birth tourism miami

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Nightlife Beaches and Birthing - Miami as a Birth Tourism Destination

Miami is consistently a popular destination for tourists, and with its exciting nightlife, beautiful beaches and fantastic weather year-round, it’s not difficult to see why. For a growing number of Russian women, however, it’s the prospect of giving birth in another country that brings them to this city in a process known as birth tourism. ‍

So, what is birth tourism? If you’re confused, you’re not alone. Today, we will shed some light on this concept. ‍

What is Birth Tourism?

The definition of birth tourism involves travel to another country for the express purpose of giving birth there. Popular destinations include the United States, with Miami being a favorite destination for mothers from the CIS region and Southern California for Chinese mothers. Other popular destinations include Canada and Hong Kong. ‍

Why Birth Tourism?

The growth of birth tourism can be broken down into these three factors:

Secure Citizenship for Children

Securing citizenship for the child is the primary factor for the rise in birth tourism. Many parents want to give birth to their children in another country so that their children will acquire citizenship in that country or have dual citizenship in their birth country as well as their parent’s homeland. ‍

Some nations, like the U.S., follow the doctrine of ‘ jus soli, ‘ meaning ‘ right to earth.’ This suggests that if one is born in a particular place, then the child has the right to live and work in that country. Furthermore, some nations provide services to their citizens such as free education and healthcare that the child would qualify for as well. ‍

Safe and Healthy Delivery

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 830 women die each day due to preventable complications from childbirth and pregnancy, 99% of which occur in developing countries. Many mothers feel more protected with medical practitioners in other countries and prefer to go where they feel more confident in safe delivery. ‍

Political Realities at Home

Some countries may have policies influencing the parent’s ability to have children. China, for example, limits the number of children a family can have to two. As such, the parents travel to another destination to give birth. This act would not violate China’s two-child policy because the third child has citizenship from another country. ‍

What does Birth Tourism Look Like?

A niche industry has grown in destination countries to help mothers organize their birth tourism trips. From securing accommodations to booking doctors and obtaining a passport for the child, companies like SVM-MED and Miami Mama help these families throughout the entire process. They also counsel them on how to deal with U.S. immigration officials. ‍

“We tell every client, ‘You have the documents, you have to tell the truth,’” says Konstantin Lubnevskiy, owner of Miami Mama, in an interview with NBC News. “This is America. They like the truth here.” ‍

The packages can range from $20,000 for a 3-month stay in a Miami suburb and medical care to an almost $100,000 package that includes a chauffeur and a gold-tiled bathtub in Trump Tower II in Miami. One birth tourism facilitator even boasts about the accommodations they offer as “designed by the American multibillionaire Donald Trump himself.” ‍

These packages obviously cater to the people who can afford them. Therefore, giving birth in Miami is a status symbol in Russia. It is common on Instagram to see shots of mothers with their newborns in their arms accompanied by the Russian hashtag “#BirthsInMiami.”

The growing middle- and upper class in China and Russia are fueling this trend, but for these parents birth tourism is about more than just being fashionable. It is about providing a better future for their children. ‍

While there is no official data on the number of birth tourists who travel to the U.S., the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for stricter immigration laws, estimates that 36,000 babies in the U.S. are born to foreign nationals each year.

Since 2000, the number of foreign nationals who give birth in the state of Florida has increased by 200%. Currently, there are no laws that dictate whether pregnant foreign nationals can give birth in the U.S., but a shifting political environment could lead to potential changes in the future. ‍

Stay on top of the latest changes and trends in the medical tourism industry by joining the Medical Tourism Association .

Unveiling the Power of Social Media Marketing in Medical Tourism

Korea: turning the focus to an emerging global leader in medical tourism, exploring the surge of cosmetic tourism: trends and considerations in aesthetic procedures abroad, holistic healing: exploring integrative medicine and wellness retreats, meeting the surge: the growing demand for knee replacement surgeries and advances in the field, bridging culture and care: insights from dr. heitham hassoun, chief executive of cedars-sinai international, mastercard and the medical tourism association join forces to revolutionize cross-border healthcare payments, in pursuit of excellence: ceo spotlight with ms. artirat charukitpipat, stem cells show promise for hair thickening, stem cell injection for back and neck pain, continue reading, informed decision-making in medical tourism: the significance of clinical outcome reports, avoiding pitfalls: top 5 mistakes medical tourism startups should steer clear of, reshaping cataract surgery with advanced technology, featured reading, medical tourism magazine.

