Baby Boom for Birth Tourism to Argentina... Surge in Russian Birth Tourism Expeditions

Recently, Russian parents have been flocking to Argentina to give birth.

On the 3rd (local time), the British newspaper The Guardian reported that a boom in birth tourism among Russians is occurring in Argentina following the Ukraine war. The media interviewed Polina, a former jewelry designer from Moscow, who gave birth at a hospital in the capital, Buenos Aires.

In a phone interview with The Guardian, Polina said, "When I lined up at the hospital, there were at least eight Russian women ahead of me." She added, "I confirmed my pregnancy right after the war started and, seeing the borders closing, I thought I needed to find a place to go."

[Image source=Pixabay]

An official from the Russian Embassy in Argentina said that last year, 2,000 to 2,500 Russians came, many of whom were women planning to give birth. The official estimated that this year the number would reach 10,000. Although birth tourism to places like Florida in the United States has happened in the past, Argentina, where Russians can travel without a visa after the war, has emerged as a new destination for birth tourism.

A representative from an Argentine birth tourism agency said, "Reservations are fully booked until May, and more than 12 pregnant Russian women arrive in Buenos Aires every day," adding, "Hospitals are even advertising in Russian." When a baby obtains Argentine nationality, they can travel visa-free to 171 countries, including the EU and the UK, and it becomes much easier to obtain a long-term US visa. Before the war, Russian passports allowed visa-free visits to only about 80 countries.

Meanwhile, Argentina saw a large-scale migration of Jewish Russians in the late 19th century and also accepted Russian immigrants after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. As Russia expands military conscription, the number of people who do not return after birth tourism is also increasing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.