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¡Viva México! Photo: Rafael Aparicio/Wikimedia, CC-BY-SA.
With all the scary news coming out these days, it’s more important than ever to remember to take a deep breath and smile. So to add to Petros’ recent posts, here’s something a little different from the Taiwan edition of Apple Daily, which you should probably take with an appropriately-sized grain of salt: |
唱唱跳跳不慎早產 赴美孕婦墨西哥誕子 |
Too much fun leads to accidental pre-term delivery: pregnant woman going to U.S. gives birth in Mexico |
| http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/international/art/20140228/18640489 | |
| 2014年02月28日 | 28 February 2014 |
| 中國孕婦千辛萬苦赴美生子，結果生個墨西哥國籍的娃兒！網傳一名懷孕七月赴美產子的中國孕婦，因離預產期還早，就跟同一月子中心的其他孕婦去墨西哥旅遊，不料早產，生下一個男嬰，墨西哥籍。 | A pregnant Chinese woman went through all sorts of hardships to go to the U.S. to give birth, but in the end she gave birth to a Mexican boy! A story is spreading on the internet about a seven-months pregnant Chinese woman who went to the U.S., but because it was still a while away from the expected date of birth, went on a trip to Mexico with another pregnant woman from the same birth centre, and unexpectedly had a pre-term delivery, giving birth to a baby boy, [who now has] Mexican citizenship. |
Immigration brokers advertise to the Chinese public very aggressively with the hilariously misleading catch phrase that “a U.S. baby is worth RMB9.8 million” (about US$1.5 million). Maybe to the Treasury, but to a Chinese parent with no status in the U.S., a blue-passport baby is the worst of both worlds.
For genuine high net-worth individuals in China who really want to go to the U.S. rather than any of the other destinations on offer to them, the vehicle of choice for entry is not birth tourism but an EB-5 green card, which can be acquired and cancelled at need for one’s self or one’s children by gifting them the requisite $500,000 in funding — and if they acquire and cancel it within seven years, there’s no exit tax owed. In contrast, flying overseas while heavily pregnant — at risk to mother and child both — is rather the province of the upper-middle classes, the ones who are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to avoid losing out in their scramble to ape the genuinely rich.
| 為爭做美國人，中國孕婦赴美產子的熱潮不息，從西雅圖到紐約，以她們為服務對象的待產月子中心開到成行成市。昨日美國洛杉磯華人資訊網上的一則消息引來各方關注。 | The trend of pregnant Chinese women going to the U.S. to give birth to American babies continues to grow, and from Seattle to New York, the birth centres which serve them have been opening up all over the place. Yesterday, a story on a Los Angeles Chinese web portal attracted a lot of attention. |
| 當地網友藍葉子爆料：一個從中國來的孕婦到這邊生寶寶，覺得（只懷胎）七個月還早，hold住，就跟同一個月子中心的其他孕婦沒事出去得瑟得瑟，然後，她們去了墨西哥，到處吃喝唱唱跳跳，買買東西甚麼的，可能是太歡樂，沒繃住，還沒回到美國境內，就生了一個男寶寶。 | Local internet user “Blue Leaf” revealed, a woman came over from China to give birth to a baby, and thought it was still early because she was only seven months pregnant, so she stayed active and went around town with another woman from the same birth centre. Later on, they went to Mexico, going around eating, dancing, singing shopping, and having a good time — maybe too much of a good time, because she couldn’t hold it in, and before she got back to the U.S., she gave birth to a baby boy. |
Well, to be honest I don’t know how much veracity there really is in this internet tall tale about a seven-months pregnant woman living it up in Tijuana or wherever. But hey — it definitely has no less Truthiness than any of the other, far less humourous news the U.S. Anglophone media keeps spitting out, like “groundswell of international interest in FATCA”, “China will sign by January 2014”, “renunciants got rich in the U.S. and now they don’t want to pay their fair share“, and all the rest of the Stack Of Lies that they try to feed us.
| 事件引起當地華人熱議，有網友說：「哈哈哈，堪稱赴洛杉磯生子十大失敗案例之一」、「回家再上個中國戶口吧。」也有不少中國網民幸災樂禍；亦有人留言安慰：「墨西哥護照也還行，至少不受計劃生育的管轄。」 | The incident was a hot topic in the local Chinese community, with some internet users saying: “Haha, definitely one of the ten biggest failures in going to Los Angeles to give birth” and “Head back home and get a Chinese hukou now”, while internet users in China also found mirth in her disaster; others tried to console her, saying: “a Mexican passport isn’t so bad, and at least he doesn’t count towards the one-child limit”. |
One-child policy notwithstanding, it’s extremely unlikely that any birth tourist parents can afford a second baby no matter where the mother gave birth anyway. The kid can’t get Chinese household registration so he can receive subsidised government services like health care and public schooling in China where he’s actually going to grow up. He’s not going to speak enough English to succeed in an international school, even if the parents have enough money left to pay tuition in one after the immigration broker’s fees, which can run upwards of RMB100,000.
