- Veronica Smink
- BBC reporter
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Argentina in South America is going through a serious economic crisis. Last year’s inflation rate was the fourth highest in the world, and people’s lives are miserable. That is why it has come as a surprise to many that it has suddenly become the preferred destination for thousands of Russian women to give birth.
Russian woman Eva Pekurova has written about her inspirational experience of giving birth in Argentina on social media.
She described on Instagram how her anesthetist was “stroking her back very carefully” and had many words of encouragement as she went into labor.
“I’ve never seen a male doctor like this before,” she wrote.
The young mother highlighted her experience running a company in Buenos Aires that arranged for Russian pregnant women to give birth in Argentina.
This experience is exactly what thousands of Russian pregnant women want.
33 Russian pregnant women on one plane
Russian women explain why they chose Argentina to give birth
In the past three months alone, more than 5,800 pregnant Russians have entered Argentina, Florencia Carignano, director of Argentina’s National Migration Agency (DNM), said on television on February 10.
She added: “There was a flight with 33 pregnant Russian women on board, and they were 32, 33 and 34 weeks pregnant (all near their due dates).
Carignano was speaking after the “holding” of six pregnant Russian women at the Ezeiza international airport in Buenos Aires. These pregnant women are accused of being “fake tourists”.
According to immigration authorities, the women did not have return tickets and could not explain where they would be visiting. Nevertheless, they were allowed to enter Argentina.
Carignano pointed out that the six pregnant women were part of a large number of Russian tourists with high purchasing power, but their real purpose in Argentina was to give birth.
“Happy”
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National Migration Director Florencia Carignano said the growing number of arrivals of pregnant Russian women was being investigated.
According to statistics from the Argentine National Migration Service, 10,777 Russian women will enter in 2022, of whom 6,401 have left at the time of writing.
Carignano clarified: “It is not a crime to come to Argentina to give birth, as long as you have a visa and follow the regulations. We are happy that they come to Argentina to live, work and raise their children.”
“But the problem we see with these people is they come to Argentina, give birth, register them as Argentine, and then never come back.”
“Birth Tourism”
Argentina is not the first “birth tourism” destination in a world where birth tourism is becoming increasingly popular. The so-called birth tourism is to go abroad to give birth to a child to obtain a “harder pass” passport.
Other countries have also experienced this when adopting the jus jus principle, whereby persons born within the territory automatically acquire nationality.
Most of the countries that practice birth control are in the Americas. The main destination for birth tourism is the United States.
Russians are not the only ones who use this method to acquire foreign citizenship for their children. But the BBC’s Russia correspondent Maria Kiseleva said it had been common for wealthy and famous Russians to have children in Miami in recent decades, and many owned properties there, giving their offspring US citizenship.
“But in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to get a visa to the US. So some women are looking elsewhere,” she said.
Kiseleva added that this trend became more pronounced after 2015, when the Russian economy fell into recession and the ruble lost half its value against the dollar. This makes travel to the United States “double expensive”.
Brazil is another country that receives pregnant Russian women. Svetlana Ruseishvili, a professor of sociology at the University of San Carlos and an expert on migration, told the BBC that in 2015 she began tracking migrants from Brazil and other countries in the region, such as Argentina and Mexico.
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Unofficial statistics collected by the BBC Russian website estimate that between 500,000 and 1 million Russians have left the country since the start of the war in Ukraine.
But it was after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that led to the US cutting ties with Moscow that Russian “birth tourism” in Latin America began to flourish.
“This migration has increased since the beginning of the war,” Ruseshvili said.
The expert also explained that since Brazil does not record the nationality of the women who gave birth, it is not possible to count the number of babies born to Russian mothers in Brazil recently.
However, some media outlets have made estimates: The British “Financial Times” reported on February 10 that “so many Russian babies were born in the Brazilian city of Florianópolis that the parents banded together to invite a An Orthodox priest baptizes a newborn baby in their family.”
“Human Childbirth”
Passports aren’t the only thing that attracts many expectant Russian couples.
