Brazil joins two other Latin American countries in cracking down on Russian 'birth tourism'
Brazil is now the third Latin American country to address the issue of "birth tourism" among Russian citizens. Following Argentina and Chile, Brazilian authorities are denying entry to individuals suspected of travelling to the country to give birth in order to secure Brazilian citizenship for their child, according to The Moscow Times.
According to the publication Baza, border guards are refusing entry to pregnant women and sending them back on the first available flight. A representative of an agency that organizes births abroad said that in just two days, Brazilian authorities have refused entry to more than ten families, and in the case of four of them, an indefinite entry ban has been imposed.
After the birth of a child who acquires Brazilian citizenship, parents can apply for a permanent residence permit (Residência Permanente) on the basis of family reunification. Once permanent resident status is obtained, the period required to apply for citizenship is reduced from four years to just one. For this reason, after the tightening of regulations in Argentina, Brazil has become one of the most popular destinations for “birth tourism”.
Argentina began to combat this practice in 2023, and in 2025 it revised its migration legislation. Currently, the birth of a child in the country no longer allows parents to benefit from the simplified procedure for obtaining citizenship. Applications are analyzed much more rigorously by the National Migration Service (DNM).
Argentina's popularity among Russian women was due to the possibility of giving birth for free, obtaining citizenship for the child, and the chance to quickly legalize the status of the entire family. In 2022, approximately 10,500 pregnant women from Russia entered Argentina. According to Argentine authorities, about 75% of them subsequently left the country.
In 2023, the authorities began to systematically refuse entry to pregnant women from Russia, citing the "birth tourism" scheme. The most publicized case was the arrival in Buenos Aires, on the same flight, of 33 women from Russia in advanced stages of pregnancy. Argentina's ambassador to Russia, Enrique Ignacio Ferrer Vieira, stated at the time that the visa-free agreement between the two countries was not concluded so that *"Russian women could come to Argentina and hide their pregnancies at the border."
Measures against "birth tourism" were also adopted this year in Chile. According to the publication CIPER Chile, the authorities canceled the citizenship registrations of 62 children born to foreign parents. On April 24, the Chilean Civil Registry Service opened an administrative investigation into another 24 cases. According to the Chilean Constitution, these children do not have an automatic right to citizenship.
The Chile Kids agency claimed to have assisted over 200 Russian families to give birth in Chile. The cost of the packages reached $12,900–14,900, notes The Moscow Times.
