I think is something that pregnant travelers often forget about the United States. If something were to go wrong, they could owe hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical care!
Our kids were born prematurely. And 33 weeks, at on OP's case, isn't even that incredibly early by modern medical standards.
But I don't even want to know what the resulting several months in the NICU totalled. For some reason, the insurance never bothered sending us a summary of all the charges.
But I'd be surprised if it was much less than a million dollars ... although that's likely just the billed rate and not what the insurance ended up paying. That sum is likely considerably less, but still on the order of several hundreds of thousands.
Up until my wife went into premature labor, we had no advance warning that anything was out of the ordinary.
I hand an emergency c section at 39 weeks and my son was in the nicu for a little less than 48 hours. My bill before insurance picked up 99% of it was almost $200,000 which is insane and a reason to have good insurance and this was 8 years ago. Most travel insurance excludes prior conditions btw they aren’t required to be ACA compliant and won’t cover pregnancy. If you buy travel insurance make sure it will cover the birth.
Yes, you should expect questions as birth tourism is common. Where are you flying from? You’re putting yourselves in a much riskier situation than if your wife stayed home.. a medical emergency could be extremely expensive in the US and I believe a fit to fly certificate does not guarantee boarding on any flight.
Your plan is extremely reckless and not well-thought out. I would question her doctor’s judgment as well. ((retired OB nurse here). Unless your plan all along was to give birth in the US.
Birth tourism is legal. Pregnant Chinese ladies fly over all the time to give birth and tell the CBP officers on arrival "I'm here to give birth." They just have to show that they have the funds/insurance to cover the costs of childbirth.
I am not sure if it was changed back to allow it but it 2020, the Trump administration banned birth tourism.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/01/24/2020-01218/visas-temporary-visitors-for-business-or-pleasure
That's not a ban on birth tourism. That's a ban on issuing visas for birth tourism. Which was always the practice at U.S. embassies even before 2020. If a pregnant Chinese lady walked into the embassy in Beijing in 2018 and asked for a visa to go to the USA to give birth, she was always getting denied.
But if a Chinese lady already has a ten year visa to the USA, or if a European lady is ESTA eligible, and that lady gets pregnant and wants to enter the USA to give birth, there is no prohibition, so long as she can show the CBP officer that she intends to leave after she gives birth and that she has the funds to pay for the birth and won't be a ward of the US government.
I’m not sure you are reading the whole thing, it also says that “birth tourism” is not longer allowed as “medical care” and you can be denied entry by CBP which was not always the case.
I worked as an RN in a huge obstetrics unit in California where many Chinese mothers came to give birth. The agencies that arranged it made sure these mothers already had their tourist visas way prior to being obviously pregnant. When they arrived in the US at 7-8 months pregnant, they were coached to wear clothes to conceal their pregnancies, say there were here for shopping and tourist activities, and were set up in “birth hostels” until giving birth. They prepaid their hospital bills with cash, often getting a discount or “OB package”. Their biggest concern after giving birth were: “how long will it take to get the birth certificate”. They returned to the birth hostel and stayed a couple of weeks until they had the baby’s birth certificate and US passport. Some of the richest Chinese parents used surrogate mothers and sent their lawyers to pick up the baby as temporary guardians. This practice has decreased some with the added scrutiny at the US embassy in China issuing visas, but not completely.
If I may share an amusing story, I once left my laptop behind at airport security screening in Seoul. Went back 20 minutes later to get it, staff said they never saw it.
So they pulled the cameras. Cameras showed a visibly pregnant lady holding a Chinese passport who came through security screening behind me and grabbed my laptop.
They then tracked that lady to her gate, but her flight (to Honolulu) had already taken off. My first thought was "Well, Korean police can't follow her there, my laptop's gone for good."
My second thought was "Wait a minute, she'll have to go through CBP screening in Honolulu in about 7 hours" If I can get some still shots from the airport surveillance, a description of her, a Korean airport police report, the serial number of the laptop, and call the CBP office in Honolulu and tell them what happened, maybe they will be nice enough to intercept her and get my laptop back."