The Medical Tourism Magazine (MTM), known as the “voice” of the medical tourism industry, provides members and key industry experts with the opportunity to share important developments, initiatives, themes, topics and trends that make the medical tourism industry the booming market it is today.

South Florida sees a boom in Russian ‘birth tourists’

Svetlana Mokerova, 25, and her husband went all out, renting an apartment with a sweeping view. She relished the tropical vibe, filling her Instagram account with selfies backed by palm trees and ocean vistas.

MIAMI – Every year, hundreds of pregnant Russian women travel to the United States to give birth so that their child can acquire all the privileges of American citizenship.

They pay anywhere from $20,000 to sometimes more than $50,000 to brokers who arrange their travel documents, accommodations and hospital stays, often in Florida.

While the cost is high, their children will be rewarded with opportunities and travel advantages not available to their Russian countrymen. The parents themselves may benefit someday as well.

And the decidedly un-Russian climate in South Florida and the posh treatment they receive in the maternity wards – unlike dismal clinics back home – can ease the financial sting and make the practice seem more like an extended vacation.

The Russians are part of a wave of “birth tourists” that includes sizable numbers of women from China and Nigeria.

President Donald Trump has spoken out against the provision in the U.S. Constitution that allows “birthright citizenship” and has vowed to end it, although legal experts are divided on whether he can actually do that.

Although there have been scattered cases of authorities arresting operators of birth tourism agencies for visa fraud or tax evasion, coming to the U.S. to give birth is fundamentally legal. Russians interviewed by The Associated Press said they were honest about their intentions when applying for visas and even showed signed contracts with doctors and hospitals.

There are no figures on how many foreign women travel to the U.S. specifically to give birth. The Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for stricter immigration laws, estimated that in 2012, about 36,000 foreign-born women gave birth in the U.S., then left the country.

The Russian contingent is clearly large. Anton Yachmenev of the Miami Care company that arranges such trips, told the AP that about 150 Russian families a year use his service, and that there are about 30 such companies just in the area.

South Florida is popular among Russians not only for its tropical weather but also because of the large Russian-speaking population. Sunny Isles Beach, a city just north of Miami, is even nicknamed “Little Moscow.”

“With $30,000, we would not be able to buy an apartment for our child or do anything, really. But we could give her freedom. That’s actually really cool,” said Olga Zemlyanaya, who gave birth to a daughter in December and was staying in South Florida until her child got a U.S. passport.

An American passport confers many advantages. Once the child turns 21, he or she can apply for “green card” immigration status for the parents.

A U.S. passport also gives the holder more travel opportunities than a Russian one; Americans can make short-term trips to more than 180 countries without a visa, while Russians can go visa-free only to about 80.

Traveling to the U.S. on a Russian passport often requires a laborious interview process for a visa. Just getting an appointment for the interview can take months.

Some Russians fear that travel opportunities could diminish as tensions grow between Moscow and the West, or that Russia might even revert to stricter Soviet-era rules for leaving the country.

“Seeing the conflict growing makes people want to take precautions because the country might well close its borders. And if that happens, one would at least have a passport of a different country and be able to leave,” said Ilya Zhegulev, a journalist for the Latvia-based Russian website Meduza that is sharply critical of the Kremlin.

Last year, Zhegulev sold two cars to finance a trip to California for him and his wife so she could give birth to their son.

Trump denounced birthright citizenship before the U.S. midterm election, amid ramped up rhetoric on his hard-line immigration policies. The president generally focuses his ire on the U.S.-Mexico border. But last fall he mentioned he was considering executive action to revoke citizenship for babies born to non-U.S. citizens on American soil. No executive action has been taken.

