More than five thousand Russian women are pregnant traveled to Argentina and the reason is very strange, officials said

Edited by|Tony Wild
South American section- CJ EDITOR
February 11, 2023 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

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       According to the National Migration Agency, about 5 thousand pregnant women came from Russia went to Argentina.
The women entered Argentina in recent months, including 33 women who arrived on the same flight last Thursday. They were in the final month of their pregnancy.

There is a belief that ladies who gave birth in Argentina in order to obtain Argentine citizenship. Accordingly, the number of arrivals has recently increased, which local media say is a consequence of the war in Ukraine.

Of the 33 women who arrived in the Argentine capital on one flight on Thursday, three were detained due to "problems with their documents", joining three others who arrived the day before, the head of the migration agency Florencia Carignano confirmed to the newspaper "La Nacion".

Carignano said that at first, the Russian women claimed that they were visiting Argentina for tourism, and then it was found out that, according to their confession, they did not come here for this reason. Carignano added that Russian women would like their children to receive Argentine citizenship because it gives them more freedom than a Russian passport.

"The problem is that they come to Argentina, register their children as Argentines, and leave. Our passport is very secure all over the world. The holder is allowed to enter 171 countries without a visa instead of the Russian passport, which allows the holder to enter only 87 countries without a visa," he said. Having an Argentine child also speeds up the process of obtaining Argentine citizenship for his parents.

The lawyer of the three women arrested on Thursday said that they were" falsely imprisoned "as they were detained on suspicion of being" fake tourists", noting that this term"does not exist in Argentine legislation".

"These women, who have not committed a crime and have not violated any immigration law, are being illegally deprived of their liberty," he added. According to judicial sources, the women have since been released.

The newspaper "La Nacion" attributed the significant increase in the arrival of Russian citizens to Argentina to the Ukrainian war, saying that "besides fleeing the war and the health services in their country, Russian women are attracted by the right to visa-free entry to Argentina, as well as by high-quality medicine and hospitals".

Apparently, " birth tourism "by Russian women to Argentina is a profitable practice, as one of the websites offers incentives for mothers who want to give birth in Argentina along the lines of personalized delivery services, airport transfers, Spanish lessons, and discounts on accommodation costs in the"Best Hospitals of the Argentine capital".