Read to know why 5,000 pregnant Russians want Argentine passports
Key takeaways:
- The pregnant Russians arrive in Argentina heavily pregnant, the government’s national migration agency said.
Officials say that nearly 5,000 pregnant Russians have entered Argentina recently, including 33 on a single Thursday plane.
Many pregnant Russian demand Argentine passports:
According to the federal migration agency, the latest arrivals were all in the last weeks of pregnancy. It is believed that women want to ensure their infants are born in Argentina to get Argentinian citizenship.
The number of arrivals has grown recently, which local media suggests is a consequence of the war in Ukraine.
Of the 33 females who arrived in the Argentinian capital on one plane on Thursday, three were jailed because of “issues with their documentation”, joining three more who came on the last day, migration agency chair Florencia Carignano told La Nacion.
She stated that the Russian women had initially said they were visiting Argentina as tourists.
“In these circumstances, it was noticed that they did not come here to engage in tourism activities. They accepted it themselves.”
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She said the Russian women wanted their kids to have Argentinian citizenship because it gave them more space than a Russian visa.
“The issue is that they come to Argentina, sign up their kids as Argentinean and go. Our passport is very secure across the world. It lets [passport-holders] enter 171 nations visa-free,” Ms Carignano said.
Having an Argentine kid also speeds up the citizenship procedure for parents. As it stands, Russians can go visa-free to just 87 nations.
Travelling to numerous Western countries has become more challenging for Russians since their country attacked Ukraine last February.
Last September, the passport facilitation pact between the EU and Russia was suspended, resulting in the demand for more documentation, increased processing times and more restrictive laws for issuing passports.
Several governments have suspended tourist visas for Russians, including all EU member states bordering Russia.
