Giving birth in Canada

[Kerryd]

Hi. I'm Canadian, but I lived in Thailand for past 12 years. My gf (soon to be wife) is Thai. We are having a baby. She is 5 months pregnant. We were planning to have the baby born in Thailand, but have been thinking more and more about doing it in Canada. I am aware that the baby can have Canadian citizenship later even if not born in Canada. My question are:

If we came to Canada to give birth are we doing anything illegal? Remember the father is Canadian.

Would the pregnancy be covered in our health care or would I be paying? If so, how much?

Do we just apply for regular tourist visa for gf?

Anything else I should know?

 

[jcg2057]

You should go to Canada first and apply your wife Temporary Resident Visa. Considering you have stable job, enough money to show Visa Officer and then request for the visitor visa. Make it as soon as possible, sometimes those who are applying for TRV got refusals just because they are pregnant. But if you're not gonna tell them it may be possible. Once you are in here make sure you have a stable job to support your wife as you may be facing cost for hospitalization.
The baby will still be under first class Canadian even if they are born outside Canada.
Hope this helps.

 

[Stef.]

I cannot answer your question re the insurance, but I can explain how it worked for me and it wasn't easy. My husband is born in Canada and we lived in the UK. I am German. We applied for permanent residency at the Canadian embassy in the UK. The whole process was 6 months - exactly. I had to undergo medical tests, write my whole life story with my hubby of then 17 years down...they checked me and my background upside down...

Upon my arrival in Canada (and this might be interesting to you) I had to take out 6 months of private insurance before I was able to use the Canadian system.

Now I do not know how this works if you take your wife on a "vacation" to Canada where she then gets her baby. Each time we travelled to Canada for a visit before moving here, we took out a travel insurance.

And yes, before I forget: our three kids were Canadians, even though they were born in the UK. Should they have ever kids though, their kids are not automatically Canadian.

 

[canuck78]

It is not illegal for your gf to come to Canada and give birth. You would first have to get a valid TRV. Your health insurance will be reinstated within 90 days depending on the province and whether you stay in the province for a substantial part pf the year. You can look up the details based on the province. Unfortunately your gf will not have any health coverage so you will have to pay for pre and postnatal care plus delivery out of pocket. My understanding that an uncomplicated delivery will be between 5-10K, c-section 10-20k and any complications will just add to the bill. You will have to add the cost of care outside of delivery to the cost. Travel insurance will not cover the cost of delivery if purchased when already pregnant. You are too late to sponsor your gf as a common law spouse.