Nearly 70,000 South Africans have expressed interest in moving to the United States following Washington's offer to resettle people from the country's African community, the business group said.
The US South African Chamber of Commerce (Saccusa) said its website has received tens of thousands of registrations from people seeking more information.
In an executive order in February, President Donald Trump said Africans – the descendants of Dutch colonists who arrived in the 17th century – would be recognized as refugees as they were “victims of unjust racism.”
Since Trump became president in January, relations between the US and South Africa have become increasingly tense.
Sacca said in a “vital step” he handed over a list of individuals of interest to the US embassy in Pretoria.
Embassy officials confirmed that they had received the list to the BBC.
Of the 67,042 people who registered on Saccusa's site, most had Afrikaner or English names, said Neil Diamond, the organization's president.
Saccassa – A group representing South African businessmen who live in the United States said that most people who expressed interest in immigration were between 25 and 45 years old and had two to three dependents.
The US-based business group is not an official government agency, but was accidentally involved in registering interest after a flood of requests for details on resettlement, Diamond told broadcaster Newsroom Africa.
Some white South Africans say they are discriminated against. This is a high-profile claim of right-wing groups in the US.
At the same time, the white minority in South Africa has had a large portion of the country's private property and wealth for over 30 years since the apartheid racist system ended.
Tensions between South Africa and the US came surged when South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the law and signed a bill that would allow the state to seize land without compensation if it was in “the public interest.”
The move follows a long-standing call for land reform as activists and politicians seek to redistribute farmland from white minorities.
In response to the new law, Trump has signed an executive order offering refugee status to Africans who are “escape from government-sponsored racially-based discrimination.”
In March, Trump extended his invitation to all farmers in South Africa. He called it “the bad place right now.”
Last month, the president cut aid to the country.
Ramaphosa responded to Trump's criticism, saying South Africa has not seized the land and that the new bill “will ensure public access to the land in a constitutionally led, fair and mere way.”
Anyway, spat between the two countries is getting worse. Last week, the US expelled the South African ambassador to Washington, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio describing him as a “racially sniffed politician.”
