What I find troublesome is how the children are non-existent in Korea. They aren't recognized by the country and the government they are born in. They aren't registered. Or barely given medical treatment. The parents are forced to abandoned them in the hopes someone will take compassion. And this is happening in a country who consider themselves modern and with access to technology & medical care. Sadly these aren't the only children not recognized by the Korean government. Children with one parent who aren't able to get registered. This world has to get better for humanity's sake.

What breaks my heart is that their own countries embasies are completely heartless, even if they are illegal immigrants the Embassy should help them and register the baby and sent the family back to their birth country.

This very situation almost happened to our son. I am American and legally married my husband, a Korean citizen within Korea and continued to live here. However, the embassy would not give me a marriage visa and kept changing the reasons as to why. I was only allowed to stay for 3 months at a time so I had to travel and apply out of country 3 times. Each time we were denied. Nearly 2 years later we became pregnant, which was a shock since I was always told that I would never be able to hold a baby to full term. Once our son had a heartbeat we were allowed to have documents made for an in-country application. Again I was denied and told that our pregnancy did not count until I could "hold the baby in your arms". I am usually composed but I began to cry and cursed under my breath. The immigration officer was telling me that I would have to return to America even though I was 5 months pregnant and from there I could apply again for a marriage visa. until it would be finalized my husband would have to remain in Korea to do paperwork on his side. Since I have no family in America or saved income I was distraught. We went home both shaking and in tears and reached out to everyone asking for help and prayers. Then I got the notice of deportation looming within 2 weeks. I would not be allowed back into Korea again on a travelers 3 month visa and if I did not leave within 2 weeks then I would banned from entering Korea for 7 years. We had used up all our savings for all the other flights and applications so I didn't even have enough money for a plane ticket let alone where I would stay and live in America. So despite everything I decided to stay in Korea and planned to apply for asylum which I would likely not be given to me since I am American. Then just 4 days before I was to be deported immigration called me saying that due to COVID all those who have applied for a visa and are women legally married AND pregnant would be automatically given a marriage visa. Minutes after the call I was on a bus to the immigration office and picked up my visa just 3 hours after the law was passed. I was so close to being separated from my husband and his family, the only family I have, for years if not more. God blessed us with a miracle and we have been living in Korea ever since. I am preparing to get my Korean citizenship as well as soon as I can save up enough money. But it was so close, too close, and no one should have to go through what we did and certainly not what these poor couples and children are going through. If all works out, we would love to adopt a child in the future and would look into mixed orphans. Hopefully we really can in the near future.

I’m suspicious of the Sri Lankan father who went on a “business” trip with the brother and all their money. I have a feeling he abandoned his wife and daughter on purpose and took the money. Who goes on a business trip with a young child? Unfortunately, a large number of Sri Lankan men favour sons than daughters.

The issue of not with South Korea not granting the child birthright citizenship, that’s their right as a sovereign nation to decide who is entitled to citizenship. The problem is with Vietnam not recognizing the children born of two of its married citizens. All that said, the parents made a foolish choice to remain illegally in South Korea. They should have returned to Vietnam and given birth there.

I cried too when he started crying, leaving his parents. Can’t imagine leaving my kids travelling without me when they were babies. I am so sorry for the parents they have to undergo a situation like this. I hope Tinh Tinh will be surrounded with much love and warmth and that the family can be reunited soon ❤❤❤

Giving birth to a child and not caring about him /her is the worst thing you can do as a parent. Having a child is a lifetime responsibility

While this saying is old, it is nothing but facts: "Every child deserves a parent, but not all parents deserve a child." For those in extreme circumstances, there is nothing but hopeful grace for their future lives.

Bố mẹ vô trách nhiệm quá! Đẻ con ra làm gì khi biết mình k nuôi được

The first couple has lived and worked in Korea for TEN years! Long enough to know immigration and baby laws. Difficult to find sympathy for them because it’s the baby who is suffering and paying the price for their irresponsibility and selfishness. If they can manage to obtain and pay for illegal documents then they are capable of doing more for their baby so why not just go back to Vietnam where they can live as a family. Imo they don’t want the responsibility of a baby. They’d rather continue to enjoy life in Korea because Vietnam is a poor country. Or they were hoping their baby would give them status to where they wouldn’t need to continue to apply for visas.

It would be better to be poor in your own country, and having your child with you, a child that needs you and loves you. So , what's the point of staying in the country illegally at this time? Money is more important than your kids? Sorry but I disagree with their choices.

It really is not Korea's fault.

Isn’t that crime in first place why give birth to child when you know that you can’t get permit to stay in that country????

