Crackdown by Canada on ‘passport babies’

According to CIC(Citizenship and Immigration Canada), the practice of moving to Canada to give birth to a child for the purposes of gaining Canadian citizenship will be dealt with strictly.

Canada to act tough on ‘birth tourism’--This step by CIC comes following several reports concerning unscrupulous immigration consultants advising pregnant Chinese women to get Canada citizenship for their children by giving birth in Canada.

Speaking about the issue, official spokesperson of CIC, Candice Malcolm said several crooked immigration consultants are encouraging pregnant Chinese women to gain benefits in Canada by simply delivering their babies there.

The advice is quite clear. It says pregnant women wanting to move to Canada must not have any baby items in their luggage, should wear dark clothes to appear slimmer while undergoing custom checks and come to Canada not later than the seventh month of their pregnancy.

Moreover, immigration consultants also ask pregnant women coming to Canada to keep themselves in hiding until they go into labor, reports state. Malcolm criticized such practice of abusing Canada immigration rules since it was unfair to put the burden on Canadian taxpayers.

Changes to Canada citizenship rules next year—Canadian government will be introducing reviews to Canada citizenship rules in the year 2013, the official spokesperson Malcolm informed.

This will be done to prevent Chinese women from using this rule to get Canada citizenship for their children born in Canada. Even Jason Kenney, Canada immigration minister, is aware of such misuse of Canada citizenship rules.

Hence, he says the CIC will make sure to control anchor babies from becoming Canada citizens automatically.

Hospitals in Canada don’t ask about the immigration status of the parents while issuing Canada birth certificate, so, there is no register of such things, Kenney informed.

Canada citizenship is not in any way a means for gaining a passport of convenience, affirmed Kenney. And since the rules of Canada citizenship are, most likely, rooted when it was not possible for people to fly in and out so easily, so, there is a need for modernizing Canada citizenship rules, he asserted.

It may be noted that the US and Canada are the only two nations that provide the facility of automatic citizenship for children born there, Kenney maintained.