The high-quality medical treatment and warm medical care have also been highly praised by some Russian mothers. They share their experiences on social networks and other apps, exchanging information about childbirth in these countries.
Eva Pekurova described on Instagram how her anesthetist was “stroking her back very carefully” and arranged “birth trips” for Russian women to Argentina through her company.
She told the British newspaper The Guardian last month that Russians chose the Argentine capital because of the high-quality health care there.
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One of the benefits of holding an Argentine passport is visa-free access to EU countries.
“Buenos Aires is very popular right now and it’s the only destination we have arranged for right now,” she said.
Brazilian immigration expert Svetlana Ruseshvili said the positive attitude towards maternity was different from the Russian approach.
“Women who come to Latin America are also looking for humane childbirth, hoping that they will be respected. In Russia, these are unthinkable,” she said.
Mexico arrivals surge
The BBC’s Mexico correspondent, Marcos Gonzalez, said official figures showed that the number of Russians entering Mexico had jumped from 30,000 in 2020 to 87,844 in 2022.
But Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics won’t release statistics on the number of births to foreign mothers in 2022 until September 2023, so it’s hard to know whether birth tourism is taking place there, too.
Figures for 2021 show only 77 newborns were born to mothers living abroad.
BBC Russian correspondent Kiseleva said some Russian families chose to go to Mexico and then cross the border to the United States. According to her observations, “this could explain why there are not more Russian babies born in Mexico.”
“Better Passport”
So why are Argentina and Brazil two popular destinations for “birth tourism” in Russia?
Experts such as Ruseshvili point out that both countries are desirable for the same reasons: they have widely accepted passports around the world and Russian citizens do not need a visa to visit.
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Before the Ukraine war, Russian passports already allowed visa-free access to some countries.
Before the war, Russians could only enter about 80 countries without a visa, but Argentine and Brazilian passports allow their holders to enter more than 170 countries without a visa.
In addition, they also enable the holder to obtain a 10-year visa to enter the United States, which is out of reach for a child born in Russia today.
But giving the child a passport for easier travel is not the only advantage for those who choose to have their children born in these countries; foreign parents of Argentine or Brazilian children can also apply for citizenship in these countries.
In Brazil, foreign residents can acquire Brazilian citizenship within one year. In Argentina, although the law stipulates that “2 years of continuous residence with documents” is required to obtain citizenship documents, the prerequisite is to be married to an Argentine or born in Argentina.
use
Argentinian authorities fear that the influx of pregnant women in Russia may be masking something more sinister.
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Experts say pregnant Russians may also want to experience a more comfortable labor abroad.
Florencia Carignano, head of Argentina’s National Migration Agency, said some people may take advantage of the immigration facilitation granted to foreigners to have their children born with Argentine passports and use the facilitation for criminal purposes.
She said three Russian spies with Argentine nationality had been found in Slovenia. “Of course, if we start investigating, we will find out that these people have come to Argentina to give birth.”
The official also said that the Argentine judicial system was investigating the “gangs” who organized the trips and “various crimes related to the entry of these people”.
The Argentine Federal Police (PFA) said in a statement that police had recently conducted a series of raids in the wealthy Puerto Madero neighborhood of Buenos Aires and found families with high purchasing power paying between 20,000 and 35,000 USD to the “intermediary”.
A police spokesman said “intermediaries” completed the process of fabricating documents to apply for Argentine citizenship in record time.
personalized service
Personalized services for childbirth outside Russia can be found on the Internet.
A Russian-language website seen by the BBC offers various packages for pregnant women wishing to give birth in Argentina. The site advertises services such as personalized birth plans, airport pick-ups, Spanish lessons and discounts on accommodation at “the best hospital in the Argentine capital.”
Packages range from “Affordable,” which starts at $5,000, to “First Luxury,” which starts at $15,000.
The site says its founders have been promoting birth tourism and providing immigration support since 2015, and that the company is “100% Argentinian”.