Why have a child when you are in an unstable situation. Hugely irresponsible.

I need an updated video on all the kids. To be helpless is the most frustrating!

Poor kids are suffering bc of their parents. Parents should be more responsible.

The scariest thing is the other lady is able to pass through immigration with someone else's baby.😱 Even when you have documents, you cannot take other people's children that human trafficking.

The Tanzanian woman - why would you get pregnant again if you knew your temporary visa was expiring soon? It's really unfortunate people use their own babies to try to stay in a country.

It is the problem on the parents.. since the parents know they are illegal then should not have kids..they bring problem to themselves and the country they are in.. Every country have their policy and they needs to protect their country citizens first..so can only blame themselves..

Perhaps they should consider following the local laws.

I'm going to sound heartless but why bring a child into the world if you know your current situation. I have a son I'm a mother myself. I feel for the children not the parents because the children are the ones to suffer

I watched the “babybox” documentary few years ago…. It was very touching and heartwarming

Those poor children🥺I really hope these parents and their child can reunite🤞🏻Korea seems to be more strict on this kind of thing rather than murderers, rapists etc…

Uhm....why get pregnant when you know good and well that you're already struggling?? The fix for a difficult situation obviously isn't another hungry mouth to feed!

And is this Korea's fault for not accepting illegal births? More emphasis should be put on the fact that these are lawbreakers wether you like it or not. You don't want what is happening in NYC(Although these immigrants are way better than whatever malicious mass migration is happening there)

I don't understand why Korea has to take care of the babies who are not citizens of Korea. It was their parents' choices to have babies under difficult circumstances. Who in the world thinks it's a good idea to have a child when they're in a foreign country without a proper visa?

So they thought they were going to beat the system and get benefits relating to having a child born registered but didn’t read about the laws and regulations at all. How could they not know the child wouldn’t be registered considering they are both immigrants? Illegal immigrants at that? The man that abandoned his pregnant wife and daughter is heinous.

😭heart breaking. I know how difficult is to send a child to relatives but not knowing when are you going to see them again is unthinkable. 😭😭😭

People going to countries illegally because they think their unborn child can become a citizen automatically should know that most countries don't do that. Look at these poor kids in Korea who can't be Korean citizens and have no nationality. Australia used to have birthright citizenship, but they saw how illegal immigrants were abusing their laws, so they changed their laws. You're not automatically an Australian citizen just because you were born there. Now, you have to have one parent be a citizen (or a permanent resident).

I don't know what's problem with parents? Even if they are aware of rules then why to have kids? But here kids are suffering 😢.

I would rather die than leave my child. This is disgusting 🤮 stop having children if you cant be a parent.

I feel so bad for the baby😢

😞 poor children... They'll never know what it feels like to be loved and wanted. 🥺😞

You have $4000 to buy a fake passport but can’t take care of your own baby ?!?!?

Some parents who come illegally, in term really illegal, not because the documentation are too strict bring this upon the children. We have so many illegal immigrants here in our country that it took a toll on our tax, our privilege as citizen being rob. The parents are selfish.

These people are just flat out selfish!! That child is going to grow up thinking his parents abandon him bc they wanted to stay in SK.

It's so foolish to illegally immigrate to any country. Your just digging a bigger nightmare for yourself. And having a baby made a bad situation worse.

Leave the baby to go back and stay to make money? And who is the baby going to stay with in Vietnam? Why did mother not go with him and the father stayed to work and make money? I have been immigrant for most of my life, illegal at one point but I worked hard to get through it and do everything legal. And I would never abandon my children for any reason…

right now is a great time to move back to vietnam with all the industrialization and development happening in vietnam, these parents should go back and take the trade skills to improve their own country while raising their child.

Not all countries have citizenship by birth. IMHO the U.S should revoke citizenship by birth unless the parents are here legally.

they say that situations may be manipulated in the case of immigrant children getting healthcare… isn’t that just a child getting healthcare regardless? from a humanitarian, or simply human standpoint, why would that be an issue at all?

Ppl have got to do better. Been there for yrs and should know what needs to be done before having a child. So what if the aunt gets ill then what?! God Bless🌸

They chose their jobs over their poor baby. Mom could've returned to Vietnam :(

This is very irresponsible to put a baby into the world without being able to raise it. And still have the cynicism to send a child to Vietnam, while they keep being illegal in South Korea.😢

I spent 20 years of my life undocumented.. this is one thing i dont wanna do having a child.

