Andrew Veitch, 53, left South Africa after being held up at gunpoint in his car, seeking safety abroad. Yet now, having lived in California since 2003, Veitch believes the United States poses greater threats, citing mass shootings and violent encounters with immigration officers.

"People are being shot in broad daylight. American citizens are being shot and killed," he said. "I don't want to live in a place like this."

Veitch plans to return to South Africa this year, joining thousands of white South Africans moving back despite former U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims that the white minority is being persecuted by the country’s Black majority government. Pretoria maintains there is no evidence of racial discrimination or persecution against whites.

Since the end of white minority rule in 1994, many white South Africans left due to crime, job scarcity, or personal reasons—but a growing number are returning. Veitch is among 12,000 people who have checked their citizenship status via an online government portal launched in November, following the repeal of a 1995 law that had stripped citizenship from some expatriates. Official figures from 2022 show nearly 15,000 white South Africans returned that year.

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber, a member of the white-led Democratic Alliance in coalition with the African National Congress since 2024, confirmed that 1,000 people have reclaimed their citizenship and expects the number to rise. "There is definitely a sense of optimism for South Africans abroad," he said, noting he himself returned after years in the U.S. and Germany.

Recruitment agencies assisting expats report a surge in inquiries. Reuters interviewed ten South Africans planning to return—seven from Europe and three from the U.S.—who cited reasons including proximity to family, lower living costs, and political uncertainty abroad.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has expanded a refugee program for white South Africans, focusing on Afrikaners, the descendants of Dutch settlers. Since May 2025, around 3,500 South Africans have entered the U.S. under this program, citing racially motivated crime or employment equity laws favoring non-white candidates.

However, other returnees, such as Naomi Saphire, 46, have returned simply for quality of life. Settled in the U.S. for two decades, she moved back to Plettenberg Bay in South Africa’s Western Cape, attracted by affordable healthcare, better schools, and outdoor opportunities for her children.

"My heart is just full of gratefulness to be here," she said. "The U.S. has been really good to me, but I felt like I was depriving my kids of this life."

Although South Africa faces challenges such as crime and high unemployment—35% for Black citizens versus 8% for whites—many returnees maintain their overseas jobs remotely. Some also benefit from private security, reducing crime risks.

Police statistics indicate that farm murders, which Trump has highlighted, predominantly affect Black victims. Experts also note that images and videos cited to support claims of white persecution are often misrepresented.

Despite these challenges, a net outflow of whites has continued since 2001, with approximately 95,000 leaving between 2021 and 2026. Nevertheless, 28,000 South Africans returned in 2022, about half of whom were white.

Returnees report improvements in daily life, such as fewer power cuts, and believe the country is on a positive trajectory. Engineer Eugene Jansen, 38, who returned from the Netherlands with his family in December, said, "The opinion is that the country is improving."