The American Civil Liberties Union, other legal groups and even former House Speaker Paul Ryan, typically a supporter of Trump’s proposals, said the practice couldn’t be ended with an order.

But others, like the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for less immigration, said the practice is harmful.

“We should definitely do everything we can to end it, because it makes a mockery of citizenship,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, an outspoken Russian lawmaker, said the country can’t forbid women from giving birth abroad, and many of them also travel to Germany and Israel.

“Trump is doing everything right, because this law is used as a ploy. People who have nothing to do with the U.S. use it to become citizens,” Zhirinovsky said.

Floridians have shown no problem with the influx of expectant mothers from Russia.

Yachmenev, the agency manager, says he believes it’s good for the state because it brings in sizable revenue.

Svetlana Mokerova and her husband went all out, renting an apartment with a sweeping view. She relished the tropical vibe, filling her Instagram account with selfies backed by palm trees and ocean vistas.

“We did not have a very clear understanding about all the benefits” of a U.S. passport, she said.

“We just knew that it was something awesome,” added Mokerova, who gave birth to a daughter after she was interviewed.

Zemlyanaya said that even her two nights in the hospital were a treat, like “a stay in a good hotel.”

In contrast to the few amenities of a Russian clinic, she said she was impressed when an American nurse gave her choices from a menu for her meals.

“And then when she said they had chocolate cake for dessert, I realized I was in paradise,” Zemlyanaya added.

She even enjoyed how nurses referred to patients as “mommies,” as opposed to “rozhenitsa,” or “birth-giver” – the “unpleasant words they use in Russian birth clinics.”

Zemlyanaya said she was able to work remotely during her stay via the internet, as were the husbands of other women, keeping their income flowing. Yachmenev said his agency doesn’t allow any of the costs to be paid by insurance.

Most of the families his agency serves have monthly incomes of about 300,000 rubles ($4,500) – middling by U.S. standards but nearly 10 times the average Russian salary.

Yachmenev said he expects that birth tourism among Russians will only grow.

Business declined in 2015 when the ruble lost about half its value, but “now we are coming back to the good numbers of 2013-14,” he said.

Associated Press writers Curt Anderson in Miami and Varya Kudryavtseva in Moscow contributed to this report.

Birth tourism brings Russian baby boom to Miami

MIAMI — Lured by the charm of little Havana or the glamour of South Beach, some 15 million tourists visit Miami every year.

But for a growing number of Russian women, the draw isn't sunny beaches or pulsing nightclubs. It's U.S. citizenship for their newborn children.

In Moscow, it's a status symbol to have a Miami-born baby, and social media is full of Russian women boasting of their little americantsy .

"It's really common," said Ekaterina Kuznetsova, 29. "When I was taking the plane to come here, it was not only me. It was four or five women flying here."

Ekaterina was one of dozens of Russian birth tourists NBC News spoke to over the past four months about a round-trip journey that costs tens of thousands of dollars and takes them away from home for weeks or months.

Why do they come?

"American passport is a big plus for the baby. Why not?" Olesia Reshetova, 31, told NBC News.

"And the doctors, the level of education," Kuznetsova added.

The weather doesn't hurt, either.

"It's a very comfortable place for staying in wintertime," Oleysa Suhareva said.

Image: Oleysa Suhareva traveled from Russia to Miami to give birth.

It's not just the Russians who are coming. Chinese moms-to-be have been flocking to Southern California to give birth for years.

What they are doing is completely legal, as long as they don't lie on any immigration or insurance paperwork. In fact, it's protected by the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says anyone born on American soil is automatically a citizen.

The child gets a lifelong right to live and work and collect benefits in the U.S. And when they turn 21 they can sponsor their parents' application for an American green card.

As president, Donald Trump has indicated he is opposed to so-called chain migration, which gives U.S. citizens the right to sponsor relatives, because of recent terror attacks. And as a candidate, he called for an end to birthright citizenship, declaring it in one of his first policy papers the "biggest magnet for illegal immigration."

