• A report has found that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than South Africans.
• Making up only 6.5% of the population, it is impossible for immigrants to be straining government services such as healthcare, the report has found.
• It has cautioned that anti-foreigner sentiment appears to be growing in South Africa.
Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than South Africans, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) has found in a report.
The new report explored the claims fuelling anti-foreigner sentiment, which has seen immigrants blamed for a range of social and economic problems in South Africa and reinforces xenophobic sentiment.
The ISS report found that the immigrant population is much smaller than commonly believed and does not place a burden on government services such as healthcare and education. In addition, the report found that instead of taking jobs from South Africans, as is widely believed, immigrants are more likely to create jobs.
`South African socio-economic problems are not caused by immigrants, but by poor governance and corruption. Many politicians, public officials, and other high-profile people regularly make anti-immigrant statements that fuel xenophobia. The number of migrants in South Africa is grossly exaggerated,` the ISS report found.
Since 1994, anti-foreigner sentiment has been growing in South Africa, and 936 violent xenophobic incidents have been recorded, according to the report. The attacks killed 630 people, displaced 123 000, and saw 4 800 shops looted.
The report read:
During 2019, statements that fuelled xenophobic sentiment were made by a number of politicians from mainstream political parties while campaigning for the national and provincial elections held that year.
`In 2020, various community-based groups started to mobilise around an anti-immigrant agenda. These include Operation Dudula, which started in Soweto and has since opened branches across the country, and the unrelated Dudula Movement, based in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra.`
Both groups blame immigrants for a range of socio-economic challenges, including high levels of crime and unemployment.
Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba recently sparked a storm of controversy after the emergence of a video showing her telling a woman that migrants from Zimbabwe were a `huge strain` on the provincial healthcare system.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie.
The South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) for 2021 found that almost half of the population believed there were between 17 and 40 million immigrants in the country.
However, there were less than four million immigrants in the country, which made up 6.5% of the population. This percentage was in line with international norms.
The report found that this population group also positively contributed to the country. They had a positive impact on the government`s fiscus because they generally paid income and value-added taxes, the report found, and contributed about 9% to the GDP.
In addition, there was no

evidence to suggest that immigrants took employment opportunities away from South African workers.
`Rather, there is evidence that the opposite is true â€` that immigrants often create employment for South Africans,` the report found.
Immigrants were generally more likely to be self-employed, and each immigrant generated around two jobs for locals, according to a World Bank study. Immigrants also make up only 5% of the labour market, according to Statistics South Africa data. Around a third of immigrants were employed in the informal sector.
Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba has sparked a storm of controversy after the emergence of a video showing her telling a woman that migrants from Zimbabwe were a `huge strain` on the provincial healthcare system.
Another common rhetoric around immigrants is that they contribute to crime in South Africa. However, the report found that immigrants were less likely to commit crimes than South Africans.
According to the Human Sciences Research Council`s (HSRC) SASAS data, two-thirds of South Africans believed that immigrants increased crime.
`There is no statistical relationship between international migration in South Africa and crime. There is also no evidence that most immigrants commit crimes or are responsible for most crimes in the country,` the report found.
Based on data provided by the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, immigrants made up only 8.5% of convicted cases in 2019, and 7% in 2020.
Only about 2% of inmates incarcerated per year are undocumented foreigners. The report found that immigrants were less likely than South Africans to be convicted of serious crimes such as murder and rape, yet they were disproportionately targeted in police operations and caught for minor crimes such as drug possession or use.
The report also tackled the assertions that immigrants were a burden on government services.
The report found:
Immigrants account for about 6.5% of the population. It is thus statistically impossible for immigrants to be responsible for the healthcare system`s failings. Continued claims of `hordes` of immigrants flooding South Africa`s public healthcare facilities dominate the national discourse and promote `medical xenophobia`. However, in the short run, immigrants tend to be healthier than locals
It also found that although the blame for overpopulated and overwhelmed schools was incorrectly placed on immigrant children, it should rather be assigned to `the poorly managed education department`.
`While politicians often publicly denounce and condemn violence against immigrants and prefer to link it to criminality, not xenophobia, there are no effective mechanisms in place to address it.
`This lack of political will to address the scourge is most likely because it is easier to blame others for governance failures,` the report said.
www.samigration.com V.4449

One of the highlighted topics: Critical Skills Visa.

