reflected a broader global trend in which concerns over sovereignty, labor markets, and security shaped immigration policy debates, including in the United States.


Bibliography

Akinwotu, Emmanuel. "The Impact of Migration and Xenophobia in South Africa’s Elections." NPR, 28 May 2024, www.npr.org/2024/05/28/nx-s1-4982095/the-impact-of-migration-and-xenophobia-in-south-africas-elections. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.

Anderson, Monica, and Phillip Connor. "Sub-Saharan African Immigrants in the U.S. Are Often More Educated Than Those in Top European Destinations." Pew Research Center, 24 Apr. 2018, www.pewglobal.org/2018/04/24/sub-saharan-african-immigrants-in-the-u-s-are-often-more-educated-than-those-in-top-european-destinations. Accessed 22 May 2019.

Beck, Roger B. The History of South Africa. Greenwood Press, 2000.

Botha, Ted, and Jenni Baxter, editors. The Expat Confessions: South Africans Abroad Speak Out! Jented, 2005.

Cocks, Tim. "Mandela’s Vision of Black Unity Fades As South Africa Closes Door to Migrants." Reuters, 23 May 2024, www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/safrica-election-fire. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.

Community Survey 2016: Statistical Release. Statistics South Africa, 2016, cs2016.statssa.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NT-30-06-2016-RELEASE-for-CS-2016-_Statistical-releas_1-July-2016.pdf. Accessed 22 May 2019.

"The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2022 ." US Census Bureau, 9 Apr. 2024, www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/acs/acsbr-019.html. Accessed 18 Dec. 2025.

Gumbi, Kopano. "South African jobless rate rises, more give up looking for work." Reuters, 13 May 2025, www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-africas-unemployment-rate-rises-329-first-quarter-2025-05-13. Accessed 19 Dec. 2025.

Marrow, Helen B. “Africa: South Africa and Zimbabwe.” New Americans: A Guide to Immigration Since 1965, edited by Mary C. Waters and Reed Ueda, Harvard University Press, 2007.

Mathabane, Mark. Kaffir Boy in America: An Encounter with Apartheid. Macmillan, 1989.

"South Africa." The World Factbook, US Central Intelligence Agency, 13 May 2019, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html. Accessed 22 May 2019.

“South Africa: Stock of Emigrants by Country 2020.” Statista, 16 December 2022, www.statista.com/statistics/1238117/stock-of-emigrants-from-south-africa-by-country-of-destination. Accessed 12 Mar. 2023.

"Understanding South Africa’s Immigrant and Internal Migration Stats." Department of Statistics South Africa, Republic of South Africa, 19 Feb. 2025, www.statssa.gov.za/?p=18042. Accessed 19 Dec. 2025.

Vigor, John. Small Boat to Freedom: A Journey of Conscience to a New Life in America. Lyons Press, 2004.

“The World Factbook - South Africa.” CIA, 2 Mar. 2023, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/south-africa/#economy. Accessed 12 Mar. 2023.

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