"You have to get rid of it," he said on "Meet the Press" on NBC. "They're having a baby and all of a sudden — nobody knows — the baby is here. You have no choice."

In a twist, as the Daily Beast first reported , condo buildings that bear the Trump name are the most popular for the out-of-town obstetric patients, although the units are subleased from the individual owners and it's not clear if building management is aware.

There is no indication that Trump or the Trump Organization is profiting directly from birth tourism; the company and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Roman Bokeria, the state director of the Florida Association of Realtors told NBC News that Trump- branded buildings in the Sunny Isles Beach area north of Miami are particularly popular with the Russian birth tourists and Russian immigrants.

"Sunny Isles beach has a nickname — Little Russia — because people who are moving from Russian-speaking countries to America, they want … a familiar environment."

"They go across the street, they have Russian market, Russian doctor, Russian lawyer," he added. "It's very comfortable for them."

Reshetova came to Miami to have her first child, hiring an agency to help arrange her trip. The services — which can include finding apartments and doctors and obtaining visas — don't come cheap. She expects to pay close to $50,000, and some packages run as high as $100,000. Bokeria says some landlords ask for six months rent up front.

One firm, Miami Mama, says it brings about 100 Russian and Russian-speaking clients to the U.S. per year, 30 percent of them repeat clients. The owners are Irina and Konstantin Lubnevskiy, who bought Miami Mama after using the firm to have two American children themselves.

The couple says they counsel clients to be completely transparent with U.S. immigration officials that they're expecting.

"We tell every client, 'You have the documents, you have to tell the truth. This is America. They like the truth here,'" Konstantin said.

"I would like the American people to understand they don't have to worry," he added. "Those who come here want to become part of the American people."

But Miami Mami has drawn scrutiny from law enforcement. In June, it was raided by the FBI, and an employee was convicted of making false statements on passport applications. The owners say they knew nothing about it, fired the worker and their business license was renewed.

Federal prosecutors declined to comment on the case, and the FBI said it could not discuss "an active investigation."

There is no official data on birth tourism in the United States. The Center for Immigration Studies, which wants stricter limits on immigration, estimates there are 36,000 babies born in the U.S. to foreign nationals a year, though the numbers could be substantially lower. Florida says births in the state by all foreign nationals who live outside the United States have jumped 200 percent since 2000.

Customs and Border Protection says there are no laws governing whether pregnant foreign nationals can enter the country or give birth here.

"However, if a pregnant woman or anyone else uses fraud or deception to obtain a visa or gain admission to the United States, that would constitute a criminal act," the agency said.

When federal agents raided California "maternity hotels" catering to Chinese clients in 2015, authorities said in court papers that some of the families falsely claimed they were indigent and got reduced hospital rates.

In Miami, the Jackson Health System said 72 percent of international maternity patients — who represented 8 percent of all patients giving birth last year — pay with insurance or through a pre-arranged package.

Reshetova said she understands the concerns some have about birth tourism, because it's also an issue in Russia.

"But I pay by myself," she said. "I pay with my money, bring it here to America. I'm not going to take something to America.

"I don't know what my daughter will choose in future. But if I can spend money — my money — for her choice, why not?"

Cynthia McFadden and Sarah Fitzpatrick reported from Miami, and Tracy Connor from New York. Anna Schecter contributed reporting from New York, and Natasha Lebedeva from Washington.

Cynthia McFadden is the senior legal and investigative correspondent for NBC News.

Sarah Fitzpatrick is a senior investigative producer and story editor for NBC News. She previously worked for CBS News and "60 Minutes."

Tracy Connor is a senior writer for NBC News. She started this role in December, 2012. Connor is responsible for reporting and writing breaking news, features and enterprise stories for NBCNews.com. Connor joined NBC News from the New York Daily News, where she was a senior writer covering a broad range of news and supervising the health and immigration beats. Prior to that she was an assistant city editor who oversaw breaking news and the courts and entertainment beats.

Earlier, Connor was a staff writer at the New York Post, United Press International and Brooklyn Paper Publications.

Connor has won numerous awards from journalism organizations including the Deadline Club and the New York Press Club.

