wllorente57

Hi There!

I have a pregnant friend who is in the US right now, not a US citizen nor an immigrant. She's just visiting and apparently would want her child be born in USA so that the child would be a US citizen.

Is this possible? Ive heard about a new law regarding bearing of child, i.e. if the father and mother are not USCs (or immigrants of US) then the child born in US will carry what the parents' citizen is. Or another version is if the mother, not USC and impregnated by a USC, bore child in US, the child would carry the mother's citizenship.

Any inputs?

Englishmum

No idea about the citizenship aspect (as I thought that all children born in the US were automatically US citizens).

However, has she any idea of how much it may cost to actually deliver a child in the US? I guess she has some sort of travel insurance, but I doubt it will cover maternity care & delivery; she definitely needs to check what cover she has. Most private healthcare insurance policies don't even cover maternity benefits until the policy has been in effect for a few months.

It can cost $12,000 + for a caesarian, and if the baby needs to go into the Special Care Baby Unit then the costs can be astronomical.

I wouldn't even consider it unless I had adequate health insurance in the US.

Ingo Pakleppa

A child born in the US (except to a diplomat) is a US citizen. Period. No
ifs, whens or buts. It is in the US constitution (14th Amendment, to be
exact).

Whether the child may also inherit the parent's citizenship is a different
question that US law has no control over. Each country makes their own
citizenship rules. To evaluate whether the child might be a citizen of the
mother's or father's country, you would need to ask an attorney there. It
would probably depend on factors such as, when the mother or father lived
in her home country, whether they were born or naturalized citizens of
their countries, whether they were married. Also, some countries will only
allow inheriting citizenship from the father or only from the mother, or
only to sons or only to daughters.

Citizenship laws are vastly different from one country to the next, so I
am sure that some country came up with yet another variation.

On Tue, 18 Feb 2003 23:44:10 +0000, wllorente57 wrote:

    >
    > Hi There!
    >
    > I have a pregnant friend who is in the US right now, not a US citizen
    > nor an immigrant. She's just visiting and apparently would want her
    > child be born in USA so that the child would be a US citizen.
    >
    > Is this possible? Ive heard about a new law regarding bearing of child,
    > i.e. if the father and mother are not USCs (or immigrants of US) then
    > the child born in US will carry what the parents' citizen is. Or another
    > version is if the mother, not USC and impregnated by a USC, bore child
    > in US, the child would carry the mother's citizenship.
    >
    > Any inputs?
    >
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Rich Wales

"wllorente57" wrote:

> I have a pregnant friend who is in the US right now, not a US
> citizen nor an immigrant. She's just visiting and apparently
> would want her child be born in USA so that the child would be
> a US citizen. Is this possible?

Yes. With the exception of US-born children of foreign diplomats,
any child born in the US automatically has US citizenship. (The
child may also have the parents' citizenship, depending on the laws
of their country or countries, but that's up to other countries and
can neither influence nor be influenced by what US law says.)

> I've heard about a new law regarding bearing of child, i.e.,
> if the father and mother are not USCs (or immigrants of US)
> then the child born in US will carry what the parents' citizen
> is. Or another version is if the mother, not USC and impreg-
> nated by a USC, bore child in US, the child would carry the
> mother's citizenship.

There is no such law.

There have been several proposals in the past to change the law in
this manner, but none of these ideas have gotten anywhere at all
(every bill of this sort introduced in Congress has languished and
died in committee without even making it to a vote on the floor of
either house).

Actually, this sort of change to the law would almost certainly
require an amendment to the Constitution, since the Supreme Court
has interpreted the 14th Amendment to guarantee citizenship to all
people born in the US (with the exception of those not "subject
to the jurisdiction" of the US -- i.e., foreign diplomats with
diplomatic immunity).

Rich Wales [email protected] http://www.richw.org/dualcit/
*DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, professional immigration consultant,
or consular officer. My comments are for discussion purposes only and
are not intended to be relied upon as legal or professional advice.

Jason121

with regard to cost - without health insurance you are talking $10,000

caesarean section is double......

bear this in mind...


"wllorente57" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi There!
    > I have a pregnant friend who is in the US right now, not a US citizen
    > nor an immigrant. She's just visiting and apparently would want her
    > child be born in USA so that the child would be a US citizen.
    > Is this possible? Ive heard about a new law regarding bearing of child,
    > i.e. if the father and mother are not USCs (or immigrants of US) then
    > the child born in US will carry what the parents' citizen is. Or another
    > version is if the mother, not USC and impregnated by a USC, bore child
    > in US, the child would carry the mother's citizenship.
    > Any inputs?
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

nathan barley

So, if someone was passing through a US city on a connecting flight (silly example, because of medical advice against flying while pregnant) to an external country, or was on vacation in the US, and went into labour, their child would automatically become a USC regardless of it's parents residency?

Rich Wales

Nathan Barley wrote:

> So, if someone was passing through a US city on a connecting
> flight . . . to an external country, or was on vacation in
> the US, and went into labour, their child would automatically
> become a USC regardless of its parents' residency?

Yes, that's exactly correct.

Rich Wales [email protected] http://www.richw.org/dualcit/
*DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, professional immigration consultant,
or consular officer. My comments are for discussion purposes only and
are not intended to be relied upon as legal or professional advice.

