Why Russian women travel to Argentina to give birth

Argentina has always been a country of immigrants. In the 19th century, millions of Italians and Spaniards came to plow the country’s fields. More recently, hundreds of thousands of Bolivians, Paraguayans and Venezuelans have done so. But the latest wave is different. According to Florencia Carignano, head of Argentina’s immigration authority, some 22,000 Russians entered Argentina last year, and an unusually high number were pregnant womenmany are about to give birth. Restaurants in Palermo, an upscale neighborhood in Buenos Aires, have published menus in Russian. Suddenly, the Russian Orthodox Church in town is full of people. Why do women travel halfway around the world to give birth?

Argentina’s lax immigration laws, introduced in the 19th century to encourage European immigration, remain lax today. Many foreigners, including Russians, can enter as tourists without a visa and stay there for 90 days. There health care is free and, as in the United States, children of foreign parents born on Argentine soil automatically receive citizenship. Having an Argentinian child can halve the time it would normally take parents to obtain a passportonly two years.

It’s a big attraction. An Argentinian passport allows visa-free travel to some 170 countries, 53 more than a Russian passport, according to the Henley Passport Index. In fact, it seems plausible that acquiring Argentine citizenship for babies is the main reason pregnant Russians come to the country. More than half of the Russians who entered Argentina last year, including 6,400 women, have already left.. Ms Carignano said some 2,500 have applied for residency.

The phenomenon of Russian pregnancy tourism is not new. In the late 2010s, hundreds of wealthy Russian women traveled to Miami, where there was already a small Russian community nicknamed “Little Moscow”, to give birth. But since 2021, almost all Russians who want to travel to America have had to apply for visas in other countries.

This has made several Latin American countries more attractive. A group of pregnant Russians seems to be heading towards Brazil, which also offers birthright citizenship. But Argentinian cuisine, architecture and culture seem more “European” to Russian visitors. A small business industry has emerged which offer travel packages to pregnant Russians which include accommodation, translation services and medical visits for thousands of dollars. (They often exaggerate how easily Russian parents of babies born in Argentina will be able to obtain citizenship themselves.)

The influx of pregnant Russian women has caused worry in Argentina and abroad. It is feared that criminals or spies Russians can obtain Argentine passports by posing as the husbands of pregnant women or by using the emerging industry to expedite citizenship applications. In January, two alleged Russian spies with fake Argentinian passports were arrested in Slovenia.

The Argentine government maintains that Russian women who travel to the country to give birth they cannot enter as tourists, but must apply for residency. In February, immigration authorities arrested six Russian women who allegedly entered the country to give birth and could not prove they had come for tourism. They have since been released. Justice is also investigating several of the agencies that help Russian mothers. On February 11, Argentina began suspending the residence permits of Russian women who entered the country to give birth but did not stay there.

For now, Argentina appears to be clinging to its lax immigration regime. But the authorities know that the risks are serious. In a TV interview, Carignano said, “What is at stake is the security of our passport”.

© The Economist