B1/B2 Visa

[insaintjoy 0]

Hi there! 

 

I am very new in this Forum.  

 

I want to hear everyone's feedback on this. I am currently holding a 5 years B1/B2 visa. I am 20 weeks pregnant and am planning to go to US to give birth there. I have a family member who is a green card holder and married a USC - so I will be living with her for the 4-5 months period. Financially, I can afford to pay all the expenses/medical bills while I'm there, and I know I won't be qualified for emergency medicaid. So my question is, should I have any concerns for this plan that I have? if yes. what should be my concerns? And also another thing, a friend told me that if I pay the hospital bills upfront (cash), they will adjust the costs of the bills (as in giving BIG discounts for it). Is this true?

Appreciate your comments/concerns.

 

Thanks. 

[Roel 7,193]

Anchor baby much? 

I wish I could be so careless with my money to be able to spend thousands and thousands of $$$ just to have a baby on the USA. 

 

Anyway. Being pregnant you might not even be allowed on the plane. You might also be turned around on the border. 

Edited July 5, 2017 by Roel

[doggieandsam 765]

is that how they are called? anchor babies?

 

it makes me kind of sad to not have so much money to be able to buy my baby instant citizenship.

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

****** Mod warning: answer the Op's question politely or do not post *******

 

If CBP know you are pregnant, they may not let you in, though being pregnant alone, even the intention to give birth in the USA, is not a reason for denial of entry.  One thing to keep in mind is thus-paying cash for a homebirth with a midwife, or an easy hospital birth, is very doable. However, what if you get pre-eclampsia or another pregnancy related complication, what if you need a c-section, or the baby ends up in the NICU for some reason?  Costs can easily spiral from $20'000 for a simple birth with less than 24 hour hospital stay in a small town to millions.

 

We paid cash for our last child's birth due to lack of insurance (I was already a greencard holder), and got a 33% discount by paying for all routine appointments, procedures and the hospital stay at the first appointment. Contact the doctor and hospital you choose to deliver at, each will have different policies.

Edited July 5, 2017 by Penguin_ie

[canadian_wife 1,829]

To answer your question the concerns you should have would arise at the inspection point.  Assuming you are showing and expect to tell the truth, the concerns will be that you will remain in the U.S. illegally, that you would not be able to afford the possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs and thus become a public burden.

To alleviate these concerns, what ties do you  have to your home country?  What proof can you provide that you will be able to pay the  medical costs?  How can you show, if asked, why you MUST return to your home country?

 

Good luck and congratulations on the baby. 

[Unlockable 7,315]

Also, another concern is the amount of time time stay in the US by the border agent.

 

He or she could only give you two weeks.

[insaintjoy 0]

14 hours ago, Penguin_ie said:

****** Mod warning: answer the Op's question politely or do not post *******

 

If CBP know you are pregnant, they may not let you in, though being pregnant alone, even the intention to give birth in the USA, is not a reason for denial of entry.  One thing to keep in mind is thus-paying cash for a homebirth with a midwife, or an easy hospital birth, is very doable. However, what if you get pre-eclampsia or another pregnancy related complication, what if you need a c-section, or the baby ends up in the NICU for some reason?  Costs can easily spiral from $20'000 for a simple birth with less than 24 hour hospital stay in a small town to millions.

 

We paid cash for our last child's birth due to lack of insurance (I was already a greencard holder), and got a 33% discount by paying for all routine appointments, procedures and the hospital stay at the first appointment. Contact the doctor and hospital you choose to deliver at, each will have different policies.

hello! thanks for your concern. yes, I figured there was no black and white to say that the intention to give birth in USA is wrong - just never came across anyone who actually did so.

 

so when did you have you last child, though? recently?

[insaintjoy 0]

14 hours ago, canadian_wife said:

To answer your question the concerns you should have would arise at the inspection point.  Assuming you are showing and expect to tell the truth, the concerns will be that you will remain in the U.S. illegally, that you would not be able to afford the possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs and thus become a public burden.

