Birth Scams - Citizenship Troubles

There has been an alarming increase in what Canadian officials are calling incidences of "birth tourism". A foreign national will touch down and remain in Canada until their baby is born, so that the child can gain citizenship. These "passport" babies are causing a political uproar for a number of reasons. According to the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Minister, the old law of "citizenship by place of birth"is extremely out-of-date and needs to be remedied. Apparently, the Canadian and American citizenship system is unique in the developing world, in that most nations in the world, immigrants  require a blood connection; At least one parent must have been born in that country or the immigrant will have lived there for a significant amount of time.

China has come under fire, as reports of fraudulent immigration consultants coaching pregnant Chinese women on how to conceal their pregnancies when they arrived in Canada. They are then told to keep out of sight, until the birth of their baby (of whom can take full advantage of the health care system, and educational system). After the birth of their "instant- Canadian", off they fly, back to China with the intention of using their babies citizenship to move the entire family to Canada at a later date. Canadian hospitals have been on the hook for paying the bills of several of these 'passport babies', as the mother's have disappeared before paying their bill.

This issue has only recently come to light within the Canadian public, and the reactions are mixed. Canada's natural population has a low birthrate, immigration is necessary to keep the population balanced, and critics of this possible new legislation are concerned that a drastic change to the law will discourage immigration, and harm the nation economically.

The concern at the end of the day, is how will this new legislation effect babies illegally born in Canada? Will they become stateless? Canada has signed international treaties stating they would never render a national of any country stateless. But in the same breath, how do we ensure that tax payers are not on the hook for unpaid medical bills? If Canada is to work on this issue and come to a resolution by the year's end, these are questions that cannot be left unanswered or unattended.