She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Anna Schecter is a senior producer in the NBC News Investigations Unit.

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Do rich foreign women give birth in miami then not pay the bill, as rubio said.

Marco Rubio brought up a new wrinkle in the country’s immigration debate that hits especially hard, he argues, in Miami.

"I see people that fly in on their private jets into Miami, Fla., have a child because they are eight and a half months pregnant when they get here," Rubio said at a town hall in Iowa on Jan. 24. "They are wealthy. They fly back home on the private jet. Their kid is now a U.S. citizen, and they don’t pay the hospital bill."

It sounds like insult to injury for taxpayers -- the babies get citizenship, residents get the unpaid tax burden. But is this really even happening in South Florida, like he says?

Yes, and no. The evidence is too murky for us to draw a firm conclusion, so we decided not to rate his statement on our Truth-O-Meter.

Births by foreign women are on the rise in Florida, and some Miami doctors openly welcome birth tourists. But it’s not at all clear these women are then stiffing hospitals, at least two of which require proof of payment upfront.

Birth tourism

Some Republican presidential candidates have raised the alarm about "anchor babies," but this isn’t the situation Rubio talked about in Iowa.

Under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, babies born on U.S. soil are American citizens regardless of their parents’ citizenship. The child becomes an "anchor" that their parents may hope helps them avoid deportation.

Rubio was talking about wealthy foreigners who don’t want to settle here and instead fly back home after giving birth. Under this scenario, American citizenship is an extra benefit their children will be able to take advantage of later in life. Or perhaps the parents simply prefer the American health care system.

The business of "birth tourism" drew attention in March 2015 when federal authorities raided maternity hotels in California. Authorities were looking for evidence of harboring undocumented visitors, misuse of visas, tax evasion and other potential crimes. No indictments have been issued.

A Rubio spokesman sent us a 2013 NBC News report about wealthy foreign women paying tens of thousands of dollars for lodging, airfare and medical expenses. The article focused on California and only briefly mentioned Miami as a city that has advertised birth tourism centers.

Still, we found other news articles about birth tourism in Miami.

In April 2014, the Moscow Times reported that expectant Russian moms spend up to $50,000 to give birth in the United States. The head of one company estimated there are about 40 to 60 women a month who travel to give birth in Miami.

A pediatrician in Miami, Wladimir Lorentz, told PolitiFact Florida it is common for obstetricians in Miami to deliver foreigners’ babies. He started a high-end concierge service for foreign expectant parents about three years ago, and he estimates that he delivers about four babies a month through that part of his practice. (He also has American patients.)

Lorentz’s Portuguese language website "Ser Mamae em Miami," which means "Being Mommy in Miami," features a photo of a pregnant mom on a beach and a cartoon drawing of a baby wrapped in an American flag. It includes referrals for legal advice, Brazilian restaurants, and personal shoppers. The cost for a natural childbirth at one hospital is $9,849, which includes prenatal care starting at 32 weeks, the hospital cost and then care for the baby through the first two months.

He disagreed with Rubio’s characterization of rich foreigners flying in on jets and then skipping town without paying their bill.

"Nobody comes here on a private jet -- that’s absurd," he said. "They come here on regular flights. They pay every single penny ahead of time for the services. ... They even ask for receipts to show they paid every penny."

We found no comprehensive data on whether foreign women giving birth here pay their bills; however, Miami-Dade hospital systems Baptist Health South Florida and Jackson Health System require foreigners to show ahead of time that they can pay through insurance or out of pocket. The foreign women represented about 2 percent of their births, spokespersons said.

As for how often foreign women give birth in Florida in the first place, state data show 625 such births in 2014. This marked an increase from the previous four years, where births ranged from 550 to 589.

The largest group, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration, was 382 in Miami-Dade County followed by 108 in Broward County.

The actual number for mothers from foreign countries could be higher due to quirks in recordkeeping for foreign deliveries. That includes 135 deliveries in which the zip code was unknown.

