America Imposes Visa Ban On South Africans Over Land Expropriation Policy

The United States has announced sweeping new visa restrictions targeting South Africans accused of involvement in race-based discrimination and uncompensated land seizures, escalating a diplomatic row that has seen President Donald Trump repeatedly criticise South Africa’s post-apartheid policies.

The restrictions were announced in a statement issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on 14 September 2026.

According to the statement, the new policy is being enacted under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and targets foreign nationals who are responsible for, or complicit in, the enactment or implementation of laws or policies that enable uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination and the incitement of imminent violence against members of minority ethnic or racial groups in South Africa. Certain family members of those targeted may also be covered by the restrictions.

Rubio said the action was taken pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order 14204, titled “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa.”

The order states that the United States remains gravely concerned about racially motivated crime and government-sponsored discrimination occurring against Afrikaners and other minority populations in South Africa.

The concerns cited include race-based discriminatory legislation, threats of land expropriation without compensation, and incitement of racial violence through dehumanising chants and slogans.

“The South African government has not adequately addressed the previously laid out concerns,” Rubio said.

“The United States will not allow such behaviour to go unchecked. These actions directly undermine peace, economic stability, and the rule of law, and they are incompatible with the pillars of America’s foreign policy.”

He added: “We once again strongly urge the South African government to quickly address these egregious actions.”

The move is the latest in a series of punitive measures taken by the Trump administration against Pretoria.

Trump has lambasted South Africa’s land and employment laws, which are designed to redress stark inequalities that black South Africans continue to face 30 years after the end of apartheid.

In 2025, Trump berated President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office over discredited claims of a “white genocide” in South Africa.

The administration has since imposed high tariffs on South African goods and boycotted a G20 summit held in Johannesburg.

The State Department said the visa restriction policy authorises the Secretary of State to render inadmissible any foreign national whose entry into the United States “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”