US Government To Refuse Visas For Pregnant Women Seeking To Give Birth For Citizenship Purposes

The United States has announced that it will reject visa applications from pregnant women who intend to travel to America primarily to give birth and secure US citizenship for their children.

This policy represents part of Washington’s wider campaign to combat birth tourism, where foreign citizens use temporary visas to enter the US with the main goal of having their babies on American territory, thereby granting automatic citizenship to their newborns.

The US Mission in Nigeria revealed this information through a statement posted on their official social media platforms on Monday, July 28.

“Using your visa to travel for the primary purpose of giving birth in the United States so that your child will have U.S. citizenship is not permitted. Consular officers will deny your visa application if they have reason to believe this is your intent,” the statement read in part.

Related: UK Set To Stop Issuing Visas To Nigerian Doctors

American authorities stressed that those applying for visas must provide truthful information regarding their travel intentions and warned that providing false information about one’s purpose could lead to serious long-term immigration repercussions.

The U.S. Department of State has instructed consular officials to reject visa requests when there is reliable evidence indicating that the applicant’s primary motivation for traveling is to deliver a child on US soil in order to obtain American citizenship for that child.