America begins implementing new restrictions on "birth tourism"
Inside an American airport
Visa applicants considered consular officials coming to the United States primarily for birth will now be treated as other foreigners coming to the United States for medical treatment, according to State Department directives sent on Wednesday and seen by The Associated Press.
Applicants will have to prove that they come to receive medical treatment, and have the money to pay the costs.
The State Department plans to publish those rules today, according to informed sources who spoke to the Associated Press. The rules will come into effect on Friday.
Essentially, travel to the United States for delivery is legal, although there are separate instances of detention of agency operators for maternity tourism, due to visa fraud or tax evasion.
Women are often honest about their intentions when applying for visas, and even showing contracts signed with doctors and hospitals.
The administration of President Donald Trump restricts all forms of immigration, but Trump specifically faces the problem of acquired citizenship - anyone born in the United States is a citizen under the constitution.
The Republican president criticized this practice and threatened to end it, but specialists and members of his administration have said it is not so easy.
Organizing tourist visas for pregnant women is one way to accomplish this issue, but it raises questions about how officials will determine whether a woman is at the start of pregnancy, and whether it is possible for a woman to be rejected by border authorities who suspect she may be pregnant only by looking at it .