BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Argentine immigration authorities have expressed concern over the entry of thousands of pregnant Russian women over the past year to give birth and obtain Argentine passports after authorities said three spies Alleged Russians detained in Slovenia had Documentation from the South American country.
Florencia Carignano, head of the National Directorate of Migration, warned Friday in statements to various local media about an increase in the flow of Russian citizens “from August” and at the same time more applications for residence “because they had Argentinian children”. “
According to the official, 10,500 Russian pregnant women entered Argentina in 2022, including 5,800 in the last three months. The country does not require an entry visa for Russian citizens.
Many of them, interviewed by local and international media, claim that they are fleeing the war in Ukraine and that Argentina, in addition to offering a quality health system and more freedoms than in their country of origin, ensures their children and parents access to a passport valid for destinations prohibited to Russians or requiring a visa.
“El problema que tenemos es que llegan, tienen los hijos, los anotan como argentinos, dejan un poder con apoderados y se van”, advirtió Carignano, quien detalló que 7.000 mujeres rusas que dieron a luz en Argentina el año pasado ya se fueron del Country.
Newborns automatically obtain the Argentinian identity document. Their parents have the right to apply for residency and once granted, they can access the passport.
Although Argentina has traditionally been a country with open arms for foreigners seeking to settle, immigration authorities have set their sights on the residency procedures that Russians begin after giving birth following the arrest in Slovenia of three Russian spies of Argentinian nationality.
“These people surely came to have children in Argentina,” Carignano said.
The official did not specify the case, but said a federal investigation is underway at the local level.
In January, Slovenian media reported that the country’s authorities had detained two suspected Russian spies on its territory and that one of them was an Argentinian national.
“Our passport is very secure, you can enter 171 countries without a visa. You can get a US visa for 10 years. If we don’t start controlling who we give a passport to, they’ll give us a visa somewhere else,” Carignano said.
Six Russian women with advanced pregnancies were delayed in the last hours at Ezeiza International Airport. Migrations reported that they were refused entry due to alleged irregularities in the required documents.
At least some of them have started legal proceedings to enter the country and a judge on Friday gave the green light to a habeas corpus petition for the six to enter temporarily.
“These women who have not committed any crime, who have not violated any immigration law, are being illegitimately deprived of their freedom”, denounced the Argentine lawyer for three of them, Christian Rubilar, in declarations journalists.
“It’s about discrimination and violence against women. The only ones who were arrested are those who came without males (without men),” said the lawyer, who had filed the appeal.