The United States received 10,258 refugees in the first 10 months of its 2026 fiscal year, with South Africans accounting for 10,255, or 99.97% of all arrivals.
The figure represents a nearly 30-fold jump from the 342 South African refugees admitted in the entire 2025 fiscal year, with South Africans now accounting for 99.97% of all refugees admitted to the US between October 1, 2025 and July 31, 2026.
The remaining three refugees came from Afghanistan, according to the latest US Refugee Processing Center data covering October 1, 2025, to July 31, 2026.
The figures mark an extraordinary shift in the composition of America’s refugee programme, with South Africa emerging as by far the largest source of refugees admitted to the US this year.
South African refugee numbers surge
The scale of the increase is particularly striking when compared with the previous fiscal year.
The US admitted just 342 refugees from South Africa in FY2025.
According to the latest U.S. Refugee Admissions and Arrivals data, South African admissions reached 10,255 by the end of July 2026, nearly 30 times the 2025 full-year total, with two months still remaining in the fiscal year.
South Africans had never previously ranked among the leading nationalities in the US refugee programme.
In FY2025, Afghanistan was the largest source with 6,758 refugees, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo with 5,672.
The dramatic reversal follows President Donald Trump’s decision to prioritise the resettlement of Afrikaners from South Africa.
Trump’s preference for Afrikaners
In September 2025, the Trump administration set the FY2026 refugee admissions ceiling at 7,500 and said the numbers would be primarily allocated to Afrikaners from South Africa and other victims of discrimination in their home countries.
The administration subsequently raised the ceiling to 17,500 in May 2026, citing what it described as an unforeseen emergency refugee situation involving South Africa.
The policy has sharply altered the profile of America’s refugee intake at a time when overall admissions have fallen to historic lows.
The US admitted 38,102 refugees in FY2025, down from 100,034 in FY2024. With 10,258 admissions through July 2026, the country is on track for one of its lowest annual refugee intakes in decades.
South Africa’s dominance is therefore not simply the result of a surge in refugee admissions from the country. It reflects a broader restructuring of the US refugee programme under the Trump administration, which has dramatically reduced overall admissions while creating a dedicated pathway for Afrikaners from South Africa.
The latest figures show how consequential that policy has become: of every 100 refugees admitted to the US so far in FY2026, roughly 100 have come from South Africa.
