IMMIGRATION CORNER - Can I Have My Baby In The US?

Published: Wednesday | May 7, 2014 0 Comments


Dahlia Walker-Huntington, UNITED STATES

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

I am seven months pregnant for my boyfriend who is a United States (US) citizen. He wants me to go to the US to deliver the baby, but I am too scared of the risk of having my visa revoked. However, he told me that the baby can get his citizenship, through him, if I deliver here in Jamaica. What if at the time of the child's birth the father is abroad and the father's name isn't added to the birth certificate? Would the process still go through? And do you take cases like these? Would it help make the process easier and faster to hire an immigration lawyer?
- TP

Dear TP,

If a non-immigrant gives birth to a child in the US, it does not lead to the revocation of her visa. Any person born in the US is a US citizen and is entitled to all the privileges thereof. This includes free medical care if they cannot afford to pay in the form of Medicaid. However, what is unacceptable to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of State (US embassy) is if the non-immigrant parent has a child in the US and accepts Medicaid for themselves for the birth of the child.

If you are in the States and give birth to a child and the non-immigrant mother accepts Medicaid to pay for the birth of the child, the mother has become a 'public charge' upon the US, and, for that reason, your visa can be revoked and you can be denied entry into the US, or the renewal of your visa can be denied. If however, you go the US and have your child and you pay for the cost of the birth of the child, that is perfectly legal.

In your case, if you have your child in Jamaica and the father is a US citizen, the child can derive US citizenship from his/her father. It would be much easier if the father's name is placed on the birth certificate at birth or added as soon after as possible. Please visit the Registrar General's website www.rgd.gov.jm for instructions on how to have the father's name placed on or added to the child's birth certificate.
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Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States and family, criminal and personal injury law in Florida. She is a mediator, arbitrator, and special magistrate in Broward County, Florida; and an adjunct professor at Miami Dade College's School of Criminal Justice. info@walkerhuntington.com

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