Rete

This is only if the child is not a US Citizen at birth. There are regulations regarding that and you can check them out on the USCIS website or read the Wiki and look for Rich's URL on US Citizenship.

Here goes:

http://www.richw.org/dualcit/

kins

You have no way of predicting what kind of birth you will have nor what medical treatment your baby will need at or after birth. You could be opening yourself up to a liabillity for thousands and thousands of dollars if you don't have insurance. There is no way I would move to the US and give birth without medical insurance for myself and my baby. A friend of mine had a baby with heart problems - the bills for her first year of life were $1,000,000.

So if you can't get medical insurance before you go then I would stay in the UK to have your baby.

But you need to find out more about applying for US citizenship or an immigrant visa for your baby. My husband is the USC in our relationship, and all our babies were born in the UK. My husband was not born in the US, so when applying for US citizenship for our babies he had to prove that he had lived in the US for a total of 5 years since he hit 18. This was surprisingly difficult. He'd lived there for about 5 years and 3 months but the evidence they wanted was fairly specific. They would not accept any passport stamps from non-US airports. They would accept letters from old employers combined with payslips, a transcript from university with a printed off timetable, visa bills, etc. The embassy were helpful but when it came down to it it was our job to produce enough evidence to convince them. Once we'd registered our first child as a USC the other two were a doddle - we just kept the folder of evidence and they could see on the system that we'd registered one baby already.

I don't know about applying for an immigrant visa for your baby, others may know more.

fatbrit

One of the interesting oddities of US immigration mess is that if you don't qualify to pass on your US citizenship to a child born overseas but then bring them in on an immigrant visa before they turn 18, they simultaneously become both a permanent resident and a US citizen on landing here.

JAJ

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new...s/robirth.html

Where you were born is irrelevant. It all depends on how much time you've clocked up in the U.S.:

Child born in wedlock to one U.S. citizen parent and one non U.S. citizen parent on or after November 14, 1986: A child born outside of the United States to one U.S. citizen parent and one non-U.S. citizen parent may be entitled to citizenship providing the U.S. citizen parent had been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for five years, at least two years of which were after s/he reached the age of fourteen. This period of physical presence must have taken place prior to the birth of the child.

If for some reason you don't meet this residence requirement then if your child arrives in the U.S. with an immigrant visa while still under 18, then child automatically becomes a U.S. citizen at that point.

penguinsix

You just can't predict how much it will cost based on other people's experiences. You might get in there and what looked like a $5,000 natural birth will mushroom to a $25,000+ emergency c-section, with another $25,000 care for the baby.

You might want to check into the insurance closely. Federal law prohibits insurance companies from considering pregnancy as a 'pre-existing condition' so that if you do get health insurance in the US when you arrive, the birth should be covered (but please, consult directly with the HR/Insurance people in your husband's office and the insurance company to verify this). I think NHS would be considered previous care so you could switch into a plan and have coverage (can someone else who has more knowledge of NHS-US insurance chime in on this?)

http://parenting.ivillage.com/pregna...e_46wb,00.html

davidw76

We are in the exact same position. Our current understanding is that because we are moving from the UK we are considered as having existing coverage (NHS), and therefore we are able to get immediate coverage despite my wife being pregnant. My employer is currently seeking written confirmation of this from the insurer. There are some old threads somewhere on this board that state the same thing.

fatbrit

http://www.bcbsnc.com/apps/cost-esti...patient&sub=14

North Carolina Costs for BCBS.

Other places will vary.

Bob

In theory you can, but getting proof has been the stumbling block for people, because unlike here, the NHS isn't an insurance policy so they won't be able to write a letter as such that an insurance company over here would want.

There was a thread about this a while back that went into the difficulty of trying to get the proof or what the insurance wanted as proof and I can't remember the outcome.

Bill_S

Precisely. A friend of mine has two young kids. The first pregnancy was completely normal and uncomplicated. The second child was born 4 weeks prematurely, and had to remain in the hospital until strong enough to go home. That extra time added enormously to the total cost. Fortunately they have good insurance and everything was covered.

Amijoe

Wow, thanks for stepping in, I appreciate it and WHOA WHOA WHOA THERE to the upsetness! Yep, I'm talking about my Nat. Insurance payments that I've paid throughout my life (including working through university), when I've never claimed benefits, had very little input from the NHS throughout my life, and three years ago had to then pay my (then) life savings for a potentially lifesaving op not covered by the NHS! I don't think it's entirely too much to ask that the NHS covers a birth for me, especially considering I'm a public sector worker working alongside my local PCT for extremely vulnerable people for considerably less money than I used to make in the private sector!!

But still, a big thank you to all, I really appreciate everyone's input. Applying for an immigrant visa for a little'un sounds complicated and lengthy (as I've discovered with my husband's, so far). My timing on all this leaves something to be desired...

Giantaxe

I think the criticism was from your comment about getting one's "money's worth" from having paid NI. That's a bit like complaining you haven't got your money's worth from life insurance because you haven't died.

As to moving to the US, I wouldn't do it until you know that you have health insurance for both yourself and your child. The cost of childbirth is just one component of the likely health costs you'll incur with a young child. And if there's a serious illness or a complicated childbirth, lack of insurance is going to makes your financial situation very problematic.

meauxna

If you wanted to post your citizenship & residence details as discussed earlier in the thread, we can help you to figure out if you'll be passing on US citizenship by birth or will need to go the IV route.

It'll be virtually identical to your husband's stuff (links are still in my siggy).

Silly Sod

I'll deliver it for 200 dollars. Rushman will prolly do it for a hundred but I will wash my hands first for free

hobbes79

In addition to getting the child a consulate report of birth abroad, you'll want to apply for the US passport too. And that can take a week or 2 to show up. If you travel to the US with the UK one, your child could technically be treated as a tourist I believe, and will have a 90-day stamp in the UK passport!

OT, but I know an American who's living in the UK who only got a US passport a couple of days before flying to the US for a short trip. The US Embassy pointed out that without a UK passport, when they return, the child would only be allowed in as a tourist! With no time to deal with that, they went anyway, and were given a hard time at passport inspection upon returning to the UK. They were all allowed through, but were told to get a UK passport and provide this as evidence at the earliest opportunity.

Based on all that, we got 2 passports for our dual son ASAP!

As for eligibility:

Child born in wedlock to one U.S. citizen parent and one non U.S. citizen parent on or after November 14, 1986: A child born outside of the United States to one U.S. citizen parent and one non-U.S. citizen parent may be entitled to citizenship providing the U.S. citizen parent had been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for five years, at least two years of which were after s/he reached the age of fourteen. This period of physical presence must have taken place prior to the birth of the child.

http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new...s/robirth.html

Amijoe

Thanks for all the new advice - looks like a British birth is the way to go as we won't have any form of insurance (or it'd be problematic to set up).

I won't be able to pass on my US citizenship simply as I've not lived stateside since I was 12, so I will need to apply for both an immigrant visa and a US passport for the baby. I'll look into the process on some of the links you guys have provided me with, thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

This is sooooo much more info than I had a few days ago, so gives me a much better idea of what I'll need to do in the next few months. I believe the plan may be something along the lines of beginning the purchase of a house while I can still fly over there, getting hubby to start moving us over once his visa comes through, and me sticking around in the UK til I'm able to take both me and baby over there. Luckily we don't need to rely on selling our UK house before getting somewhere in the US, so that might work in our favour. Still, I realise I'm going to have to remain very flexible on all this as I'm finding things seldom work out as planned!

And apologies if I got up anyone's nose with the NHS comment - we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, but I certainly didn't mean to upset anyone.

Thanks again