Utahn faces unique complications in husband's immigration

Utahn faces unique complications in husband's immigration

(Ssempala Family)


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SPANISH FORK — A Utah woman in a unique situation is stuck waiting for her African husband to join her after a surprise pregnancy sent her back home.

Vilate Nielsen Ssempala, 32, was raised in a polygamist family. When she was born, like when her dozens of brothers and sisters were born, her parents used incorrect information on her birth certificate, fearing prosecution for bigamy. When she was 2 years old, she was able to get a delayed birth certificate bearing the correct information, but that has also complicated things.

“A delayed birth certificate won’t prove citizenship,” Ssempala said. “Since the delayed birth certificate is the only one that has the accurate information on it, that’s the one we’ve used for everything. That’s the one that all of my identity is based on.”

Twelve years ago, getting a passport and travelling internationally were impossible before Sen. Bob Bennett stepped in to help.

Ten years ago, Ssempala left the polygamist community. In May of this year, she traveled to Uganda with Musana Jewelry – a company that looks for single mothers with little education and no income and gives them a job making jewelry – for an internship. While there, she met Joseph Ssempala, and the two fell in love. They married July 27 in Jinja.

Vilate and Joseph Ssempala on their wedding day. The Ssempalas face 
several unique complications in Joseph's immigration to the United 
States.
Vilate and Joseph Ssempala on their wedding day. The Ssempalas face several unique complications in Joseph's immigration to the United States.

They planned eventually to move to Utah together, but her return was quickened by her pregnancy and severe morning sickness. The pregnancy, she said, was a complete surprise, as she was told by her doctor several years ago that her endometriosis would likely make it difficult or impossible to have children. And the squalor conditions in Uganda – no plumbing, no clean water or food, substandard medical care – left her starving.

“Morning sickness is hard no matter where you’re at. But even when I was healthy, I found the food just barely tolerable. So having morning sickness and it being so important to eat, I just couldn’t do it,” Ssempala said. “I was losing a lot of weight, I was throwing up constantly. They don’t have plumbing or running water there so you’re throwing up in a ditch outside the house or in an outhouse or wherever you can find a spot to do it. The food and the water really isn’t very clean or safe. From the time I got pregnant to the time I got home I had about six different infections.”

Now, Vilate Ssempala is left waiting for her husband to get an American visa and meet her here. In the meantime, Vilate Ssempala is working as a nanny and completing an internship for her major at Utah Valley University. She is due April 25, and if all goes well, Joseph Ssempala will be approved for a visa in a year and be able to come live with his wife and baby.

“It often takes a very long time to get a visa. I’ve called a couple immigration attorneys to see if that would be helpful and try to get an idea of what we’re facing, and everybody has said, ‘you need to expect it to take at least a year,’ ” Ssempala said.

More than two months after their marriage, she said, the Ugandan government just sent the couple a certified copy of their marriage license – a process they were told would only take two weeks, slowing down the visa application process for the Ssempalas. People told them to bribe the clerk’s office to speed it up.

“I didn’t want to bribe them to give them what we wanted. I just don’t think that’s the way to do it,” Ssempala said. “It was going to be this difficult no matter what. The marriage certificate, no planning ahead could have fixed that.”

Though they are early in the application process, she worries about complications due to her family history and Uganda’s government system without the help of politicians like she had in the past. Faced with these unique complications, Ssempala is hoping for additional help with her husband's immigration, similar to what she got 12 years ago from Bennett.

“I would love to have the same experience I did with my passport and just get him here quickly,” Ssempala said. “I just don’t have a year. That is my concern. I don’t want to wait a year. I don’t want him to miss my whole pregnancy and the birth of my first baby, and I don’t want to be finishing school with a baby on my own.”

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Celeste Tholen Rosenlof

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