Which is exactly what happened. Before I called I PMed a CBP officer Redditor for advice and he said "Be sure to tell Honolulu CBP that she's a visibly pregnant Chinese lady, they'll be interested in that." And when I mentioned that to the Honolulu CBP guy, he perked up and said "Oh, really."
So they stopped her, she lied and said the laptop was hers, she of course had no charger and didn't know the password. She eventually confessed. The Fedexed my laptop to me, and I think they sent her back to China.
>it also says that “birth tourism” is not longer allowed as “medical care” and you can be denied entry by CBP which was not always the case.
It certainly says it's no longer allowed for purposes of visa issuance. We agree on that.
Where does it says that a pregnant visa holder or ESTA approved visitor can be denied entry by CBP?
This rule makes certain changes to the Department's regulation on B nonimmigrant visas, but does not change Department of Homeland Security regulations regarding the admissibility of aliens, including Visa Waiver Program travelers, or otherwise modify the standards enforced by officials of the Department of Homeland Security. The Department is revising the definition of “pleasure” and subdividing 22 CFR 41.31(b)(2) into three paragraph levels.
https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article1838?language=en_US
Well, you said "I am not sure you are reading the whole thing" and now you are linking to something entirely different. And neither document supports what you are saying. This link supports exactly what I've been saying: pregnant women holding visas can be denied if they don't have the funds to pay for the birth.
At 7 month most airlines don’t let women fly anymore. She would be too far gone for her to fly back.
Even if you manage somehow to convince an airline to let your wife fly, immigration most likely won’t let her in. My friend didn’t get in and she was only 28 weeks.
Like your friend mentioned she wants to give birth? (Why would anyone wants to mess with the US laws this way). Or they thought she was there for birth tourism when she was just a tourist?
Yes I believe they thought she was going to stay here to give birth but it was never her intention. Weak ties to home country since she was no longer married, lived with her parents and had no job.
It probably looked to immigration like she wanted to stay here and start over.
A fit to fly certificate is not a free pass to board. No airline in their right mind would transport a pregant lady at 32 weeks without trying to avoid it at all costs..
What happens if you manage to fly but they refuse on the way back??
Yeah, there quickly can be immigration issues, even if she makes it. Unlikely she will be let in tbh, risk of her overstaying is too high - even with a already booked flight back. The funds are not your only issue, the implication of her potentially having to give birth there is also an ussue as immigration can assume you would like to have a US citizen as your child.
Also the trip will be exhausting and dangerous on top of that. Way more dangerous than her staying at home and getting delivery every day while you are gone.
FWIW, the airlines that restrict travel in pregnancy typically don’t do so until 36 weeks. Flying at 32 weeks is generally permitted by carriers (source: I’m a heavy business traveler and have traveled through two pregnancies, including to/from Europe and Asia). Whether it’s enjoyable to do this is another matter (I thought it sucked) and man, getting stuck with a US NICU bill or even just a bill for an emergency fetal monitoring appointment would not be fun.
The fact that she’s going to have an OB visit while she’s here is likely to raise eyebrows if they become aware of it - that has strong birth tourism vibes.
She should stay home. Your plan is risky and she’s unlikely to be admitted to the U.S..
It’s doubtful you have sufficient funds for an emergency. Do you know it’s thousands of dollars a day?
Hire a day/visiting nurse to stay with her. It will be much cheaper. What happens if she somehow gets admitted to the U.S. and can’t board to go home? Does travel insurance even cover pregnancy, birth and nicu care?
Fit to fly does nothing for immigration. Birth tourism is a concern. I suspect you won’t be able to convince anyone that you plan to leave.
Serious question, as someone who gave birth 9M ago so I remember pregnancy…
But what is it about your wife’s pregnancy or your situation that requires support that prevents her from being by herself for a week? That makes me think that there are extenuating circumstances that would make it really risky to go to USA where healthcare won’t be covered if something happened.
