Hastonian1980

I moved here in 2001 to marry my wife who was born and raised in Grand Rapids, MI. We have 2 beautiful children, 2 & 4 both born in GR. I gained my US citizenship in 2008 (drug my heels a bit) and have lived happily ever after since. However, a change in circumstances means we may choose to move to the UK. Can someone outline what steps this process involves? I see that immigration rules have changed, but that seems to apply to a UK citizen sponsoring a foreign spouse to come and live in Britain. How does it work if I (still a UK citizen also), my wife & kids (US citizens) want to move back?
Please advise! Specific details & costs would be most appreciated!

mikelincs

That is just what you would be, you need to look at the spouse visa rules, particularly the financial ones. assuming you are a British Citizen otherwise than by descent, then your children will also be British citizens, and so what you really need is to get them British Passports.
All explained here..

Spouse Immigration-UK : British Expat Wiki

Tr1boy

Two main steps.

1) brace yourself

2) open your wallet

Hastonian1980

I was afraid of that! Do you (or anyone else) have any experiences with this or perhaps have been in similar circumstances to mine?

QUOTE=Tr1boy;11618728]Two main steps.

1) brace yourself

2) open your wallet

[/QUOTE]

Hastonian1980

Thank you. I never considered that my children would technically be Brits. I can't wait to tell them :-)

QUOTE=mikelincs;11618714]That is just what you would be, you need to look at the spouse visa rules, particularly the financial ones. assuming you are a British Citizen otherwise than by descent, then your children will also be British citizens, and so what you really need is to get them British Passports.
All explained here..

Spouse Immigration-UK : British Expat Wiki[/QUOTE]

Tr1boy

[/QUOTE]

We've done it ( I am a dual UK/Oz cit and my was Oz cit, now dual) but we came under old rules in 2010. We actually would have still qualified on savings under the new rules but so much of all the stuff like ILR times etc have changed so much, that the others here are much more knowledgable than me.

Have a dig around my more recent posts here as I made one about the emotional side of things for the non UKC, don't underestimate that element either.

SanDiegogirl

You need to sponsor your wife for a spouse settlement visa. If your children are eligible for British citizenship (which presume they are) then you don't need to sponsor them but it would be advisable to get them their British passports.

Start here:

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

You need to fulfill financial and accommodation regulations. Basically, for the financial rules you must be earning 18,600 GBP per annum to sponsor and this can be made up of income/savings/investments etc.

Read the following document carefully to see how you qualify:

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

The spouse visa costs 956 GBP, and you must now pay for the NHS surcharge at the time of application. The surcharge is paid for at the initial visa which lasts for 2.5 years and then again when further leave to remain in applied for .

So at first visa its 956GBP + 600GBP = 1,500 GBP approx.

The process takes anythings from one month to three months based on complexity of application.

Plenty of threads on this forum .

Hastonian1980

This is very helpful, thank you! I like to see numbers.

Hastonian1980

Could you elaborate a bit on what you mean by 'emotional?' I think the kids would adjust fine, but like you indicated, my wife may find the adjustment a bit tougher. Incidentally, one of the reasons we are looking into potentially moving is the relentless homesickness I have experienced even after 14 years. However, I am concerned that I would just be shifting this on to my wife.

SanDiegogirl

Meaning if your wife has never left GR and has strong family ties she might find the move to the UK an emotional roller coaster.

Just as you have homesickness issues so might she. She has to really want to do the move and have the experience of living in Europe.

Tr1boy

My post is on 2nd page:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/rover...advice-855344/

Hastonian1980

I appreciate the link. This gives me an idea of what I could expect. The only difference with us is that it would be a permanent move. Homesickness is a bizarre experience, actually something I would not wish upon anyone. Many people do not fully understand that moving to a different country, even one like the US which has somewhat of a similar culture to the UK, can be very depressing. Like I've mentioned, even after all this time, I suffer from acute homesickness, with little understanding of why that is.

BritInParis

I would also recommend considering consular birth registration for your children.

British Consular Birth Registration : British Expat Wiki

Hastonian1980

I definitely will, thanks.

QUOTE=BritInParis;11619995]I would also recommend considering consular birth registration for your children.

British Consular Birth Registration : British Expat Wiki[/QUOTE]