Nigeria ranks fourth globally in birth tourism leading to birthright citizenship

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, Nigeria ranks fourth globally in the practice of birth tourism among other countries like China, Taiwan, Korea, Turkey, Russia, Brazil, and Mexico with an estimated 33,000 births annually occurring in the United States.

Also, these birth tourists spent about $7,000 to $100,000 each to obtain citizenship by birth for their infant, based on data from the U.S. Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

This practice often results in both parents migrating to the United States 21 years later, in a process that bypasses standard immigration numerical limits.

Kaizen D. Asiedu(@thatsKAIZEN) on X remarked on this trend, “Although there is no exact figure for Nigerians who have practised birth tourism, each year 40,000 children are born to mothers who aren’t citizens, who flew to America to have children who get birthright citizenship. They pay $40k-100k to birth tourism agencies, stay in 5 star hotels, commit visa fraud, then fly home. Birthright citizenship is being abused”.

President Trump’s recent executive order of the end of birthright citizenship which sparked a lot of debate, brings to the fore, a visa regulation made by the U.S Department of State made in  January 24, 2020, bringing an end to birth tourism for the purpose of obtaining citizenship for a newborn.

The statement read, “Under this amended regulation, U.S. consular officers overseas will deny any B nonimmigrant visa application from an applicant whom the consular officer has reason to believe is traveling for the primary purpose of giving birth in the United States to obtain U.S. citizenship for their child. ”.

The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs had indicated that it does not track birth tourism comprehensively, stating there is no business interest or legal justification to do so. They also noted the difficulty in separating birth tourism from the broader category of medical travel.

How the U.S agency tracked birth tourism operators

A federal indictment highlighted that birth tourism operators charge up to $100,000 for their services, with a major operator allegedly using 14 different bank accounts to receive over $3.4 million in international wire transfers within just two years.

To better understand the birth tourism industry in the United States, a committee reviewed approximately 3,000 TECS narratives related to “birth tourism” from 2015 to 2020.

Ada Baby, based in California, offers birth tourism packages ranging from $22,000 to $38,000, excluding hospital, doctor, certificate, and airfare fees. Another operator, Miami Mama in Florida, provides similar packages priced between $6,900 and $49,000, depending on selected hospitals and doctors. Their premium packages include additional services like consultations with American doctors and private hospital rooms.

A minority staff report from the U.S. Senate on the U.S. birth tourism industry revealed that prospective birth tourists often make significant cash declarations, ranging from several thousand to several hundred thousand dollars. Typically, these declarations are between $20,000 and $50,000.

Subsequently, most of them make multiple trips to the United States to secure citizenship for their children.

Additionally, birth tourists frequently receive substantial adjustments to their medical bills, sometimes exceeding $25,000, which are often covered by state healthcare systems or Medicaid. In several cases, tourists could not explain these large adjustments.

Federal indictments have highlighted instances where birth tourism customers failed to pay the full costs of childbirth, leaving hospitals and doctors with unpaid bills. For example, one couple paid only $4,600 of the $32,291 in hospital charges. Another couple paid a discounted rate of $4,080 for hospital bills exceeding $28,000.