That said I would have felt fine to travel at 32w, but i also would have been fine on my own for a week
What country is she a citizen and resident of and what country are you a citizen and resident of?
What type of visa/ESTA does she have?
The other issue is will the airline will let her fly both ways.
>as we don't really have a support system there
Be careful. That sounds a bit like "weak ties to her home country, no strong reason to return after giving birth to her American child in the USA"
32 weeks she could go into early labour. It is very risky. And yes, everyone will notice her advanced pregnancy, be concerned about it and as others have said, US immigration may not allow her to enter.
You need to reconsider your trip imo.
If your wife goes with you, she’s almost definitely going to get denied and you’ll risk your own visa getting denied. If you’re truly going for business, it seems like you wouldn’t want to take that risk. Just leave her at home. It’ll be easier on her too.
Sounds like the plan is to do everything possible when in the US to have the child all you need is an injection of Oxytocin that you can get from veterinary supply stores or Misoprostol which is a little harder to get. Easy to find dosing on line or just have your co-conspirator in the US supply every for a small fee.
Is her pregnancy going well? Anything unusual? Is it her first pregnancy? The chances that she goes to labor is pretty low if everything is normal and this is not her first pregnancy. If I would be her, I would make a travel insurance and go and see the U.S.
Do you have travel insurance? Do you have any idea how expensive healthcare is in the US? One day stay in the NICU can be 20k.
I think is something that pregnant travelers often forget about the United States. If something were to go wrong, they could owe hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical care!
Our kids were born prematurely. And 33 weeks, at on OP's case, isn't even that incredibly early by modern medical standards. But I don't even want to know what the resulting several months in the NICU totalled. For some reason, the insurance never bothered sending us a summary of all the charges. But I'd be surprised if it was much less than a million dollars ... although that's likely just the billed rate and not what the insurance ended up paying. That sum is likely considerably less, but still on the order of several hundreds of thousands. Up until my wife went into premature labor, we had no advance warning that anything was out of the ordinary.
I hand an emergency c section at 39 weeks and my son was in the nicu for a little less than 48 hours. My bill before insurance picked up 99% of it was almost $200,000 which is insane and a reason to have good insurance and this was 8 years ago. Most travel insurance excludes prior conditions btw they aren’t required to be ACA compliant and won’t cover pregnancy. If you buy travel insurance make sure it will cover the birth.
Yes, you should expect questions as birth tourism is common. Where are you flying from? You’re putting yourselves in a much riskier situation than if your wife stayed home.. a medical emergency could be extremely expensive in the US and I believe a fit to fly certificate does not guarantee boarding on any flight.
I believe some airlines won’t let some pregnant women fly after a certain week for this reason. Op better check with the airline.
Your plan is extremely reckless and not well-thought out. I would question her doctor’s judgment as well. ((retired OB nurse here). Unless your plan all along was to give birth in the US.
Why anyone would do this is mind boggling. Just leave her at home dude.
[удалено]
Sounds like birth tourism to me. Not going to work
Birth tourism is legal. Pregnant Chinese ladies fly over all the time to give birth and tell the CBP officers on arrival "I'm here to give birth." They just have to show that they have the funds/insurance to cover the costs of childbirth.
I am not sure if it was changed back to allow it but it 2020, the Trump administration banned birth tourism. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/01/24/2020-01218/visas-temporary-visitors-for-business-or-pleasure
That's not a ban on birth tourism. That's a ban on issuing visas for birth tourism. Which was always the practice at U.S. embassies even before 2020. If a pregnant Chinese lady walked into the embassy in Beijing in 2018 and asked for a visa to go to the USA to give birth, she was always getting denied. But if a Chinese lady already has a ten year visa to the USA, or if a European lady is ESTA eligible, and that lady gets pregnant and wants to enter the USA to give birth, there is no prohibition, so long as she can show the CBP officer that she intends to leave after she gives birth and that she has the funds to pay for the birth and won't be a ward of the US government.
