Q&A – What Can Be Done to Curb Birth Tourism?
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Today’s entry: Hey, this is Adam from West Palm Beach. As far as the birth tourism. Can Trump direct his diplomats not to issue visas to come into the state if somebody is over 8 months pregnant. That might be a solution. What do you think?
Bottom Line: Hi Adam, you’re onto something and just as importantly in the wake of the Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship decision. The Trump administration immediately moved to curb potential abuses of the existing system following the disappointing decision which allowed for anyone born within the United States to potentially claim citizenship. Let’s take a step back by first outlining what the law is pertaining to VISAs and how it is that “birth tourism” can be abused.
The US State Department already prohibits issuing B-1/B-2 tourist visas when the primary purpose is "birth tourism" — i.e., coming to have a baby specifically to secure US citizenship for the child. This rule was formalized in 2020 under the first Trump administration and has been enforced since. Under the current policy, consular officers are supposed to deny applications if they have reason to believe that's the intent. Pregnancy (especially advanced) creates a strong rebuttable presumption against approval. Officers can scrutinize late-term applicants more closely, and Customs and Border Protection can turn people away at the port of entry. Birth tourism is a form of visa fraud under these rules.
Of course, companies setup in countries like China to exploit our country’s birthright citizenship status know this and commonly will cite other reasons for the VISA request. The most common examples of applications abusing our system have been found to be these:
- Tourism/vacation/leisure: Sightseeing in visiting landmarks, shopping, or a holiday. Often with a short itinerary of 2-4 weeks in Florida, California, or New York
- Visiting family or friends: Staying with relatives in the US. This is common and harder to disprove initially.
- Business or professional meetings: Attending conferences, training, or meetings (especially if the woman or spouse has a company).
- Medical treatment: Seeking specialized care unavailable at home. Agencies sometimes arrange fake doctor letters.
- Education-related: Courses/seminars.
A lot of these are difficult to detect, and many companies are particularly skilled at navigating the checks and balances.
The State Department does publish VISA denial rates, however, it’s across broad categories and pregnancy isn’t one of those categories. In the prior three years, denial rates have ranged from 20.6% of applications to 27.8% most recently. In the most recent fiscal year just under 2.5 million VISA requests into the United States were denied – so it is clear that officials are at least attempting to mind the store.
This dynamic, and the tactics used by companies to circumvent our policies will be a point of emphasis for the Trump administration going forward.