THE ECONOMIST
Argentina has always been a country of immigrants. In the 19th century millions of Italians and Spaniards came to plough the country’s fields. More recently hundreds of thousands of Bolivians, Paraguayans and Venezuelans have arrived.
But the latest wave is different. According to Florencia Carignano, the head of Argentina’s immigration authority, some 22,000 Russians entered Argentina last year—and an unusually high number were pregnant women, many close to term. Restaurants in Palermo, a posh area in Buenos Aires, have issued menus in Russian. The city’s Russian Orthodox church is suddenly bustling. Why are women travelling halfway around the world to give birth?
Argentina’s permissive immigration laws, introduced in the 19th century to encourage European migration, remain loose today.
Many foreigners, including Russians, may enter as tourists without a visa and stay for 90 days. Health care is free, and, as in America, children born on Argentine soil to foreign parents automatically receive citizenship. Having an Argentine child can halve the time it would usually take parents to obtain a passport to just two years.
