Dear Mr Brown,

I am currently on a visitor’s visa in Canada and wish to stay and have my baby here. Would my baby lose Canadian citizenship if we were to return to Jamaica?

— TR

Dear TR:

Birth tourism is the practice whereby foreign expectant mothers who have no status in Canada, visit for the purpose of giving birth so that their child can automatically obtain Canadian citizenship. In response to your question, should your baby be born in Canada, he or she will always be a Canadian citizen.

A new paper from the Institute for Research on Public Policy suggests that birth tourism is increasing. It has been reported that birth tourism levels have increased from approximately 300 births, captured by Statistics Canada in 2016, to 3,628 babies born to foreign parents in 2017. It is significant to note that temporary residents would also include those on work permits and study permits.

Richmond Hospital, close to Vancouver, British Columbia and Scarborough, and Rouge Hospital in Toronto are the top hospitals for birth tourism, in which nine per cent of all births involve non-residents; suffice it to state that non-resident births in Canada are a very low percentage. Moreover, non-residents have to pay the associated costs related to the birth.

Critics of the law

Many critics have called for an end to birth tourism, which is seen as making a mockery of immigration by undermining the integrity of that system at the expense of taxpayers, for health, education and social services.

It has been suggested that Canadian citizenship should not be automatically granted when neither parent has status in Canada. It is important to note that a child born in Canada would have the capacity, at 18 years old, to sponsor parents and other family members for citizenship.

Please visit jamaica2canada.com for additional information on Canadian permanent residence programmes, including Express Entry, the Study and Work programme, visitor’s visas or appeals, etc.

Antonn Brown, BA, (Hons), LLB, MSc, RCIC, is an immigration counsel and an accredited Canadian education agent of JAMAICA2CANADA.COM — a Canadian immigration & education firm in Kingston. Send questions/comments to jamaica2canada@gmail.com