Immigration | I received Medicaid. How do I get my son to return to the US?

Hi Mrs Walker-Huntington:

My visa was cancelled. I had a child in the US and I went with my other child to obtain a visa and she was also denied. The interviewer asked me how I paid for my pregnancy and my surgery ­(I had in a cerclage. I also had to get a Makena injection every Friday) - I told her Medicaid. How do I get my son to return to the US?

SH

Dear SH:

Your situation is one that the US has always viewed as becoming a “public charge” on the people of the United States – i.e. accepting Medicaid when you are not a resident or US citizen. It is one that we have addressed several times over the course of many years of this column, but one that bears repeating. And it is one that will become more topical during the current US administration.

Medicaid is run by each state in collaboration with the federal government, and eligibility requirements will vary state by state. When someone shows up at a hospital for medical services, the hospital wants to be paid and will assign a social worker if the person does not have medical insurance. They will walk the patient through what available coverage is there for them to receive medical attention and, in turn, for the hospital to be paid. Some hospitals have their own low-income or no-income programmes to offer patients.

It is not illegal for a non-resident (or visitor) to receive Medicaid, but it does violate the terms of the non-immigrant visa.

According to your email, you appeared to have had several medical complications that required emergency medical attention beyond giving birth in America. Naturally, a hospital would have cared for you and would do the same thing again. However, your not paying the costs of the medical care you received violated the terms of your visa by your becoming a public charge on the United States.

The current US administration is enforcing immigration laws, like “public charge” very strictly and I am afraid that even more persons will have their visas cancelled who have used Medicaid benefits in America. If anyone should find themselves in America, pregnant and in need of medical attention – to safeguard against the cancellation of your visa, you should pay for the services rendered by the hospital. Refuse Medicaid and self-pay, or risk losing your visa. You cannot repay Medicaid after the hospital has been paid – Medicaid will only accept payment if there has been fraud. That might be easier said than done for some people, but it is what governs immigration law.

Your child born in the United States is an American citizen, but that is not enough reason for your visa or that of the child’s sibling to be reinstated, i.e. saying that you want to take your US citizen child to America. You can assign temporary guardianship to someone who lives in America to take the child to visit or to live – but you will in all likelihood not be granted a non-immigrant visa because of the “public charge” situation.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal and international law in Florida. She is a mediator and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com