Follow US Immigration and Life in the US: Although the immigration authorities have clearly stated that pregnant women coming to the United States to give birth do not violate any immigration regulations and that pregnancy is not grounds for refusal of entry, almost every day, pregnant women from mainland China are being denied entry at Los Angeles Airport and are forced to take the next flight back to China.
The issue of maternity centers has been widely reported. Given that many pregnant women are on flights arriving in the US and many newborns are on flights returning to China, it is clear that the number of pregnant women coming to the US to give birth has been increasing in recent years.
It has been revealed that the number of pregnant women from mainland China being denied entry and repatriated at Los Angeles Airport has been increasing recently, occurring almost daily. Inquiries with major airlines operating China-US routes have confirmed that cases of same-flight repatriation are indeed frequent. Staff members revealed that the primary reason for the repatriation of pregnant women at Los Angeles Airport is that they state tourism as their reason for travel during the visa application, but provide a different reason for coming to the US upon arrival at customs, leading to a refusal of entry due to inconsistent statements.
Airport staff disclosed that one pregnant woman applied for a visa early in her pregnancy and flew to the US shortly before her due date. After being denied entry, she was unable to endure long-haul travel and was repatriated to China after staying in the US for two days.
The vast majority of repatriated pregnant women are denied entry because their stated purpose for the visa differs from their stated reason for entry. If the visa reason is "tourism" but the traveler tells customs officers upon arrival that she is there to give birth, immigration officials may suspect the traveler of obtaining a visa through deception based on "misrepresentation" or "concealment of facts," thereby denying entry.
Chinese-American lawyers point out that although pregnant women are not among the 45 categories of individuals prohibited from entering the US under American immigration law, and pregnant women holding valid B1/B2 tourist visas will not be labeled as "illegal immigrants," customs officials may still, under immigration law, suspect any suspicious foreign national and deny them entry. Pregnant women are most likely to run into trouble when they tell the visa officer they are coming to the US for tourism, but tell the immigration officer they are coming to give birth, leading to a refusal of entry on the grounds of "deception" due to the inconsistency.
A Los Angeles maternity center operator revealed that they always insist that clients undergo "honest visa applications," meaning they truthfully tell the visa officer the real purpose of their trip to the US to give birth. If the purpose of giving birth is concealed and only tourism is mentioned, and the traveler arrives with a visibly large belly, it is very easy for immigration officers to ask, "How can you travel when you are about to give birth?"
However, the operator also emphasized that "honest visa application" is a method they have summarized. There are also maternity centers and agencies that use other training methods for visas and entry. Overall, as more people are coming to the US to give birth, professional guidance is increasingly necessary. If an agency is irresponsible or lacks experience, it can easily harm the pregnant women.