Through its analysis of new survey data and interviews coupled with participant observation, this article examines how official and popular responses to international migration and urbanisation may undermine Johannesburg’s efforts to build a prosperous, safe and inclusive city. Working from the position that international migration is an inexorable response to regional economic inequality, it illustrates how ignorance, xenophobia and legal discrimination are preventing significant numbers of foreign migrants from productively integrating into Johannesburg’s politics, economy and communities. It concludes that, in an era of migration, building inclusive and sustainable cities means finding creative ways to combat discrimination based on nationality, even when such exclusion is legally, politically, and socially mandated. Doing otherwise tacitly endorses human rights abuses, social fragmentation, inequitable growth and insecurity.