US widens birth-tourism visa crackdown as Xi arrives
The United States has imposed new visa restrictions on people who run or facilitate commercial birth-tourism networks just hours before Chinese president Xi Jinping arrived in Washington for a state visit. The policy focuses on organisers and intermediaries rather than on pregnant travellers as a group.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on Wednesday that visas may be restricted for people who knowingly participate in or support schemes to arrange US births to secure citizenship for a child. Targets include network owners and managers, visa «fixers» who coach applicants to misrepresent their travel plans, and foreign medical providers who knowingly assist in the schemes.
The State Department claims that commercial operators can charge clients tens of thousands of dollars and instruct them to provide false information during the visa application process. Rubio stated that Washington would impose visa restrictions on individuals who both participate in and profit from such activity.
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The policy does not single out China
The timing is conspicuous, but Rubio’s official statement makes no mention of China or Chinese citizens. The restrictions are applicable to anyone who meets the criteria, regardless of nationality.
Nonetheless, China has been a major focus of previous US investigations into birth tourism. Fox News reported that federal cases have targeted businesses that serve Chinese customers, including those on the US West Coast and in the Northern Mariana Islands.
Birth tourism was already barred as a valid reason for obtaining a US visitor visa. According to State Department guidance, a visitor visa cannot be used to give birth in the United States so that a child can obtain citizenship. The new policy shifts the focus from individual travellers to the people and businesses that organise or profit from this practice.
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The move is part of a broader Trump administration push for citizenship and immigration. In August, Trump issued an executive order directing the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to take additional steps against birth tourism.
