The United States has announced a new visa restriction policy targeting people who knowingly engage in or facilitate commercial “birth tourism”, including operators of birth-tourism networks, visa “fixers” accused of coaching applicants to commit fraud and foreign medical providers involved in such arrangements.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the policy on September 23, saying the measure is aimed at commercial networks that arrange for foreign nationals to travel to the US to give birth primarily to obtain US citizenship for their children.
What does the new policy change?
The policy targets individuals who knowingly engage in, have engaged in or facilitate commercial birth tourism . The latest policy builds on existing restrictions concerning birth tourism.
This includes owners, operators and managers of commercial birth-tourism facilitation networks, according to the State Department. The State Department said certain family members of people covered by the restrictions may also be subject to the policy. Rubio said the administration is using the visa restrictions to protect the integrity of US citizenship, safeguard public-benefit programs and protect American taxpayers from what the department described as exploitation. The State Department said the policy is intended to send a message that commercial networks cannot use the US visa system to arrange births for the purpose of obtaining citizenship.
