The US has announced its plan to begin withholding visas to Nigerians who are just visiting the states for the primary reason of birth tourism.
In a tweet on its official X account yesterday, the United State Mission in Nigeria warned that the activity was no longer allowed in the States.
“We will deny your visa if we believe your primary purpose of travel is to give birth in the United States to get citizenship for your child.
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‘’This is not permitted. 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.
‘’Consular officers will deny your visa application if they have reason to believe this is your intent,” the Mission said in the post.
According to the nation’s birthright citizenship statute, birth tourism, which permits expectant mothers to go abroad for the intention of giving birth, allows the woman to get citizenship for her unborn child.
The practice is especially appealing in nations that grant jus soli (right of soil) citizenship, which means that a child born on the nation’s land automatically acquires citizenship regardless of the nationality or residency status of the parents.
In recent years, the practice has drawn criticism, particularly in the States, where President Donald Trump signed an executive order at the beginning of his presidency that would terminate birthright citizenship for children whose parents are living in the country illegally, effective February 2025.
The executive order has been a subject of legal battles since Trump assumed office in January.
The Trump administration was prevented from putting an end to the practice on Friday by a new countrywide restriction ordered by a federal judge.
Following a landmark Supreme Court decision in June that limited lower court courts’ authority to issue countrywide injunctions, Friday’s finding was the third court decision to halt the birthright decree statewide.
In addition to threatening millions of dollars for health insurance coverage that depended on citizenship status, the states had claimed that Trump’s birthright citizenship decree was flagrantly unconstitutional.
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Delivering the new ruling, Judge Joseph Laplante said US citizenship “is the greatest privilege that exists in the world.”
Laplante added that he “has no difficulty concluding that the rapid adoption by executive order, without legislation and the attending national debate, of a new government policy of highly questionable constitutionality that would deny citizenship to many thousands of individuals previously granted citizenship under an indisputably longstanding policy, constitutes irreparable harm, and that all class representatives could suffer irreparable harm absent an injunction.”
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