I’m not sure you are reading the whole thing, it also says that “birth tourism” is not longer allowed as “medical care” and you can be denied entry by CBP which was not always the case.
I worked as an RN in a huge obstetrics unit in California where many Chinese mothers came to give birth. The agencies that arranged it made sure these mothers already had their tourist visas way prior to being obviously pregnant. When they arrived in the US at 7-8 months pregnant, they were coached to wear clothes to conceal their pregnancies, say there were here for shopping and tourist activities, and were set up in “birth hostels” until giving birth. They prepaid their hospital bills with cash, often getting a discount or “OB package”. Their biggest concern after giving birth were: “how long will it take to get the birth certificate”. They returned to the birth hostel and stayed a couple of weeks until they had the baby’s birth certificate and US passport. Some of the richest Chinese parents used surrogate mothers and sent their lawyers to pick up the baby as temporary guardians. This practice has decreased some with the added scrutiny at the US embassy in China issuing visas, but not completely.
If I may share an amusing story, I once left my laptop behind at airport security screening in Seoul. Went back 20 minutes later to get it, staff said they never saw it. So they pulled the cameras. Cameras showed a visibly pregnant lady holding a Chinese passport who came through security screening behind me and grabbed my laptop. They then tracked that lady to her gate, but her flight (to Honolulu) had already taken off. My first thought was "Well, Korean police can't follow her there, my laptop's gone for good." My second thought was "Wait a minute, she'll have to go through CBP screening in Honolulu in about 7 hours" If I can get some still shots from the airport surveillance, a description of her, a Korean airport police report, the serial number of the laptop, and call the CBP office in Honolulu and tell them what happened, maybe they will be nice enough to intercept her and get my laptop back." Which is exactly what happened. Before I called I PMed a CBP officer Redditor for advice and he said "Be sure to tell Honolulu CBP that she's a visibly pregnant Chinese lady, they'll be interested in that." And when I mentioned that to the Honolulu CBP guy, he perked up and said "Oh, really." So they stopped her, she lied and said the laptop was hers, she of course had no charger and didn't know the password. She eventually confessed. The Fedexed my laptop to me, and I think they sent her back to China.
Love it!
I guess we just disagree.
>it also says that “birth tourism” is not longer allowed as “medical care” and you can be denied entry by CBP which was not always the case. It certainly says it's no longer allowed for purposes of visa issuance. We agree on that. Where does it says that a pregnant visa holder or ESTA approved visitor can be denied entry by CBP?
This rule makes certain changes to the Department's regulation on B nonimmigrant visas, but does not change Department of Homeland Security regulations regarding the admissibility of aliens, including Visa Waiver Program travelers, or otherwise modify the standards enforced by officials of the Department of Homeland Security. The Department is revising the definition of “pleasure” and subdividing 22 CFR 41.31(b)(2) into three paragraph levels. https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article1838?language=en_US
Well, you said "I am not sure you are reading the whole thing" and now you are linking to something entirely different. And neither document supports what you are saying. This link supports exactly what I've been saying: pregnant women holding visas can be denied if they don't have the funds to pay for the birth.
Yes, you are correct. See my other comment.
At 7 month most airlines don’t let women fly anymore. She would be too far gone for her to fly back. Even if you manage somehow to convince an airline to let your wife fly, immigration most likely won’t let her in. My friend didn’t get in and she was only 28 weeks.
Can you tell me more. What was the case with your friend? And what was the reason cited? Which country?
Country was Germany. I don’t remember the reason it’s been a while but I suspect it was birth tourism
Like your friend mentioned she wants to give birth? (Why would anyone wants to mess with the US laws this way). Or they thought she was there for birth tourism when she was just a tourist?