To alleviate these concerns, what ties do you  have to your home country?  What proof can you provide that you will be able to pay the  medical costs?  How can you show, if asked, why you MUST return to your home country?

 

Good luck and congratulations on the baby. 

thanks for your concerns! 

 

aside from the financial part, will the hospital asked about your status when you give birth there? I suppose no, right? And how does the birth certificate works? Do you apply from the state? 

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

I had mine 7 years ago.  I know cash pay for discount is still possible in my local hospital, because a friend recently did the same, but again, this will depend on each hospital's policy.

[insaintjoy 0]

24 minutes ago, Penguin_ie said:

I had mine 7 years ago.  I know cash pay for discount is still possible in my local hospital, because a friend recently did the same, but again, this will depend on each hospital's policy.

I see. My family member lives in Georgia and she mentioned that she had a friend who just gave birth under emergency medicaid. and she was saying if you want to pay cash in hospital they will give you a huge discounts. 

[Coco8 1,042]

2 hours ago, insaintjoy said:

I see. My family member lives in Georgia and she mentioned that she had a friend who just gave birth under emergency medicaid. and she was saying if you want to pay cash in hospital they will give you a huge discounts. 

Still, what is a huge discount has to be considered relative to the costs in the US. Here is an article on the matter http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/health/american-way-of-birth-costliest-in-the-world.html?pagewanted=all

 

You can contact a couple of places in the area in which you plan to be and ask for budgets. You should also check reviews of the places. In general, I think that university hospitals tend to be better but maybe that is because of the places I have lived in. I don't know if they are more expensive or the same, though.

[JFH 12,191]

One of your biggest concerns would be the fact that holding a B-2 does not guarantee six months in the country. The length of stay is decided by the CBP officer on arrival. He may decide that a few weeks is sufficient for a heavily pregnant woman to be on vacation. 

 

Another concern would be if there were to be complications. Not only will this cause the costs to spiral out of all control (I did hear of a baby that spent months in NICU needing several complex heart surgeries in the early stages of life and the total bill - fortunately for the parents it was covered by insurance - was close to $2 million) but what would happen if by the end of your permitted stay the baby was not well enough to travel? These are questions you need to think long and hard about. 

 

 I'm not sure why you want to have the baby in the USA with no family support and with such high costs. If money is no issue then is there a good private hospital in your home country that you could use? Or another country that you can get to by land? Note that although a child born in the USA will instantly acquire US citizenship, there will be no immigration benefit for you for

another 21 years - if at all. I do know that myths regularly circulate the internet that having a baby in the USA immediately gets you a green card. It's not true.

[insaintjoy 0]

6 minutes ago, JFH said:

One of your biggest concerns would be the fact that holding a B-2 does not guarantee six months in the country. The length of stay is decided by the CBP officer on arrival. He may decide that a few weeks is sufficient for a heavily pregnant woman to be on vacation. 

 

Another concern would be if there were to be complications. Not only will this cause the costs to spiral out of all control (I did hear of a baby that spent months in NICU needing several complex heart surgeries in the early stages of life and the total bill - fortunately for the parents it was covered by insurance - was close to $2 million) but what would happen if by the end of your permitted stay the baby was not well enough to travel? These are questions you need to think long and hard about. 

 

 I'm not sure why you want to have the baby in the USA with no family support and with such high costs. If money is no issue then is there a good private hospital in your home country that you could use? Or another country that you can get to by land? Note that although a child born in the USA will instantly acquire US citizenship, there will be no immigration benefit for you for

another 21 years - if at all. I do know that myths regularly circulate the internet that having a baby in the USA immediately gets you a green card. It's not true.

Hi JFH, 

 

Thanks for raising your concerns. 

 

Main purpose I want my baby to have the US citizenship is mainly for his/her future when I want to send him for studies in US. It will be so much cheaper when he/she wants to go to college/university because he/she is a US citizen. My family member will soon to be a USC and she will be able to take us (my husband and I) through the family relative/siblings relationship but I know that one will take a long time as well, if we haven't won the lottery until then. We are just planning to move to US one day and reunited as a family. 

 

It's gonna be a long way, but I'm just trying out my options here..