Eligibility and referral

The U.S. Mission South Africa page (dated 7 October 2026) lists all of these criteria [source]:

• South African nationality
• Afrikaner ethnicity, or a member of a racial minority in South Africa
• Able to describe past persecution or fear of future persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion
• At least 18, or referred with a parent
• Living inside South Africa; the programme does not expect out-of-country processing

• If no USRAP partner has contacted you yet, complete the online USRAP Intake Questionnaire. This applies even if you sent an earlier Statement of Interest [source].
• The form the Embassy links is on a state.gov site: USRAP Intake Questionnaire [source].
• Referral partners are RSC Africa (operated by Church World Service) and Amerikaners [source, source].
• Not everyone is referred. The authority to grant access rests with the U.S. government, not with RSC Africa/CWS or Amerikaners [source].
• If accepted, next steps include a pre-screen interview, security vetting, a USCIS interview and a medical exam [source].
• There is no standard timeline. Case questions, once you have a case number: SouthAfrica@cwsafrica.org [source].