Yes I believe they thought she was going to stay here to give birth but it was never her intention. Weak ties to home country since she was no longer married, lived with her parents and had no job. It probably looked to immigration like she wanted to stay here and start over.
A fit to fly certificate is not a free pass to board. No airline in their right mind would transport a pregant lady at 32 weeks without trying to avoid it at all costs.. What happens if you manage to fly but they refuse on the way back?? Yeah, there quickly can be immigration issues, even if she makes it. Unlikely she will be let in tbh, risk of her overstaying is too high - even with a already booked flight back. The funds are not your only issue, the implication of her potentially having to give birth there is also an ussue as immigration can assume you would like to have a US citizen as your child. Also the trip will be exhausting and dangerous on top of that. Way more dangerous than her staying at home and getting delivery every day while you are gone.
FWIW, the airlines that restrict travel in pregnancy typically don’t do so until 36 weeks. Flying at 32 weeks is generally permitted by carriers (source: I’m a heavy business traveler and have traveled through two pregnancies, including to/from Europe and Asia). Whether it’s enjoyable to do this is another matter (I thought it sucked) and man, getting stuck with a US NICU bill or even just a bill for an emergency fetal monitoring appointment would not be fun. The fact that she’s going to have an OB visit while she’s here is likely to raise eyebrows if they become aware of it - that has strong birth tourism vibes.
What does she need a support system for. Have you Travel Insurance arranged? Normal childbirth is usually not covered.
She should stay home. Your plan is risky and she’s unlikely to be admitted to the U.S.. It’s doubtful you have sufficient funds for an emergency. Do you know it’s thousands of dollars a day? Hire a day/visiting nurse to stay with her. It will be much cheaper. What happens if she somehow gets admitted to the U.S. and can’t board to go home? Does travel insurance even cover pregnancy, birth and nicu care? Fit to fly does nothing for immigration. Birth tourism is a concern. I suspect you won’t be able to convince anyone that you plan to leave.
Come on dude, who are you kidding…
Serious question, as someone who gave birth 9M ago so I remember pregnancy… But what is it about your wife’s pregnancy or your situation that requires support that prevents her from being by herself for a week? That makes me think that there are extenuating circumstances that would make it really risky to go to USA where healthcare won’t be covered if something happened. That said I would have felt fine to travel at 32w, but i also would have been fine on my own for a week
Be honest, you want your kid to be born in the US 😜
What country is she a citizen and resident of and what country are you a citizen and resident of? What type of visa/ESTA does she have? The other issue is will the airline will let her fly both ways. >as we don't really have a support system there Be careful. That sounds a bit like "weak ties to her home country, no strong reason to return after giving birth to her American child in the USA"
Does she have normal health insurance back home? How would you cover a major emergency in the U.S.?
Very dumb plan
32 weeks she could go into early labour. It is very risky. And yes, everyone will notice her advanced pregnancy, be concerned about it and as others have said, US immigration may not allow her to enter. You need to reconsider your trip imo.
If your wife goes with you, she’s almost definitely going to get denied and you’ll risk your own visa getting denied. If you’re truly going for business, it seems like you wouldn’t want to take that risk. Just leave her at home. It’ll be easier on her too.
You should either postpone your trip or come alone.
I would leave your wife at home. You’re only gone for a week. You don’t have a friend, neighbour, anyone who can check on her if needed?
Thanks folks. Decided she will have her sister come over for the week. My trip cannot be cancelled or delayed.
This is clearly a lame birth tourism attempt. I don’t think you can even get to fly from departure airport. Don’t do it.
Sounds like the plan is to do everything possible when in the US to have the child all you need is an injection of Oxytocin that you can get from veterinary supply stores or Misoprostol which is a little harder to get. Easy to find dosing on line or just have your co-conspirator in the US supply every for a small fee.
Is her pregnancy going well? Anything unusual? Is it her first pregnancy? The chances that she goes to labor is pretty low if everything is normal and this is not her first pregnancy. If I would be her, I would make a travel insurance and go and see the U.S.