The United States reportedly cancelled the visas of nearly 600 pregnant women in July as part of efforts to crack down on suspected birth tourism. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed that the visa cancellations were carried out after authorities reviewed cases involving pregnant women travelling to the country.
According to Rubio, many of the women whose visas were cancelled had arrived in the United States during the ninth month of pregnancy. Officials suspected that some of them intended to give birth in the US so their children could obtain citizenship there. Their cases were subsequently reviewed by a specially established birth tourism task force.
The action is part of a broader US effort to prevent the misuse of visitor visas for birth tourism. Authorities have been closely examining travel intentions and visa applications where they suspect that the primary purpose of the trip is to give birth in the United States.