In America, it all started with allowing illegal citizens residency if their baby was born inside the country, before the migration crisis spiraled out of control. Now any criminal with no documents can walk through the border, ask for asylum and receive free housing in a luxury hotel paid for curtesy by us taxpayers. Oh yeah, and Maduro just emptied his prisons in Venezuela and basically told all of them to head north.. We’re all screwed here in North America. So Korea must always uphold strict immigration policies and do proper background checks or else you’ll end up turning into a country like Sweden. It went from one of the most safest places in the entire world, into the most violent in Europe in less than two decades..

god bless everyone being foster parent at this center.. merry christmas from hawaii

I feel bad for the babies, and I do think that they should have access to medical coverage as part of their basic human rights. HOWEVER, I don’t believe that they should get citizenship just because they were born in Korea. My own country has citizenship by birth and a lot of people take advantage of the system. They come just to give birth, then they go back to their countries, and only come when they want to use the benefits, such as free healthcare & university. Let’s be honest, the parents who want birth right citizenship, including the ones in this video, want their children to get the citizenship so that their children can sponsor them (when they grow up), so that the parents can become citizens as well. In other words, as a citizen it’s easier for the kids to sponsor their immigrant parents for citizenship. Also, it’s harder to deport a parent from a country if their child is a citizen (because children have the right to be with their parents).

this video showws how important it is to have a embassy in a foreign country

They are illegal workers. They suppose to pay overstay fine. Why their Vietnamese Embassy did not issue a pasport for the baby. Lots of cases happened like this in Korea. Lots illegal workers that caused troubles and run away.

Caroline이 엄마와 동생과 행복하게 살 수 있으면 좋겠어요

My mother and 3 of her sisters were born in 1920’s in China. My grandparents were US citizens doing missionary work. My mom and one of her sister’s birth certificates were registered in the US consulate office in China. So in order to get copies, they had to get them from State Department. The next two sisters births were recorded in Michigan, but states their BP as China. I wonder if any of these parents have checked with the consulate from their home country about obtaining BC for children born in another country?

Thank you for the eye opening documentary!

You mean Illegal not Undocumented. I don't CARE what the AP Stylebook says. Just because they are illegal they are kids so they themselves didn't break the law consciously and should not be the ones to face the worst consequences. It is just a word that describes their situation. Undocumented implies they just forgot to fill out their paperwork and is inherently deceitful this way. Being considerate is one thing, being PC to the point of being deceitful is another.

I am sorry to say but having babies when they are illegal immigrants is the most irresponsible thing to do, not only to the baby but to the host country as well. If they are in a different country to earn money or to have a better lifestyle,why don’t go through the legal process? If it takes time, why take such irresponsible step where they end up spending more money to care for the baby? Their actions are completely contradictory to their motive to leave their own country.

How could this couple have let their visas expire that is unbelievably stupid but to know you have a child and let them expire is inexcusable.

This is so sad..I feel so bad deep inside…heart wrenching

I am also in a same situation like these Vietnamese couple,,And i fly with my daughter alone and now i am staying in my country with my daughter..Taking decision is very difficult for me that that.I have no option rather fly with my daughter.I am happy now.

Anything that hurts kids just breaks my heart 😢😢😢😢 the future for them is so scary, always on edge. Both the kids and parents.. I hope there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Those parents are very selfish. All you should bring all children back to your native countries to register them. Korea is not an immigrating country and eventually the kids have to go home and the earlier is easier for the kids assimilate back to the place.

It shouldn’t be so difficult to register children for the purpose of travel, but that is not the same as providing them with financial support. The best thing that these parents can do is leave the country and register their children.

Not all countries accept anchor babies.

Just bad parents, poor babies

Why didn’t they go to the Vietnamese embassy and register the baby and get a birth certificate, passport, etc.? Because they are illegal immigrants?

Such a pretty young girl. I wish her the best.✌🏼❤️

I think these women intending to work overseas needs to consider birthcontrol measures. Having kids as illegal immigrants are troublesome. Countries refuse to give kids born in countries status because they know adults will use this as a gateway to gain resistancy. They (the adults) do this in New Zealand and Australia. This is a common problem world wide.

i think the illegal inmigrants embassies should give these children their identity, not korea.

The parents have messed up these kids' lives by being illegal. The only home they know and according to the law these kids do not exist. What are they going to do when they grow up? 😢 All those lost opportunities for a better life. Then the cycle starts all over again for the next generation.

I can't finish this. It's too upsetting.

God bless these parents and kids😢

Why don't they all just move back to Vietnam??

This is heartbreaking 😢

Good luck to you guys. Something is going to work out for you.