And for all the kids with U.S. passports instead of Mexican ones, they can’t sponsor their parents for a family reunification green card until turning 21, but in the meantime they have decades of FBARs, Form 8621s, and bank account opening refusals to look forward to, to make sure they pay their “fair share” for all the U.S. services they and their parents can’t use.
Thanks for this story, Eric. It is heartwarming to me — even if that mom and baby may never realize they were under a lucky star in the timing and place for that new-born life into this global world.
Not so heartwarming for Simon Cowell’s kid, he stupidly allowed the birth to take place in NYC.
Wait until he starts going through the ins and outs of willing off his fortune someday and finds out his son is under the thumb of the IRS.
I can see that renunciation coming on the kid’s 18th birthday at the US Embassy provided nothing changes.
Which does lend an interesting question? What would happen if Simon kicked the bucket before his 18th birthday? Is there a minimum age before a child can renounce themselves? I don’t believe the US would allow the parents to do it for them.
If that situation arose where his kid couldn’t renounce because he’s not old enough, Simon would put everything in some sort of trust until that could be done to keep the IRS out of it.
Simon Cowell’s child’s situation is completely different. The child has an American mother and is living with her in New York, so the child could very well end up there.. Even if his child had been born to the same mother in the U.K., it would still count as American whether she registered the birth or not.
Anyway, there are no taxation problem involved in a U.S. person inheriting a fortune from the U.K., since that helps the capital flow into the U.S.. It is the movement of assets away from the U.S. that is strictly limited. I am also sure that there are loads of highly qualified professionals in London and New York who will gladly help Cowell with such matters.
Badly informed upper middle class Chinese are a completely different matter. How tragic that these people want to do the best for their children and are being so inadequately informed of the downside.
Good point about that green card. If you have enough money, you can buy yourself residency or employment rights in many countries nowadays..
A Mexican passport is not bad at all. Mexicans can travel without a visa to many countries, including most of Europe, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and all of Latin America, including a few countries that require a visa or fee from US citizens. And of course, no CBT.
In any case, if the mother really wanted her child to be American, she could have done something much more simple: travel to the Northern Mariana Islands. Chinese citizens can travel there without a visa, it’s much closer to China, and children born there are US citizens just like those born in the states. Indeed there are many Chinese mothers who do this.
This kid and his mom will one day realize how lucky they are. Of course, the reason some people still wish to have their babies in the U.S. is because most are still unaware of the concept of citizenship-based taxation and all that it implies.
The Moscow Times has an article and brief video report on Russian women giving birth in the US and elsewhere abroad. In addition to obtaining a US or another non-Russian citizenship for the child, the poor care in Russian state maternity wards is a contributing factor:
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-women-flock-to-miami-to-give-birth-to-us-citizens-video/498066.html
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/multimedia/video/the-growing-trend-of-birth-tourism/498054.html
A Shenyang man was given a six-month suspended sentence for buying fake household registration for his US-born daughter so she could attend public school in Beijing. Without the fake papers, she would have had to attend an international school where she’d pay much higher fees.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2014-07/25/c_1111790735.htm
Kind of a slap-on-the-wrist sentence; I guess China isn’t particularly serious about cracking down on dual nationality. So how seriously do you think they’ll enforce FATCA against their own citizens (as opposed to American expat employees)?
And, the other way around: six-months-pregnant Sasketchewan woman gives birth prematurely during Hawaii vacation:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/million-dollar-baby-canadians-handed-1m-bill-after-woman-gives-birth-in-u-s-1.2107020?hootPostID=d1b7ac2b1f5d1b6246e8db1b269c36c5
Her travel medical insurance company refused to pay the hospital bill, meaning the birth cost her $950,000. (No mention of extra costs imposed by the IRS or banks.)