Thorsten

Englishmum wrote:

    > However, has she any idea of how much it may cost to actually deliver a
    > child in the US? I guess she has some sort of travel insurance, but I
    > doubt it will cover maternity care & delivery; she definitely needs to
    > check what cover she has. Most private healthcare insurance policies
    > don't even cover maternity benefits until the policy has been in effect
    > for a few months.

Not that I would recommend such a strategy, but what would keep her from
simply showing up in labor at the ER of her choice? Assuming that she
really is "just visiting" in the U.S., it should be all but impossible
for the hospital to collect on her bill.

Again, I wouldn't recommend anything like this. The hypothetical
scenario given above should make it extremely difficult to properly
coordinate the actual birth with the appropriate prenatal and postnatal
care. What would happen if there were any complication preventing the
mother and/or newborn from departing from the U.S. in a timely fashion?

Thorsten

Stuart Brook

Thorsten wrote:
    >
    > Englishmum wrote:
    >
    > > However, has she any idea of how much it may cost to actually deliver a
    > > child in the US? I guess she has some sort of travel insurance, but I
    > > doubt it will cover maternity care & delivery; she definitely needs to
    > > check what cover she has. Most private healthcare insurance policies
    > > don't even cover maternity benefits until the policy has been in effect
    > > for a few months.
    >
    > Not that I would recommend such a strategy, but what would keep her from
    > simply showing up in labor at the ER of her choice? Assuming that she
    > really is "just visiting" in the U.S., it should be all but impossible
    > for the hospital to collect on her bill.

And the ER could send her to some OTHER hospital for whatever reason.

    > Again, I wouldn't recommend anything like this. The hypothetical
    > scenario given above should make it extremely difficult to properly
    > coordinate the actual birth with the appropriate prenatal and postnatal
    > care. What would happen if there were any complication preventing the
    > mother and/or newborn from departing from the U.S. in a timely fashion?


    >
    > Thorsten

ukbritguyusa

Would the parents of this new born child then be able to apply for US residence because of the baby's US citizenship??

Surely there would be rules against this? Or not?

Joachim Feise

On Wed, 19 Feb 2003, ukbritguyusa wrote:
    > Would the parents of this new born child then be able to apply for US
    > residence because of the baby's US citizenship??

No. Having a US citizen child does not give the parents any immigration
benefits.
Once the child turns 21, the child can sponsor his or her parents for
a Greencard, though.

Ingo Pakleppa

On Wed, 19 Feb 2003 15:26:00 +0000, nathan barley wrote:


    > Originally posted by Ingo Pakleppa
    >> A child born in the US (except to a diplomat) is a US citizen. Period.
    >> No ifs, whens or buts. It is in the US constitution (14th Amendment, to
    >> be exact).
    > So, if someone was passing through a US city on a connecting flight
    > (silly example, because of medical advice against flying while pregnant)
    > to an external country, or was on vacation in the US, and went into
    > labour, their child would automatically become a USC regardless of it's
    > parents residency?

Not as silly as it may seem, and in fact there are quite a few people who
do exactly that (I hear that lately, it has been getting popular among
South Korean women). The child doesn't even have to be born on US soil
here. I believe the rule is that as long as the flight has completed 50%
of the trip to the US, the child would be considered born in the US even
if it was actually in flight.

Stuart Brook

ukbritguyusa wrote:
    >
    > Would the parents of this new born child then be able to apply for US
    > residence because of the baby's US citizenship??
    >
    > Surely there would be rules against this? Or not?

The parents gain no immigration benefit until the child is age 21 when
he can petition for them.

Rich Wales

"ukbritguyusa" wrote:

> Would the parents of this new born child then be
> able to apply for US residence because of the baby's
> US citizenship??

In theory, at least, no; a child with US citizenship cannot
sponsor an alien parent for immigration until he/she (the child)
is at least 21 years old.

Some anti-immigration sources have claimed the actual state of
affairs is different -- that alien parents of US-born children
have in fact been able to forestall deportation and remain in
the US indefinitely despite the letter of the law -- but I
haven't managed yet to either confirm or debunk these claims
with information from impartial sources.

Rich Wales [email protected] http://www.richw.org/dualcit/
*DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, professional immigration consultant,
or consular officer. My comments are for discussion purposes only and
are not intended to be relied upon as legal or professional advice.

Ingo Pakleppa

On Thu, 20 Feb 2003 06:16:44 +0000, Rich Wales wrote:

    > "ukbritguyusa" wrote:
    >
    > > Would the parents of this new born child then be
    > > able to apply for US residence because of the baby's
    > > US citizenship??
    >
    > In theory, at least, no; a child with US citizenship cannot
    > sponsor an alien parent for immigration until he/she (the child)
    > is at least 21 years old.
    >
    > Some anti-immigration sources have claimed the actual state of
    > affairs is different -- that alien parents of US-born children
    > have in fact been able to forestall deportation and remain in
    > the US indefinitely despite the letter of the law -- but I
    > haven't managed yet to either confirm or debunk these claims
    > with information from impartial sources.

There indeed are individual cases where hardship for a US citizen child
helped the parent avoid deportation on humanitarian grounds or helped the
parent receive relieve such as cancellation of removal (this, of course,
is something they could have gotten without the child, too).

Conversely, there are individual cases where even Green Card holders have
been deported despite having a US citizen spouse and children.

I doubt anybody collects statistics on this, so it is anybody's guess
which is more frequent. My money is on parents of US citizens still
getting deported being far more frequent.