carlt

Does an "Anchor" Baby confer any US work visa benefits to it's parent(s)?

I'm pretty new to all of this and have searched these forums and the web generally but found no definitive answer to this. I know that the baby would be a citizen and could sponsor it's parents for a green card at age 21 but that's of little help to us.

Some background:

My wife and I are British citizens and know we would like to emigrate to the US at some point. I am 42 with 20 years IT experience and a 6 figure income as a freelance contractor. My wife is 32 and newly qualified in English law. We both stand at least a reasonably average chance of securing a US work visa with one of our employers at some point in future but would be pleased with any opportunity to increase those chances.

We've recently discovered we're due to have our first baby in May 2009. We plan to go private for the delivery as the NHS here doesn't inspire my wife with much confidence! Travelling to the US and paying privately there will likely work out cheaper, and due to the 14th amendment, will give our child the added benefit of dual UK/US nationality for their future.

I know that so called "Anchor" babies are pretty controversial due to the benefits they appear to confer to non-working an illegal immigrants to the US. Of course my wife and I have no intention of living on welfare in the US and would clearly prefer being 'stuck' in the UK with a very comfortable lifestyle to being welfare cases!

Being able to work in the US in IT and Law would give us the best of both worlds but it appears we would have no better chance of being allowed to stay and work in the US as parents of a USC baby than we do as individual Brits with no US ties at all. Is this really the case?

Losing our UK careers and lifestyle would be too high a price to pay for living in the US for us but obviously potential immigrants with less to leave behind than us, who are perhaps already economically inactive, have everything to gain from an Anchor Baby and 20 years wait on welfare to get their green card.

Anyway, back to my question. Does the US work-visa application process give any extra consideration to parents of a USC baby at all?

Ray

Yes

No...

When the child is 21 it will be a help under current law ..of course it may change by then

MsElui

search the recent threads on pregnancy in the usa forums (there have been 2 or 3). They list some of the costs that can accrue having a baby over here. Typically thousands of dollars. Add to this accomodation for 2 months or so (as you cant travel after 36 weeks and wont want to leave until you can get the childs passport etc. And god forbid there is any medical emergency - as this can literally add up to hundreds of thousands as there is no free NHS emergency department fallback like you would gte back home. Every day in the hospital costs thousands too - so budget for that.

If you still think thats cheaper and that in 21 years you would like the child to live in the USA alone and start the sponsor process off for you (providing that method still exists by then) then go ahead. Just start saving up for your own health insurance now as by the age of 60plus it will probably need a mortgage if prices today are anything to go on.


FAR better for you to try and get a transfer via an internationsla company now (L1 visa) but you must work for them for a year.

Bill_S

No.

Titchski

Assuming you did do this, what on earth would you say to the POE Officer? "Well we're coming in for a couple of months so the missus can give birth - we don't trust the NHS and we'd like to pay for it here please. Oh yes, we know the nipper will be a US citizen but that's really just a side benefit to us being able to line the obstetricians pockets"

Rete

There is no such animal as an "anchor baby" these days. If a child is born in the US and therefore a USC and its parents are not, the parents have absolutely no right to live and work in the US based on that child's birth. Without the proper visa, the parents are to leave the US and they can take their USC child with them. At the age of 21 the USC child can petition for their parents for residency in the US.

Nor do the parents qualify for welfare benefits. Only the USC child will receive benefits and healthcare. The parents will not.

AdobePinon

Not to mention getting to the US early enough so that it's not obvious to POE what you're doing.

The kid's US citizenship would be for his/her future, not yours. As Ray said, you get no benefit, and absolutely zero guarantee that the kid would ever want to do this for you.

Marocco

They can just say they're going for a holiday. Of course, if the wife is obviously pregnant and the return date on the ticket is 2-3 months away, the POE officer may start asking awkward questions.

To the OP: if you can afford the considerable expense of giving birth in the US, your child will be a US citizen at birth. If you are prepared to wait until the child is 21 and the rules don't change in the meantime, you may qualify for an immigrant visa as the immediate relatives of a US citizen. However, if you have that kind of money you may want to look at the E5 option as well.

scrubbedexpat099

You can always go for a week and change the return date.

And there are cases I have come across that suggest a reluctance to deport the Mother of a minor USC, but not the Father.

carlt

Thanks to all for the input, constructive or humorous. This pretty much confirms what I thought, that it won't improve our chances of getting a working visa.

The child's US nationality only benefits the parents in the short term if they are illegal immigrants.

Otherwise the parents need to go home and attempt to emigrate through the normal channels.

If the parents don't gain residence on their own merits, and the green card rules don't change in the meantime, the parents can possibly retire to the US in 21 years time if the child emigrates there and sponsors them.

So, the benefits as I see them are possibly cost, dual nationality for the child and the possibility of retiring there in 20 years or so for the parents. Could still be worth it!

Cheers.

Noorah101

Yes. The only thing a USC child can do for you is sponsor you to immigrate as an immediate relative, when the child turns 21.

No. None. Having a USC child is irrelevent when it comes to a work-sponsored visa.

Rene

Bluegrass Lass

And unless some big changes occur in the next 20 years, you will have to make sure you have a cr@pload of money saved for healthcare costs. I don't know how old you are now, but if you plan on retiring here, healthcare is going to be one your biggest costs. And even if we do have some type of national healthcare by then, you may not be immediately eligible for it, depending on who can use it.

Just something to keep in mind...

Oh, and you better remind your child when he/she starts working that they are required to file taxes with the US every year, regardless of them living outside the US. As a privilege of being a citizen, you have to report your income every year, regardless of location.

MsElui

and have a look at the dvd 'the business of being born' - a documentary on the poor state of maternity services in the US. They have a csection rate of something like 36% across the us - so 'normal' cheap births are few and far between. As soon as your admitted to hospital they want to insert a tube into your hand - just in case you need drugs later. They want to induce you early - and that increases the painful labour and rate of requiring intervention. Unfortunatly maternity care here is more about making dollars than natural healthy births. Im going through it myself right now and the 'system' is truely shocking after giving birth on thre NHS. I am chosing to have a midwife attend me at home to avoid the unecessary interferance as ive given birth to 2 healthy quick babies in the past and dont see why this one should be any more medicated etc.

Duncan Roberts

The other major potential problem is what if they can't leave before the VWP expires?

By the way, childbirth under the NHS is generally pretty good and if you want to go to a hospital in the US that is better, you will have to shell out a lot of money. For what you are saying you want to do start thinking up to if not over $100,000 for a no problems birth. That would include travel and accommodation (around $120-$500 a night for a decent hotel close to a good hospital, city dependent) as well as basic birthing. You also have to take all the airline rules, immigration rules getting into the US, all the doctors appointments and the fact that you will end up seeing a completely unfamiliar doctor in an unfamiliar hospital into account.

Have a look here, it's the basic pricing for the #5 childrens hospital in the US, #2 for neonatal care. You want to be looking at Case Medical Center and sections Rainbow Babies and Children and Macdonald Gynecological and Obstetrics as well as the labor and delivery charges. Keep in mind, these are for the very basic essentials and don't include any of the staffing fees (which will be several people for a birth), any supplies (which will run you a lot for a birth) or anything should a problem, even a minor one, crop up.

Personally, not a good plan I think and certainly will have no benefit for you or your wife for a couple of decades. It could actually cause you some big problems.

Marocco

That's incorrect. A USC child gives no advantages to an illegal immigrant.

Only for the first five years or until the age of 65 (whichever is longer). After that PR's are allowed to buy Medicare coverage.