- Key Insight: Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast track to working in South Afr...
- This matter relates to critical skills visa and its broader implications.
- Individuals are advised to seek professional guidance.

Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast trac V.6139
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One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, became a victim of identity theft in 2012 when fraudulent transactions occurred, using her personal details.

-The Pretoria High Court found that the department of home affairs had violated constitutional rights without due process.
-Only half of Lawyers for Human Rights` test group has been unblocked, while 385 000 identities remain blocked nationwide.
-LHR appeals extension, urges affected people to seek help now.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) are intensifying pressure on the department of home affairs over the national ID-blocking crisis, accusing the state of acting too slowly to unblock qualifying individuals despite a landmark court ruling.

In January last year, the Pretoria High Court found that the department`s practice of blocking IDs without due process was unlawful and unconstitutional. One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, a Swati citizen and South African permanent resident since 1998, fell victim to identity theft in 2012 when fraudsters used her personal details.

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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6128
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6129
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A Washington state mother and her 6-year-old son have been released after spending more than three weeks in US immigration detention due to a brief trip to Canada and a small paperwork mistake, her attorney told CNN on Saturday.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand citizen who has lived legally in the US since she arrived in 2021, was detained at the Blaine, Washington, Customs and Border Protection checkpoint when returning home after dropping her two oldest children off at the Vancouver airport for a flight to visit their grandparents in New Zealand. Shaw, 33, chose the flight out of Vancouver because it was direct and she didn`t want her children to have to navigate a layover alone, her attorney Minda Thorward, told CNN.

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On 22 July 2025, the Gauteng High Court dismissed Sitrusrand Boerdery`s review of the Department of Employment and Labour`s refusal to issue a Working Conditions and Salary Benchmarking Certificate, an essential precondition for obtaining corporate visas under the Immigration Act.

Acting Judge Kekana AJ held that the Department`s decision was lawful, rational and procedurally fair. This judgment illustrates how businesses can - and must - structure their corporate visa applications to meet statutory requirements, and how legal practitioners should prepare robust review challenges when administrative authorities decline to recommend foreign-work permits.

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The United States could forfeit an estimated 9.4 billion dollars in visitor spending over the next three years following the introduction of a new 250 dollars `visa integrity fee,` according to industry groups, who warn the policy risks undermining tourism and costing thousands of jobs.
The United States’ decision to introduce a 250 dollars `visa integrity fee` on international visitors has triggered sharp criticism from the global tourism industry, with officials warning that the measure could deter millions of travellers and cost the U.S. economy billions.
The 250dollar `visa integrity fee,` part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed on July 4, 2025, will take effect later this year. According to immigration law firm Envoy Global, it applies to all nonimmigrant visa holders which include students, tourists, temporary workers, and business visitors particularly from African countries. V.6132
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6127
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1. Right to Legal Representation•You have the right to consult with a legal representative.•Contact an immigration practitioner, legal aid clinic, or attorney urgently.•Do not sign any documents without understanding them fully. 2. Section 34 of the Immigration Act•You must be brought to court with 48 hours to confirm arrest but you can remain locked up very long as courts figure out what to do with you •If you`re found to be illegally in South Africa, you may be detained for up to 30 days (extendable by a magistrate) pending deportation.•BUT this cannot happen arbitrarily. You must be informed of your rights, and Home Affairs must follow due process.- becomes a nightmare , you could lose your job , business , place to stay V.6121
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Driving for Bolt, Uber, Mr D, or Checkers Sixty60?If you`re undocumented, you`re risking more than just your income.The Risks if You`re Not Legal: - Vehicle impoundment - Heavy fines - Arrest & deportation - Permanent bans from working in SA V.6122
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