sigmapaul

Hi All:

First of all, many thanks to all those members who post information on this site. Many of the things I've learned over the past 14 months visiting this site have proved immeasurably helpful to me.

I am a British citizen who returned to London after over 33 years in the US last September. My wife remained in the states (and is still there) to sell our house and tidy up our affairs. I have been renting a flat in London for the past 9 months and have worked as a business consultant (contractor). I’m currently between contracts while looking for the next one.

My wife (who is a US citizen) and I are planning to reside and retire permanently in the UK. I am expecting my wife to join me in about 6 weeks. My questions are about which visa she will need. I have spent some time looking through this site and the Gov.uk immigration site and must admit the more I read, the more confused I seem to get. I've always referred to the visa as a "spousal visa" although I can't find that term on the Gov. Immigration site. I found two different visas that seem to fit the bill and am unsure as to which one we should apply for. Here’s what I found:

Form FLR(M). Application for an Extension of Stay in the UK as the Partner of a Person Present and Settled in the UK or as a Partner of a Person with Refugee Leave or Humanitarian Protection and for a Biometric Immigration Document. This is the 5 year route.

Form FLR(FP). Application for leave to remain in the UK on the basis of your family life as a partner or parent or on the basis of your private life in the UK and for a biometric immigration document. This is the 10 year route.

Here's the web site: https://www.gov.uk/remain-in-uk-family

It appears these forms are used when the applicant is already in the UK (my wife will enter on a tourist visa when she comes next month). I read in one of the threads on this site that application for a visa for a non EU spouse, i.e. US citizen, must be made outside of the UK. When I read the verbiage around the visas described above, the verbiage states that application can be made within the UK. My questions are:

1. If my wife enters on a tourist visa before we apply for the longer term visa, will she be allowed in with a one way ticket?

2. Should we apply for the FLR(M) visa or the FLR(FP) visa, or is there another one? It looks like both visas do the same thing but the (M) is a 5 year path and the (FP) is the 10 year path. I think the difference between the two is that the (FP) is when the couple have serious reasons why they cannot live as a couple in another country.

3. Can you confirm that we can in fact apply for the visa when we are both in the UK?

4. As timing isn’t critical is it worth paying an extra £400 for the premium service?

Very much appreciate any advise you can give here. And the very best to all those starting along this path.

Paul.

SanDiegogirl

You need to sponsor your wife for a spouse visa: (to join you)

https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk

You need to be able to fulfill the financial requirements: Read the following carefully.

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...equirement.pdf

No, your wife cannot apply for a spouse visa while in the UK..It MUST be applied for from her home country - the USA

She won't be allowed in on a tourist visa with a one way ticket.

Yes, go for priority service - currently visas are taking up to three months, with priority service that could be cut to 2 months. Obviously these timescales only apply if you have all the correct documentation and you fulfill the financial requirements.

alfista1

2 months now? OMG
Is this just from USA or from any country?

Regarding the return ticket I was surprised border control didn't even ask for my wife's return ticket. She even asked the guy 'don't you need to see my return ticket?. He replied ' no that's ok' have a nice trip. She did say she was with her British husband. He turned around and smiled at me. I was on the other side of course as I went through the EU gate in 2 seconds.


wish I had bought a one way. I bought a return as not to make it look suspicious.

sigmapaul

Thanks SanDiegogirl for you reply, much appreciated. I'm still confused about my wife needing to be in the US to apply. I used the link in your post and found this:

Exceptions

You may need to apply in a different way if:
your partner is from the EEA
you’re inside the UK
you want to reunite with a partner or parent who has asylum or humanitarian protection in the UK

If I click on the Exceptions link, I see this verbiage:

If you’re already in the UK.

You can’t apply for a ‘family of a settled person’ visa - you must apply to remain in the UK with family instead.

1. Overview

You need a ‘family of a settled person’ visa if you want to stay (‘remain’) with a family member or partner (eg spouse) who’s living in the UK permanently and you’re:
already in the UK
from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland
You can apply if you’re eligible and you need to:
extend your existing ‘family of a settled person’ visa
switch to a ‘family of a settled person’ visa

Your family member or partner can:
be a British citizen
have settled in the UK
be your partner who has asylum or humanitarian protection in the UK

Not sure if I'm missing something when I read this but it seems the spouse can be in the UK. Thanks again.

BritInParis

Not on a tourist stamp she can't.

SanDiegogirl

You are reading the process for people who are already in the UK under OTHER visa conditions; NOT a visitor visa.

You can't switch from a visitor visa to any other one while in the UK.

SanDiegogirl

You can't guarantee that all officials won't request to look at your return ticket and if you don't have one when visiting, what then?

Don't know whether you are surprised that the 2 month time frame is so short or if you consider this a long time.

Here is a timeline of someone who applied from the US for spouse visa.

Country applying from: USA
Type of visa applied for: spouse settlement
Date application submitted online: June 3, 2014 (priority)
Date biometrics taken: June 6, 2014
Date documentation was received by UK Border Agency office: June 9, 2014
Date of email confirmation from Sheffield: June 10, 2014
Office location processing your visa: Sheffield
Projected timeline given: no timeline given
Date of decision email: July 1, 2014
Date visa received: July 3, 2014

This application took only 1 month to process under priority service.

alfista1

That's good to hear.
Just 1 month is good. I hope ours will be that fast.

Thanks

SanDiegogirl

It might be if you have all the documents in place, the financial requirements and you pay for priority service.

sigmapaul

Thanks for the clarification. Now I know which process to follow, much appreciated.

vicki35

ONLINE IS THE SPOUSE VISA CATEGORY SETTLEMENT THEN MARRIAGE, THINK I'VE DONE IT WRONG!