Thousands of Russian women have babies in Argentina to get citizenship

Immigration authorities in Argentina are cracking down on Russian women who have started travelling to Buenos Aires to give birth in order to gain Argentinian citizenship for their children since the invasion of Ukraine.

Source: The Guardian; Radio Liberty

Details: Florencia Carignano, director of Argentina’s immigration office, said that 33 pregnant women, all between 32 and 34 weeks into their pregnancy, have arrived in the country on Thursday [9 February – ed.]. Several of the women were initially turned away at passport control but were eventually let into the country.

The agency explains that the concept of birth tourism isn’t new, Moscow’s isolation from the west as a result of the war has made Argentina, where Russians face no visa requirements, a popular destination for families looking to give their children the privileges of second citizenship.

According to Carignano, about 10,500 pregnant Russian women have arrived in the South American country over the past year.

Carignano said on Friday that 5,800 of them arrived in the country over the past three months.

According to her, thousands of women come back home, leaving Argentine lawyers to obtain Argentine citizenship for the child and then for the parents.

The lawyer of one Russian woman said that she fled to Argentina to "escape the war".

Now, the Argentine Migration Service has begun to revoke residence permits from Russians who received them after the birth of a child in the country, but then decided to leave.

Carignano explained that when the court considers the issue of granting Argentine citizenship to a Russian, the migration service will submit data on the suspension of the residence permit due to the fact that this person "spent a month in Argentina and never came back".

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