US to target birth tourism with new visa rules for pregnant women

Many women travel from China and Russia to give birth so children can get coveted US passport

Trump has railed against birthright citizenship and threatened to end it, but anyone born in US is considered a citizen under the Constitution

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The new rules would make it more difficult for pregnant women to travel on a tourist visa. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 4:58am, 23 Jan 2020Updated: 8:49pm, 23 Jan 2020

The Trump administration is coming out with new visa restrictions aimed at restricting “birth tourism”, in which women travel to the US to give birth so their children can have a coveted US passport.

The State Department planned to publicise the rules on Thursday, according to two officials with knowledge of the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The rules would make it more difficult for pregnant women to travel on a tourist visa. In one draft of the regulations, they would have to clear an additional hurdle before obtaining the visa – convincing a consular officer that they have another legitimate reason to come to the US.

The Trump administration has been restricting all forms of immigration, but the president has been particularly plagued by the issue of birthright citizenship – anyone born in the US is considered a citizen, under the Constitution.

Federal agents in March 2015 swarm a complex in California where authorities say a birth tourism business charged pregnant women US$50,000 for lodging, food and transport. Photo: AP

He has railed against the practice and threatened to end it, but scholars and members of his administration have said it is not so easy to do.

Regulating tourist visas for pregnant women is one way to get at the issue, but it raises questions about how officers would determine whether a woman is pregnant to begin with, and whether a woman could get turned away by border officers who suspect she may be just by looking at her.