No more travels for pregnant women seeking to give birth outside their countries – US set tough conditions for acquiring visas
Following the new immigration control measures, the United States (US) has insisted that it will no longer issue temporary visitor visas to pregnant women seeking to visit their country in the name of giving birth from there.
To prevent what they referred to as ‘birth tourism’, the US government introduced new rules among others limiting the issuing of temporary tourist visas or medical visas to pregnant women who tend to use it as an opportunity for their children to acquire citizenship.
Of recent, US is one of a handful of countries together with Canada that has unconditional birthright citizenship. The two are considered to be the only developed countries with universal birthright citizenship, a status that has sometimes been used as destinations for expecting families from other nations seeking a second passport for their child.
However, while announcing the rule change, which takes effect Friday, the White House said foreigners were using the visas to secure automatic and permanent American citizenship for their children by giving birth on American soil and thus the decision was aimed at putting up some restrictions and protect the American citizenship.
According to the White House, the practice is a glaring immigration loophole that they had to deal with in a bid to promote public safety and national security as well as immigration control.
“The integrity of American citizenship must be protected. The birth tourism industry threatens to overburden valuable hospital resources and is rife with criminal activity, as reflected in a federal prosecution,” a statement from White House read.
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According to the US constitution, anyone born on the American soil is guaranteed automatic citizenship.
During US President Donald Trump’s most speeches, he has on notable occasions spoken ill about immigration. He recently stated that US will tighten rules prohibiting easy entry into their country.
With now the new rule set to take effect on Friday, the White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham indicated that individuals from other countries travelling to the US on temporary visas to receive other medical treatments will not be affected.
“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,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham indicated.
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Pregnant women at the US-Mexico border are most affected.
The visa ban is set even to affect most pregnant women at the US-Mexico border, who used to be considered as part of a “vulnerable” group, such as small children, and were usually allowed to cross the border with great ease.
By John Dalton Kigozi
