United States has issued new rules denying pregnant applicants a tourist visa unless they can prove they must come to the U.S. to give birth for medical reasons and they have money to pay for it or have another compelling reason — not just because they want their child to have an American passport.
Ms. Stephanie Grisham, press secretary to President Donald Trump disclosed this in a statement dated January 23, 2020 and entitled ‘…Birth tourism visa regulation rule change.’
Nearly all children born in the US gets automatic citizenship – a law that does not sit well with Trump.
He had sought to limit immigration to the US, and had previously questioned the US constitutional amendment that grants citizenship to “all persons born or naturalised in the United States.”
Grisham said the new rule applies to visitors seeking B visas, which are issued to non-immigrants.
It allows consular officials to deny a visa to any individual whose “primary purpose” in obtaining such documentation is to give birth there.
“The final rule addresses concerns about the attendant risks of this activity to national security and law enforcement, including criminal activity associated with the birth tourism industry, as reflected in federal prosecutions of individuals and entities involved in that industry,” the department of state said.
The statement read: “Beginning January 24, 2020, the State Department will no longer issue temporary visitor (B-1/B-2) visas to aliens seeking to enter the United States for “birth tourism” – the practice of traveling to the United States to secure automatic and permanent American citizenship for their children by giving birth on American soil.
“This rule change is necessary to enhance public safety, national security, and the integrity of our immigration system.
“The birth tourism industry threatens to overburden valuable hospital resources and is rife with criminal activity, as reflected in Federal prosecutions.
“Closing this glaring immigration loophole will combat these endemic abuses and ultimately protect the United States from the national security risks created by this practice.
“It will also defend American taxpayers from having their hard-earned dollars siphoned away to finance the direct and downstream costs associated with birth tourism.
“The integrity of American citizenship must be protected.”
There are no records of how many babies are born to US visitors each year, but various groups have issued estimates.
About 10,000 babies were born to foreign residents in 2017, the latest year that data is available, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
That number is up from about 7,800 in 2007.
The Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for stricter immigration laws, estimates that about 33,000 children were born to women on temporary tourist visas between the second half of 2016 and the first half of 2017.
