Wagaress

Hi I'm new here! My name is Ellie and I am a British citizen. I moved to canada when I was 21 and now almost 8 years later I'm married to a great Canadian and we have 2 lovely kids (2 and a half and 5 months old)
That's the struggle, we have no family here, no support and it's really wearing me down. I miss my family and an aching to move back home.
My husband is saying yes!! Thank god.

I just don't know where to start with this? I have 2 questions.
1. Are my children automatically british citizens too and I can just apply for their passports?
2. How hard is it for a Canadian to get a visa? We will have sufficient funds (from selling our home) and we have a place to stay initially when we get there.

Any help or advice would be great! Thanks all

ncoomber

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spouse_Immigration-UK_
Hi elles,
1. Yes if you were born in the UK. You can apply for Brit pp for you kids. I just did it for my three us born young kids. It was very easy and fast.
2. Read the wiki above.
Good luck
Cheers
Nigel

Pulaski

If your user name is, as it appears, your e-mail address I suggest you change it immediately because you may be snowed under with spam, some of it dangerous.

MrMuffin

Agreed with Pulaski re: your user name. Definitely change it asap.

Hi and welcome to BritishExpats. There are a lot of people in the same situation and I'm one of them. Although I've been in the USA, and for a bit longer than you (26 plus years), my USC wife and I and our two kids are moving back for exactly the same reasons. We have no family support and just want to get back to the UK to be with family and grandparents more than anything.

Definitely look into the process of getting the passports sorted for your kids. Presuming your kids were born in Canada they'll be British by Descent and are British Citizens off the bat. Getting their British passports sorted will minimize issues once you move.

Your husband will be a bit more of a sticky wicket. He'll need a partner or spouse visa and all the rules changed in July 2012 concerning applying for one. Looks at the link the previous poster gave you and that will outline what you'll need. You'll need to sponsor him as his British citizen wife. You'll need a job in the UK or you'll need substantial savings instead. Luckily the kids won't need visas once you get their passports sorted.

You may also wish to get naturalized as a Canadian (and be dual citizen) if you haven't already as that will give you an easy path to go back to Canada if things change in the future, presuming your husband's family is still in Canada. Who knows what the future will bring, right? I resisted getting my US Citizenship until last year as part of the 'moving back to the UK' process just to give my USC wife assurances that we can get back easily should her family fall ill or worse.

It's all a bit bewildering but read the info about the spouse visa and try not to get overwhelmed. Just come back and ask questions as PLENTY of others are in the same boat as you and are at different stages of getting things together. Most of all, keep your chin up and remain positive. Feel free to keep in touch! Good luck!!

BritInParis

Does your husband have any British/Irish/European ancestry? If so he may be eligible for a passport or ancestry visa that would allow you to avoid the expense, time and effort that comes with a spousal visa application.

Wagaress

Thank you of the nice posts and the links!

I'm feeling a little less overwhelmed now I've read through them all. I'm currently on maternity leave in Canada until August so I think we will have to apply via the savings route of £62,500.

This makes me nervous. We have pretty much around that amount tied up in equity in our home. I'm wondering if anyone knows:
Can we use the money being tied into the home as part of the 6 months? We will obviously sell the house the closer we get to applying so the money is in our account in cash. I'd rather do that then sell the home then sit on the money for 6 months then apply.

I'm so nervous about selling up and then not getting the visa for my husband. I could get my kids passports pretty easily by the sounds of things.

Any insight?
Thanks again folks.

Wagaress

Oh and no ancestry so he unfortunately cannot get a passport that way. Dang.

Wagaress

Thanks, I just changed it! Oops, didn't realize

ncoomber

Hello Ellie,
You couldn't - it had to be cash in the bank but I think these rules have slightly been relaxed of late. I read on here somewhere about being able to use investments for the six month time frame but not sure about money tied into a house. I do know the cash has to be in the bank on arrival. Look around this section of the forum - it has been discussed. Or someone more in the know will chime in.

Good luck. I am in a similar situation. Wife USC, three US born kids, plan to move back this summer after 27yrs in US. Getting ready to apply using savings route in the coming weeks for the spouse visa.

Cheers
Nigel

englishguygoinghome

Yes - the rules changed around September last year and you can now use the proceeds from a house sale towards the savings. Read through Appendix FM-SE on the UKBA website (linked from the wiki) for the exact requirements but in general
- the house must have been yours for the past 6 months
- the sale must be completed and all fees, taxes, mortgage etc paid up
- the money must be in cash before you apply
- the money must be valued at 62500GBP or above using the exchange rate on the nominated website on the day of application (so if you're close then I'd stick it in GBP ASAP to avoid any risk).

Other things to note - you'll need to fulfil the financial requirements (and pay the exorbitant visa fees) again in 2.5 years and again 2.5 years after that (but for the final application, in 5 years time, you would only need savings of 16001GBP under the current rules)

As your husband is Canadian you will avoid the english language requirement

Wagaress

In 2.5 years, we will both have good paying jobs in the UK so we don't need to still keep the 62.500 will we? We were hoping to use that as down payment on a home in England after 6-12 months.

ncoomber

Hi Ellie,
I think you are right. I would like the answer to this too. If someone enters using the savings route can they apply for the 2.5 and 5 year stage using working route? Of course there is risk with this route in that if you end up loosing your job just before you apply (at 2.5 and 5yr) and you no longer have the savings then you would not meet requirements and the spouse would have to leave.

Like you I really want to use the savings to buy a house but I am scared to use it leaving us venerable to loosing my wife and my kids mother. I was pleased to just learn from englishmanagoinghome above that a lot of it can be used after 2.5yrs but still its not good for my family to tie so much money up for such a long time.

Cheers
Nigel

Wagaress

Thanks Nigel, the thought of being apart for 6 months will kill us but I'm thinking me going back and getting a job and then trying after 6 months may be the better option. Then we can sell up and use the savings to pay all debt and use as a deposit and be better off overall.

ncoomber

I think it is terrible having families being forced to split up in this way. It seems to be sorry very wrong to me. But there are a lot that do split up because of this paperwork requirements. It will be more than six months though. First you gotta find a job. Then work for six months. Then apply. It could easily be closer to a year.
Good luck with what you decide.
Cheers
Nigel

Wagaress

So, if I have a job here earning over £18,500 (in canada) for at least 6 months, I also need to have a job lined up in the uk for that amount?