The most common countries the pregnant women were from were Venezuela, Russia and Mexico, said Bill Sampsel, founder of HealthScope Software Solutions, a company that tracks hospital patient data in multiple states including Florida.

Our Sources

Ser Mamae em Miami , Accessed Jan. 26, 2016

Center for Immigration Studies, "Birth tourists come from around the globe," Aug. 26, 2015

Center for Immigration Studies, "There Are Possibly 36,000 Birth Tourists Annually," April 28, 205

Des Moines Register , Recording of the Iowa town hall with Sen. Marco Rubio, Jan. 24, 2016

Washington Post , "Inside the shadowy world of birth tourism at maternity hotels," March 5, 2015

Wall Street Journal , "Miami emerges as fertile ground for Brazilian babies," Dec. 24, 2015

NBC News, "Born in the U.S.A.: Birth tourists get instant U.S. citizenship for their newborns," March 7, 2013

Moscow Times, "Russian Women Flock to Miami to Give Birth to U.S. Citizens," April 15, 2014

CBS4, "Shortcut to citizenship," April 30, 2014

Miami Herald , "International patients who pay cash may be target market for Metropolitan Hospital buyer," Feb. 7, 2014

PolitiFact, "Fact-checking the claims about 'anchor babies' and whether illegal immigrants 'drop and leave,'" Aug. 6, 2010

Interview, Jaime Caldwell, South Florida Hospital & Healthcare Association interim president, Jan. 26, 2016

Interview, Linda Quick, South Florida Hospital & Healthcare Association former president, Jan. 26, 2016

Interview, Alex Conant, Marco Rubio campaign spokesman, Jan. 26, 2016

Interview, Dori Alvarez, Baptist Health spokeswoman, Jan. 26, 2016

Interview, Wladimir Lorentz, pediatrician, Jan. 26, 2016

Interview, Lidia V. Amoretti, Jackson Memorial spokeswoman, Jan. 27, 2016

Interview, Bill Sampsel, Founder, HealthScope Software Solutions, Jan. 28, 2016

Interview, Amy Erez, Broward Health spokeswoman, Jan. 29, 2016

Interview, Shelisha Coleman, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration spokeswoman, Feb. 9, 2016

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by amy sherman.

Pregnant Russian women flocking to Florida to give birth to new American citizens

MIAMI, Florida -- Every year, hundreds of pregnant Russian women travel to the United States to give birth so that their child can acquire all the privileges of American citizenship.

They pay anywhere from $20,000 to sometimes more than $50,000 to brokers who arrange their travel documents, accommodations and hospital stays, often in Florida.

While the cost is high, their children will be rewarded with opportunities and travel advantages not available to their Russian countrymen. The parents themselves may benefit someday as well.

And the decidedly un-Russian climate in South Florida and the posh treatment they receive in the maternity wards - unlike dismal clinics back home - can ease the financial sting and make the practice seem more like an extended vacation.

The Russians are part of a wave of "birth tourists" that includes sizable numbers of women from China and Nigeria.

President Donald Trump has spoken out against the provision in the U.S. Constitution that allows "birthright citizenship" and has vowed to end it, although legal experts are divided on whether he can actually do that.

There are no figures on how many foreign women travel to the U.S., specifically to give birth. The Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for stricter immigration laws, estimated that in 2012, about 36,000 foreign-born women gave birth in the U.S., then left the country.

South Florida is popular among Russians not only for its tropical weather, but also because of the large Russian-speaking population. Sunny Isles Beach, a city just north of Miami, is even nicknamed "Little Moscow."

"With $30,000, we would not be able to buy an apartment for our child or do anything, really. But we could give her freedom. That's actually really cool," said Olga Zemlyanaya, who gave birth to a daughter in December and was staying in South Florida until her child got a U.S. passport.

An American passport confers many advantages. Once the child turns 21, he or she can apply for "green card" immigration status for the parents.

Traveling to the U.S. on a Russian passport often requires a laborious interview process for a visa. Just getting an appointment for the interview can take months.

Some Russians fear that travel opportunities could diminish as tensions grow between Moscow and the west, or that Russia might even revert to stricter Soviet-era rules for leaving the country.

