The U.S. Mission to Nigeria has shared a stark warning about "birth tourism" to those who might be planning trips to America primarily for this reason.
"Using your visa to travel for the primary purpose of giving birth in the United States so that your child will have U.S. citizenship is not permitted," the mission wrote on its X account this week. The notice was posted on Facebook as well.
"We will deny your visa if we believe your primary purpose of travel is to give birth in the United States to get U.S. citizenship for your child. This is not permitted," the post states.
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Hashtags #VisaWiseTravelSmart and #USVisa were included in the post.
Birth tourism refers to foreign nationals traveling to another country and giving birth there so that their newborn children can obtain citizenship in that country.
Section one of the Fourteenth Amendment automatically grants citizenship to all persons born in the United States.
The most common visas abused are B-2 tourist visas and B-1 business visas - which is what prompted the State Department to introduce a new rule in 2020.
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"A consular officer shall deny a B nonimmigrant visa to an alien [whom] he or she has reason to believe intends to travel for this primary purpose," the rule reads.
"These tourists often cite the superior educational and professional opportunities available in the United States as their justification for making such a trip," according to a Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs report by the Senate Minority in 2022.
The report estimates that birth tourists spend anywhere from $7,000 to $100,000 to obtain citizenship for their newborn children.
Nigeria loses over $28 billion annually to medical tourism, according to the local news outlet All Africa.
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A study published in the Journal of Women's Health looked at maternal and neonatal outcomes for reproductive travelers in Chicago.
Researchers found that 88% of those seeking care were Nigerian.
It is estimated that in 2020, at least 33,000 births occurred among women who were on tourist visas, according to the Center for Immigrant Studies.
In Jan. 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14160 - currently caught up in legal battles.
Under the president's Executive Order 14160, automatic citizenship for children of people in the U.S. illegally would end.
