The United States Department of State said on Thursday, November 12, that its Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force has now revoked more than 6,000 visas from foreigners who, the department says, engaged in or facilitated birth tourism — travel to the United States mainly to give birth so that the child acquires US citizenship. "We are identifying and holding accountable everyone involved in this illicit practice," the department said in a post on its official X account.
Source: IANS via HiIndia
This is an update to a story Awaaz Punjab has followed since October: the task force was established on August 12, when the department said it had already revoked more than 600 visas globally; reporting put the tally near 2,300 by late September; and on October 31 the department announced the figure had passed 4,000, including more than 700 visas held by Chinese nationals. Thursday's announcement gave no nationality breakdown, and because each figure was announced as a threshold — "more than" a round number — the statements do not establish an exact increase between milestones.
The department's announcement concerns visa revocations. A revocation cancels a visa; it does not by itself establish that a person was deported, and it is not a criminal conviction. The people affected, according to the department's own description, include both travellers it says engaged in birth tourism and people it says facilitated it — a category that reporting on the crackdown has described as including commercial operators that market birth packages with hospital deliveries, accommodation and coaching on visa interviews.
The rule behind the crackdown
The enforcement rests on a State Department rule, in place since January 2020, under which travel "with the primary purpose of obtaining US citizenship for a child by giving birth in the United States is an impermissible basis for the issuance of a B nonimmigrant visa" — the B category covers ordinary business and tourist visitor visas. The rule created a rebuttable presumption: if a consular officer has reason to believe an applicant will give birth during her stay, the officer may presume that is the primary purpose unless the applicant shows otherwise. The rule did not change how US citizenship itself is acquired; a child born on US soil still acquires citizenship under the US Constitution, which is precisely the gap between visa policy and citizenship law that the crackdown operates in.
Giving birth in the United States is not itself a crime, a point Awaaz Punjab's October reporting noted as the task force's record reviews — including an October cable ordering a review of flight manifests from 2020 to 2026 — spread fear and confusion among border communities and ordinary travellers, as reported at the time by KTEP.
Restrictions on facilitators, and a tip portal
On September 23, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions targeting people who knowingly engage in or facilitate birth tourism, with certain family members also potentially covered, and the department announced an online visa-fraud tip portal for reports about suspected schemes. Thursday's 6,000 figure is the first headline total announced since those restrictions took effect, and the department's language — "identifying and holding accountable everyone involved" — signals the reviews are continuing rather than closing.
Why this matters to diaspora families
Visitor visas are the everyday route into the United States for millions of families — for weddings, family visits, tourism and genuine medical care — including large numbers of Indian and Punjabi families whose relatives live across the US. A crackdown built on presumptions therefore reaches beyond commercial birth-tourism operators: a pregnant traveller applying for a B visa, or arriving at a US airport, can face questions about the purpose of the trip and be asked to show that the primary purpose is something else, or that medical travel is legitimate and paid for. Official guidance continues to distinguish lawful medical travel from birth tourism, but the burden of rebutting the presumption falls on the applicant.
The State Department's figures count cancelled visas. A revocation does not by itself mean the holder was deported or convicted of a crime — it means the visa is no longer valid for travel to the United States.
What happens next
The task force's work is ongoing, and the department has given no final target number. Further revocations are likely as record reviews that reach back to 2020 continue, and facilitators named under the September restrictions face lasting bars on US travel. The wider administration push against birthright citizenship continues to face legal challenges in US courts, but Thursday's announcement rests on the narrower, already-operating visa rule — which means the revocations can continue whatever happens to the broader citizenship fight. Travellers with questions about a revoked visa are directed by the department to its consular channels; there is no announced appeal process for a revocation.