Tag: American citizenship

  • US imposes strict visa rules for pregnant women to control ‘birth tourism’

    US imposes strict visa rules for pregnant women to control ‘birth tourism’

    The Trump administration on Thursday announced new visa rules to restrict birth tourism, in which women travel to the United States to give birth so their children can get US citizenship.

    According to the rules in the Federal Register, applicants will not be given tourist visas if they are determined by consular officers to be coming to the US only to give birth.

    It is a bigger hurdle to overcome, proving they are travelling to the US because they have a medical need and not just because they want to give birth here. Those with medical needs will be treated like other foreigners coming to the US for medical treatment and must prove they have the money to pay for it including transportation and living expenses.

    “Closing this glaring immigration loophole will combat these endemic abuses and ultimately protect the United States from the national security risks created by this practice,” White House press secretary Step­hanie Grisham said in a statement.

    While the new rules deal specifically with birth tourism, the Trump administration also has turned away pregnant women coming over the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a broader immigration crackdown. Those women were initially part of a vulnerable group that included others like small children who were allowed in, while tens of thousands of other asylum seekers have been returned to Mexico to wait out their cases.

    While President Trump’s administration has been confining all forms of immigration, Trump has been particularly worried by the issue of birthright citizenship anyone born in the US is considered a citizen, under the Constitution.

    The Republican president has criticized the practice and threatened to end it, but scholars and members of his administration have said it’s not so easy to do.

    Regulating tourist visas for pregnant women is one way to get at the issue, but it raises questions about how officers would determine whether a woman is pregnant, to begin with and whether a woman could get turned away by border officers who suspect she maybe just by looking at her. Critics of the new policy say it could put pregnant women at risk.

  • Faisal Vawda to be disqualified for being an American citizen?

    Faisal Vawda to be disqualified for being an American citizen?

    Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda was a dual national by the time of filing nomination papers for 2018’s general election, and concealed his American citizenship by falsely declaring on the oath he submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), The News has reported.

    According to reports, his status was intact not only when he filed nomination papers on June 11, 2018, but even during the scrutiny of the same.

    The Supreme Court (SC), in a recent judgment, has categorically directed that the candidates who previously held dual nationality should have the renunciation certificate at the time of filing of nomination papers. Various lawmakers, including two senators of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), have been disqualified by the top court on this count.

    Both of them had applied for the renunciation of foreign citizenship much earlier, but were unable to obtain the renunciation certificate at the time of filing of nomination papers because of long process.

    In Vawda’s case, the last date to file nomination papers for the election held in July 2018 was June 8 and later extended for another three days. Taking his document an evidence, Vawda submitted election papers on the last date — June 11, 2018 — along with an affidavit wherein he declared himself holding no citizenship other than that of Pakistan.

    The returning officer (RO) of NA-249 Karachi — Vawda’s constituency — approved the papers on June 18, 2018. It was only after this approval that the now federal minister applied for renunciation of his United States (US) nationality in US Consulate Karachi, meaning thereby he was American citizen at the time of filing.

    Vawda applied for revocation of his American citizenship in US Consulate Karachi on June 22, 2018. Normally, the process of renunciation of US nationality takes a couple of weeks or even months because it requires clearance from all the concerned departments. However, the US Consulate issued the ‘Certificate of Loss of Nationality’ to Vawda on next working day, documents revealed.

    Three top legal experts from Vawda’s own party, including Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry and former interim law minister Ali Zafar, are unanimous in their opinion that whoever holds dual nationality at the time of submitting nomination papers is set to not only face instant disqualification, but he or she can also be penalised on the charges of perjury.

    His dual citizenship didn’t go unchallenged. His rival candidate Abdul Qadir Mandokhel of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) moved Sindh High Court (SHC) in order to disqualify his candidature. However, after a couple of court hearings, Mandokhel withdrew his petition from the apex court. Explaining the reason of pulling out, he told The News he did so “under immense pressure” that he faced not only from certain quarters but also from the leadership of his own party.

    Taking opinion of top legal minds as a guide, Vawda stands disqualified as a member of the Lower House if his case is judged on the same standards which were applied when the apex court dealt with those of leaders of the PML-N, PPP and other political parties.

    A source close to Vawda was quoted as claiming by the media outlet that the now minister was not in favor of surrendering his American passport because he was unsure about winning the election. “However, once he was assured of his victory, only then he applied for the revocation of US citizenship,” he said.

    Meanwhile, ECP spokesperson Nadeem Qasim said the election watchdog cannot take notice on the dual nationality of any parliamentarian by its own. “Someone has to challenge the dual nationality of the said parliamentarian in the court of ECP. If proved that the said parliamentarian was a foreign national at the time of filing of nomination papers, then he will be disqualified,” he was quoted as saying.