New Delhi, Sep 16, 2004
TNN
Pregnant? Pack your bags and head abroad -- to the US, Canada, Australia
or New Zealand. Such is the value of foreign citizenship that a whole
lot of young parents-to-be are putting much thought and planning into
making sure their child is born abroad. And therefore becomes a citizen
of whichever country he or she is born in.
‘The sort of benefits our children will have as Canadian citizens
far surpasses anything they get in India’
Says businessman Shamsundar, father of two Canadian-born children, "We
had some relatives in Canada, so when my wife was expecting, we went
there on vacation and stayed till our son was born. A few years later,
my wife was carrying again, but since I could not get away from work,
she went to Canada and had the baby there. Now both our children
are citizens of Canada." He has his reasons for all this strategising.
"The sort of benefits they will have as Canadian citizens far surpasses
anything they will get in India. Also, they can easily go abroad to
study or work when they want to."
For software professional, Smitha, foreign citizenship for her son
happened quite by chance. "I had to travel to the US on work while
I was pregnant, and was to come back to India in time to have the baby.
But I had a premature delivery and therefore my son is a US citizen.
At that time, dealing with the complications involved all by myself
was quite taxing, but now I think things have worked out better for
my son."
There have been couples who have tried to stretch things a bit too
far. According to a recent newspaper report, after having their child
in Australia, an Indian couple immediately applied for immigration.
But they were denied immigration rights and were asked to leave the
country within one month. The new born child too was denied citizenship
rights.
But most countries do not crack down on this route to citizenship. A
spokesperson for the US Consulate in Chennai told Bangalore Times ,
"There aren't any rules disallowing citizens from coming to the
US for delivery. It seems inappropriate to deny a pregnant woman admission
rights into the country. But if people are actually planning their visits
to get citizenship rights for their children, we aren't aware that it's
a trend."