Anchor Babies – Ugandans Embrace Birth Tourism

When she is pregnant, a woman’s greatest prayer is to walk out of the maternity ward with her baby in hand and her life intact.

But there is now a new crop of mothers and fathers in Uganda who are adding a few paragraphs to this prayer; let the baby come with an American passport.

Marian (not real name) is one such mother. When she married in 2008, Marian and her husband planned for a honeymoon in the USA. But the honeymoon included future plans.

Not only was this the trip they would use to make their first baby, Marian also decided she would fly back and have the baby in the USA so it would have American citizenship and passport. So when she was due in 2009, Marian bought a ticket and travelled back; after all, her visa was still valid.

When I contacted her to discuss what it was like giving birth in the USA, at first she was forthcoming and excited, promising to call back in an hour. I waited to hear the stories about the great healthcare, the kind doctors, the patient midwives.

But then she remembered that she had to go to the US embassy in Kampala for a visa interview because she was pregnant with her second child and wanted to travel again so this baby could also have American citizenship.

She politely turned down the interview because she did not want to hurt her chances at the embassy. What Marian and many mothers in Uganda don’t know is that America is not new to the phenomenon called birth tourism. China, Taiwan, Italy and Belgium have been practising birth tourism ever since the USA was created.

Uganda ranks lowest amongst the countries whose young pregnant mothers prefer to have their children abroad, but the trend is catching on. Nigerians are the highest seekers of birth tourism in Africa.

The excited but scheming parents want not only a foreign passport for the baby but also a chance at better opportunities – better international education, better job opportunities and even a better environment to live in. One that is not filled with potholed roads, a sick healthcare system, corruption or famine.

So they will travel to the US to have what has come to be termed as the Anchor Baby. The American Heritage Dictionary describes the anchor baby as a disparaging term for a child born to a non-citizen mother in a country that grants automatic citizenship to children born on its soil; especially when the child’s birthplace is thought to have been chosen in order to improve the mother’s or other relatives’ chances of securing eventual citizenship.

So, what does it take for a young enthusiastic mother to have the anchor baby? It is no cheap venture. First, the visa fee alone is about Shs 350,000 – non-refundable if the application is turned down.

You must demonstrate that you have no intention of disappearing once you reach America by presenting strong economic, social, and family ties, because if you disappear, you cannot travel to the USA again for at least 10 years. So, one must have an invitation letter, a strong bank statement, evidence that you work and earn an income, and a marriage certificate.

The ticket alone is about $2,000, which is at least Shs 5 million. Marian’s hospital bill cost $15,000 (about Shs 39m) and this applies to parents without health insurance. This is over 10 times more than what a parent would pay in the most expensive private hospital in Uganda.

If you have no relatives or friends to host you, you must rent a house or hotel. But who are we kidding; no Ugandan can afford to rent a house or hotel for over four months. So, if relatives or friends cannot accommodate you, then the least one can do is rent a room.

These are available and in fact in California, a suburban home has been turned into a maternity centre were pregnant women can rent for thousands of dollars a month, until after they give birth. More and more expectant mothers in Uganda will break the bank to travel when the pregnancy is in its last trimester so that their babies are born on American soil.

They ask doctors to declare a wrong due date, because while a pregnant woman cannot be denied her right to travel, one in the third trimester is often refused to board an aircraft or enter a foreign country because immigration officials also know the intention of travel.

Parents will save for months on end, borrow from family and friends, sell land or even take loans to afford the luxury of giving birth in America.

When I say America, this is because it is one of the few superpowers that grant citizenship upon birth of children to non-citizen parents. There are 30 other countries including Argentina, Brazil and Uganda of course, that recognise citizenship by birth. In China, agencies specialise in taking mothers to the USA where they can give the baby its first gift – a US passport.

They advise clients how to answer questions, evade authority and avoid suspicion. If given a short stay visa they get the mother a lawyer to apply for a longer stay and by the time the process goes though court, the baby is born and probably speaking its first words.

According to the UK border agency’s website, in Britain, Ireland or other European Union member states, babies born to non-citizens do not qualify for automatic citizenship. A child will only have an entitlement to register for British nationality if they were born in the United Kingdom on or after January 1, 1983 and lived there for the first ten years of their life.

This means that the parents, if not British citizens must make sure they stay in Britain for at least ten years with the child or give it to relatives to raise it for the said ten years. This is no mean feat; many illegal immigrants – even those whose documents are in order – are forced to send their offspring back to Uganda because they cannot afford to work and raise children at the same time on a shoestring budget, as the cost of living is high.

When Ireland was still the last EU country that granted automatic citizenship on birth, non-British citizens or immigrants especially Nigerians, would travel to Ireland to give birth. The baby then became an EU citizen, free to travel and stay in other countries of the European Union.

Some young mothers run away from their countries and report seeking political or human rights asylum. But getting citizenship on the basis of asylum takes years. The easier way to get citizenship is to have a baby. In 2004, Ireland changed the constitution and voted out the automatic right for citizenship to anyone born there.

Why the struggle?

An American, British or Canadian passport is like manna from heaven; it can get you across many borders without a raised eyebrow. Many people carrying dual citizenship prefer to carry their foreign passports because they attract less attention at immigration offices. In fact in many countries, a person with a European passport does not have to pay visa fees.

The opportunities of living and studying abroad are immense, they have a better education system that focuses on job creators, not job seekers like Uganda. A child is also guaranteed a place at an American public university, preferred over any Ugandan university.

They offer a holistic approach to education which will include developing a child’s talent in sports, arts and science. The high-flying life abroad is just about that; high-flying, shopping, entertainment, fast cars – everything you see in the movies.

Everything from hospitals to banks, churches, restaurants, books, malls, clean streets, smooth roads, burgers and whatever your imagination conjures, is hefty dollars away. In fact to a Ugandan who has not traveled abroad, they imagine everything is dirt cheap. Well, until you get there and realise the high standards of living.

When it comes to employment, the job market may not be easy to break into but the pay is much better. Parents with anchor babies can also apply for welfare benefits if they cannot care for the baby.

But parents may want to listen to Dr Ian Clarke’s advice on why he chose to live and die in Uganda: why migrate to a country where everything has been done over and over again than stay in your country where the opportunities to invest and start new ideas are great?

The downside:

For many parents who have their children in America, however, what they do not know is that citizenship or a passport for the child is as good as nothing for at least 21 years if the parents are not living in the USA.

It is not until they reach the age of 21 that the children are able to file paperwork to sponsor their parents for legal immigration status. The parents remain vulnerable until that point. And with children exposed to the life of freedoms and excesses the West presents, they can very well decide at 21 that they don’t want to sponsor their parents at all!

The child must also demonstrate that they can support themselves as well as the person they are sponsoring to travel to the US. By then, a parent will be about 46 years and unless they were sitting around waiting for the child to be able to anchor them to the USA, they would have done much better in life.

Despite being called “anchor babies,” the children of illegal immigrants born in the United States cannot actually prevent deportation of their parents. If a parent is illegally in America and is arrested, s/he can be deported and the child put up for adoption or put under foster care as they are American citizens. Otherwise, a parent who gets deported has to leave the country with their child.

Now legislators in the USA are pushing for their government to amend the constitution and deny automatic American citizenship to children born on US soil. Other legislators want children born to illegal immigrants to be deported with their parents.

But in the meantime, the rush for an American baby is still on.