{"id":811132,"date":"2025-02-10T16:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T14:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=811132"},"modified":"2025-02-10T17:13:49","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T15:13:49","slug":"the-usa-issue-record-number-of-visas-to-south-africans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/811132\/the-usa-issue-record-number-of-visas-to-south-africans\/","title":{"rendered":"The USA issue record number of visas to South Africans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The United States issued a record number of temporary work visas to South Africans in the past fiscal year, highlighting the increasing role they play in the country\u2019s agricultural sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to data from the US Department of State, South African workers received 15,159 H-2A visas in the fiscal year ending September 2023, marking a 19% increase from the previous year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While South Africans are the second-largest recipients of these agricultural guest worker visas, they still fall far behind Mexican workers, who received 285,919 permits during the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The demand for migrant workers on American farms has soared in recent years, with the US granting 310,767 temporary visas\u2014more than triple the amount issued a decade ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This surge reflects a growing reliance on foreign labour, as American farms require over 850,000 crop workers, nearly half of whom are estimated to be undocumented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, South Africa\u2019s increased presence in the US labour market is now entangled in political controversy following an executive order issued by former President Donald Trump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The order, signed on Friday (7 February), called for the resettlement of Afrikaners and their families in the US as refugees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump\u2019s decision was based on claims\u2014widely disputed\u2014that South African authorities are seizing land from White farmers without compensation under newly enacted legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The document further claimed that the act follows years of discriminatory policies, including employment and business regulations, as well as rhetoric that allegedly fuels violence against White farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, experts have pointed out that the law shares similarities with eminent domain provisions in the US, which allow the government to expropriate land under certain conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has since taken legal action, requesting the High Court to nullify the legislation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-businesstech wp-block-embed-businesstech\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Wni0WwG1Wk\"><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/811113\/da-takes-the-expropriation-act-to-court\/\">DA takes the Expropriation Act to court<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;DA takes the Expropriation Act to court&#8221; &#8212; BusinessTech\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/811113\/da-takes-the-expropriation-act-to-court\/embed\/#?secret=6UtY2yU1v9#?secret=Wni0WwG1Wk\" data-secret=\"Wni0WwG1Wk\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While some advocacy groups have argued that White farmers face targeted violence, South Africa\u2019s broader crime crisis cuts across racial lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The country suffers from high levels of violent crime, with many attributing the problem to extreme inequality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Economic growth has remained sluggish at less than 1% annually over the past decade, while unemployment is among the highest globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Neil Diamond, president of the South African Chamber of Commerce in the USA, warned of a potential mass exodus of skilled agricultural professionals following Trump\u2019s executive order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Within just 18 hours of the announcement, the Chamber reportedly received over 10,000 inquiries from South Africans seeking refugee status or relocation assistance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Diamond stressed that the loss of experienced farmers could significantly impact South Africa\u2019s food security, disrupt its agricultural value chain, and worsen economic instability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also noted that around 11,000 temporary South African agricultural workers currently benefit from the US H-2A visa program, and many may now consider permanent relocation with their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Diamond urged both governments to engage in diplomatic discussions to address the situation and prevent unintended economic consequences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt this stage, we do not have a clear understanding of what led the US president to take this action,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHowever, we have always maintained that policy decisions should be based on facts rather than misinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response to the escalating tensions, President Cyril Ramaphosa is preparing to send a delegation to Washington in an effort to persuade Trump to reconsider his stance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Business leaders are also set to engage with their US counterparts, particularly those connected to tech mogul Elon Musk, who has become increasingly influential in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>High-level government discussions are already underway, with sources indicating that a strategy session is scheduled for tomorrow before the official delegation departs for the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given the serious economic and diplomatic implications, efforts are being made on multiple fronts to navigate this unfolding situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Reported with Bloomberg<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States issued a record number of visas to South Africans who do seasonal work on American farms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":714180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[1850,20924,853,21648,845],"class_list":["post-811132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-bloomberg","tag-farmers","tag-south-africa","tag-us-president-donald-trump","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":811136,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811132\/revisions\/811136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}