LDF93

Hi all, brand new member here in search of some advice and support.

I am a British citizen otherwise than by descent (I was born here to British parents). I am resident in the UK and in full-time employment. My fianceé is a US citizen, resident in California. We have been together for three years, and she recently stayed with me for 6 months in our rented flat in the UK without a visa. At the end of her stay, she fell pregnant with our first baby.

In September I'll be travelling to America for 6 weeks. We're marrying a few weeks before our due date. In April I finally managed to get a job that takes my salary above the financial requirement of £18.6k p/a. I'll have had my 6 months in this job, ironically enough, on our due date of the 3rd of October.

So, I have some questions!

I moved back in with my parents shortly after my fianceé left for California in order to save as much money as I can for the baby and a deposit for a house (her family is helping with the wedding - thank goodness!) Obviously, it would be better for us to have our own home but, if necessary, would we be able to state on our application that we're living at my parents' house? Has there been any precedent that that would work? Is there any advice that anyone can give if we choose to do this?

My other question is about our son. I'm of the understanding that given our circumstances, he will be born a British Citizen by Descent and eligible for a British passport - is that correct? And, that being the case, does that exempt us from needing to meet the higher financial requirement of £22.4k a year for a dependent child? My understanding is that this is the case for a child who is a British citizen, but can someone please help set my mind at ease on this?

Obviously it will be later this year that we will be looking to start the ball rolling, but any help or advice anyone can give now would be so welcomed. This is a persistent source of anxiety for my new family.

Thank you all so much.

BritInParis

Welcome to BE. It sounds like you have a good grasp of what is required.

To answer your questions; you can use your parents' house to meet the accommodation requirements providing there is enough room to house you all. Your parents would need to furnish you with a letter saying they were happy to accommodate you all and evidence that they own the property in question and there is sufficient space, i.e. at least two bedrooms and a living room. Further information is available here.

Yes, your son will be a US citizen by birth and a British citizen by descent from the get-go. You'll need to obtain both his US and British passports before he can move to the UK but he won't be included in the financial requirements. You may also wish to consider consular birth registration.

LDF93

Thank you so much for your help!

Another question... Babies being what they are, there is of course a risk of him being born before we are married - would that carry an implication on his citizenship, or the financial requirement?

BritInParis

It used to make a difference to eligibility for British citizenship but not any more. I would advise however to marry before you register his birth if you are planning on consular birth registration as your marriage details are recorded.

LDF93

Great, thank you. So my understanding from that is, even if he is born before we're married, as long as we marry before applying for his British birth certificate, there is no issue?

In terms of evidence/documentation/paperwork for the application, what is actually required? And would there likely to be any requirement for either of us to attend interviews?

mikelincs

Welcome to BE.

Please have a quick read of the forum rules, beige bar at the top, and if you do have site related problems please contact on of the moderators, names in bold at the bottom right of the page.

BiP is our recognised expert on immigration matters in the UK so you are getting the best advice possible.

BritInParis

There'll be no issues either way but it would make more sense to register the birth after you marry as it will be a permanent record.

No interviews required. The list of paperwork required can be found by following the questionnaire here.

LDF93

Thank you very much. The link you supplied refers to passport applications abroad - that will still be handy so thank you for that. However, I'm actually referring to the spousal visa application. Is there a checklist or specific information on what we should provide?

Furthermore, we will not be going down the premium route, as we can't really afford it at the present time. Would that have any impact at all on anything that either of us will need to do?

Apologies for all the questions - I really appreciate the help.

BritInParis

Ah, I see. Well, there's no hard and fast rules on what you need to provide as it will depend on your circumstances and how you plan on meeting the financial requirements. However the paperwork for the latter is key and it will be where most people are going to have problems if they are going to have them.

If you plan to use your salaried income then you'll need to provide payslips and bank statements in order to evidence both your salary and it being paid into your bank account. A letter from your employer on headed paper confirming your job title, start date, annual salary and ongoing employment is also a good idea.

There are several threads in this section where other applicants have provided a checklist of their documents for 'approval' by forum regulars. It may be worth your while taking a look and finding someone who is in a similar position to yourself as a template.

LDF93

Thank you - that's all very helpful information. I have been costing out the expenditure of the whole thing; does anything seem to be obviously missing from the below?

Item Cost (Base)
Family Visa £1,464.00
Child Passport (UK) £72.86
Child Passport (USA) £80.81
Adult Passport (USA) £103.90
NHS Surcharge £600.00
Consular Birth Registration £225.00

SanDiegogirl

In order to sponsor your wife for a spouse visa read the following website to see how to apply for a settlement visa

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa

You need to meet financial, accommodation, relationship criteria.

The financial requirements are below and what documents to present are below:

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

You need to provide documents proving you have accommodation: landlords agreement/parents agreement that you and wife can stay in accommodation, rental agreement, etc eetc.

BritInParis

That looks about right. The initial settlement visa is presently $1991 which would work out to £1540 at the current exchange rate.

LDF93

Just in reference to this, where are you getting that figure from? This page sets it out at £1,464. I just want to make sure I have up-to-date costs for everything.


In terms of an actual checklist, I have put the below together... is there anything that should be added? Anything I am missing?

• Visa Application
• Appendix 2
• NHS Surcharge payment receipt/confirmation
• Letter from parents confirming they are happy to accommodate us, evidence they own the property, confirmaton of number of rooms and there is enough space
• Contract of Employment
• Payslips dating back to commencement of employment
• Bank statements dating back to commencement of employment
• Letter from employer on headed paper confirming job title, start date, annual salary, and ongoing employment
• Marriage certificate
• Letter from each of us stating out relationship, plus small collection of photos of us, including wedding photos, and photos with our son
• Sponsor's passport
• Sponsor's birth certificate
• Applicant's passport
• Applicant's birth certificate
• Two full colour passport sized photographs
• Son's birth certificate (British and American)
• Son's passports (British and American)

Thank you again for all of your help and advice with this.

SanDiegogirl

Which category are you applying under?

If Cat A you need 6 months of payslips and bank statement, if under Cat B then 12 month of each (you don't need payslips and bank statements going back to commencement of employment)

You only need to send a copy of YOUR passport bio page - not the whole passport.

The visa fee is 1,464 GBP.

BritInParis

That fee is correct if you are paying in pound sterling. As your fiancée will be applying from the United States however she will pay in US dollars at the exchange rate set by the Home Office. This is currently $1,991 for the category you will be applying under.

https://visa-fees.homeoffice.gov.uk/...settled-person

That looks good. Just make sure that the birth certificates you supply are the 'long form' versions. It will vary by state but these aren't usually given out in the US as a matter of course so you may need to order that specially and make a point of specifying that you want the long form variant.