Poor babies

I’m sorry for what they are going through but I feel they should have been more careful because they know they cannot register their child in Korea

It's actually the baby who deserves sympathy. The parents knew exactly when their work permits were to expire and still made the decision to create a child. They probably thought they could use their baby as leverage to skip the line of those who patiently wait their turn to have the opportunity to become citizens. We have a huge problem with Mexicans here in the USA and unenforced immigration laws has devastated America. Probably not a good choice for citizenship if you've already broke the laws of a country even being there. Good parents wouldn't ship off their kid with relatives, they would return to their own country with the child, I have zero sympathy for these two, diversity being a strength to a country is a lie, just look at what's happened to Europe and America

If you can not take care of a baby, do not get pregnant! Same goes to the father! So unresponsible.

What a cruel world 😢

It's sad when such things happen to any child in the place they were born. Automatic rejection. But, for a country with low birth rate of its own, one would thing they would try harder to help these kids. Who will grow up to love their country and contribute. Just sad.

I feel for the baby. I actually don't think the reason they're sending the baby to Vietnam is because of their immigration status. How did they even come up with $4,000.00 for fake documents? They're young and taking care of a baby is too much work for them, imo.

People need to realize that sometimes having a child is not the best thing for you or them. There is no "Immaculit" birth.

I am Vietnamese, for those Vietnamese who immigrated illegally, they were often born in rural areas with low awareness of education, unstable financial background. As a result, they often drop out of school earlier, instead of taking part in uni or colleges, they chose labour export to some developed countries such as Korea, japan which are the lands of dreaming become richer. In facts, there were actually a tons of cases that Vietnamese labor exporters coming back with a huge assets, then ended up forming an affluent life in VN after 5-10 years working in foreign countries. On the flip side, there are still a wide range of unfortunate cases showing on the upon documentary😢. Poor those underprivileged people, especially the children. Hope they would be reunited soon 😊

Their own fault. They Knew what would happen.

this was really hard to watch but at the same time the world is changing and we are supposed to keep up and we can't complain. Some people really need for their children's sake to know the laws of the country properly. I come from the country where the laws are known to be strict but some use this same tactic (having kids who will automatically receive citizenship in hopes that you will too) to get stay in a country and that cannot work. I didn't know that Korea is this strict.

If they don’t exist, the abandoned ones should be able to live with a caregiver anywhere in the world. So many people want to adopt badly

how can they leave them like that?! just babies…. so sad😢😢😢😢

Right all these forms of birth control, including condoms, spermicide and the morning after pill. Yet, STILL with these accidental pregnancies. Ugh.

The parents knew the law and should never have had these children. Very irresponsible. The last woman says she's never enjoyed life. But developed nations cannot solve the world's problems. People cannot just flee troubles at home and bring it to where they go. They have to stay and fix their nations. That's what Koreans did. They have to do the same.

Those parents don’t have heart😢😢🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Is there info for the babysitter who takes foreign kids first? Would love to see if there is ways to help her? Maybe for donating baby supplies or something :)

But why they dont go with the baby?? I mean at least mom should go, i won't let my baby go to a different country without me. ☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️.

How about the yourcontry Vietnam, do they allow the unlawful immigrants?????

한국은 휴전국이고 병역의 의무를 지지 않는 외국인 자녀에 대한 대우 차이는 당연한 것 그리고 불법 체류자는 다 잡아다 추방해야한다 합법적 체류자의 출생 자녀는 각종 혜택을 받는다.

It’s messed up Happys mother left her. Poor kid.

You can't send a baby alone its illegal and he could be kidnapped or harmed and needs to be looked after so somebody or someone has to be with him how else would he get there lol makes no sense

They are not Korean. Is Freddy Mercury Tanzanian ? Just because he was born in Tanzania ? NOPE. A Korean born in Japan isn't Japanese, Polish born in China isn't Chinese. What are these people smoking ?

It’s all very depressing 😢

Im confused as to why they couldn’t get their visa issue fixed before it expired.

That is why it is very important for the parents to be responsible and make sure that they are not illegal because it severely affect your children.

'불법'을 '미등록'이라 표현하는 건 눈가리고 아웅임. '미등록'이라 하면 마치 거주지 이전해놓고서 아직 동사무소에 전입신고 안한 정도의 느낌이잖아? '미등록 이주노동자' 처지라는 게 언제든지 출입국사무소 가면 '등록이 좀 늦으셨네요. 자 이 쪽 양식을 먼저 기입하시고요'....정도의 '미등록'이 아니잖아? 왜 불법을 '불법'이라 쓰지않고 '미등록'이라는 이상한 표현을 쓸까?