Chinese giving birth in US increases hundredfold within decade

The number of pregnant Chinese women who travel to the United States to have babies is expected to increase by 100 times next year compared to that of 2007, the Globe magazine reports.

After the movie "Finding Mr Right" was screened in March 2013, agencies helping Chinese women give birth in the US have seen their businesses soar. The movie is now jokingly called a "documentary of an American confinement center."

The report by Globe magazine shows that the number of people from the Chinese mainland who gave birth in the US increased from 600 in 2007 to more than 20,000 in 2013.

The number is expected to reach 30,000 in 2014 and as much as 60,000 in 2015, an increase of 100 times in less than 10 years.

Chai Jing, a well-known TV host in China, participated in the trend this past March, spurring an extensive debate in China.

"The education resources in the US are a major reason why Chinese people choose it as the place to have their children," said Zhan Kanwang, marketing director of JIIAA, a service provider for childbirth in the US.

Giving birth in the US was once a privilege for the rich, but now more middle-class Chinese have joined the trend in order to secure American passports for their kids.

The most convenient way to become a US citizen is to marry one, while the second is investing $500,000 in the country. However, immigration has put many off because of the high threshold and complicated requirements, an industry insider said.

Like China, the US offers free elementary and secondary education, but tuition fees after high school are much cheaper than the cost of overseas study. The annual cost for an elementary or middle school student to study in the US is more than $30,000 (about 200,000 yuan) a year, which means US citizenship can save some 600,000 yuan for three years of high school.

As for colleges, California State University, a medium-level university, charges a foreign student $12,000 in tuition fees a year, but only about $2,000 for a US student.

Zhao Kanwang added that children born in the US are entitled to advanced education resources, lower tuition fees at the place of birth, and priority at prestigious universities. Giving birth in the US is not only good for a child's future development, but can also help the family emigrate there in the future, he said.

Zhao also pointed out that the second biggest reason is food security and the overall living environment, as years of severe smog in China have become a serious concern for would-be mothers.