"Seeing the conflict growing makes people want to take precautions because the country might well close its borders. And if that happens, one would at least have a passport of a different country and be able to leave," said Ilya Zhegulev, a journalist for the Latvia-based Russian website Meduza that is sharply critical of the Kremlin.

Last year, Zhegulev sold two cars to finance a trip to California for him and his wife so she could give birth to their son.

The American Civil Liberties Union, other legal groups, and even former House Speaker Paul Ryan, typically a supporter of Trump's proposals, said the practice couldn't be ended with an order.

But others, like the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for less immigration, said the practice is harmful.

"We should definitely do everything we can to end it, because it makes a mockery of citizenship," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, an outspoken Russian lawmaker, said the country can't forbid women from giving birth abroad, and many of them also travel to Germany and Israel.

"Trump is doing everything right, because this law is used as a ploy. People who have nothing to do with the U.S. use it to become citizens," Zhirinovsky said.

Floridians have shown no problem with the influx of expectant mothers from Russia.

Yachmenev, the agency manager, says he believes it's good for the state because it brings in sizable revenue.

"We did not have a very clear understanding about all the benefits" of a U.S. passport, she said.

"We just knew that it was something awesome," added Mokerova, who gave birth to a daughter after she was interviewed.

Zemlyanaya said that even her two nights in the hospital were a treat, like "a stay in a good hotel."

In contrast to the few amenities of a Russian clinic, she said she was impressed when an American nurse gave her choices from a menu for her meals.

"And then when she said they had chocolate cake for dessert, I realized I was in paradise," Zemlyanaya added.

She even enjoyed how nurses referred to patients as "mommies," as opposed to "rozhenitsa," or "birth-giver" - the "unpleasant words they use in Russian birth clinics."

Zemlyanaya said she was able to work remotely during her stay via the internet, as were the husbands of other women, keeping their income flowing. Yachmenev said his agency doesn't allow any of the costs to be paid by insurance.

Most of the families his agency serves have monthly incomes of about 300,000 rubles ($4,500) - middling by U.S. standards but nearly 10 times the average Russian salary.

Yachmenev said he expects that birth tourism among Russians will only grow.

Business declined in 2015 when the ruble lost about half its value, but "now we are coming back to the good numbers of 2013-14," he said.

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Watch CBS News

South Florida Sees Boom In 'Birth Tourism'

March 22, 2019 / 1:57 PM EDT / CBS Miami

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — Some people come to Florida for the weather, others for the beaches, and still others for our theme parks.

But did you know that every year hundreds of pregnant women travel to the US, often to Florida, to give birth so their child will have all the privileges of American citizenship.

They pay anywhere from $20,000 to sometimes more than $50,000 to brokers who arrange their travel documents, accommodations and hospital stays.

While the cost is high, their children will be rewarded with opportunities and travel advantages not available to their Russian countrymen. The parents themselves may benefit someday as well.

And the decidedly un-Russian climate in South Florida and the posh treatment they receive in the maternity wards — unlike dismal clinics back home — can ease the financial sting and make the practice seem more like an extended vacation.

The Russians are part of a wave of "birth tourists" that includes sizable numbers of women from China and Nigeria.

The Russian contingent is clearly large.

Anton Yachmenev of the Miami Care company that arranges such trips, said about 150 Russian families a year use his service, and that there are about 30 such companies just in the area.

An American passport confers many advantages. Once the child turns 21, he or she can apply for "green card" immigration status for the parents.

Traveling to the U.S. on a Russian passport often requires a laborious interview process for a visa. Just getting an appointment for the interview can take months.

Some Russians fear that travel opportunities could diminish as tensions grow between Moscow and the West, or that Russia might even revert to stricter Soviet-era rules for leaving the country.

Last year, Zhegulev sold two cars to finance a trip to California for him and his wife so she could give birth to their son.

The American Civil Liberties Union, other legal groups and even former House Speaker Paul Ryan, typically a supporter of Trump's proposals, said the practice couldn't be ended with an order.