The United States Embassy in Georgetown has issued a stern warning to Guyanese against using their tourist visa to travel to the US to give birth in order to obtain citizenship there for the child.
“Using your visa to travel for the primary purpose of giving birth in the United States, so that your child will have US citizenship, is NOT permitted,” the Embassy stated in social media post on Wednesday.
According to the Embassy, persons caught doing this could face non-renewal of their visas or rejection of new applicants.
“Consular officers will deny your visa application if they have reason to believe this is your intent. Furthermore, if you already have a visa and travel to the United States for the primary purpose of giving birth, and you use Medicaid or other U.S Government assistance to pay for your medical care, you may not be eligible to renew your visa in the future,” it noted.
Similar warnings have been issued in several countries including in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Birth tourism is a common practice whereby individuals travel from their homeland to another country, mainly developed nations like the US and Canada, to secure birthright citizenship for their children.
This notice from the Georgetown Embassy comes on the heels of an aggressive immigration crackdown by the Donald Trump Administration.
