Mary C

Hi everyone. It is wonderful reading all the info that comes from so many different places. I trying to find some facts for a friend of mine. She is 64 years young and her Grandmother was born in the uk. My friends sister entered the UK on an Ancestral working visa many years ago but was required to have a job to go to. She is now a full blown UK passport carrying Brit.

My friend and I have been looking at the info available, and we cant see is she is required to have a job to go to, or just have the intention of obtaining work once she gets there. Which she does. She is a 'master' baker and cake decorator.

She meets all the other requirements, Grandmother born in uk, she has sufficient funds to support herself on arrival until she secures work, she will have no trouble getting TB clearance etc.

Have things changed since her sister entered on the Ancestral visa, and was 'required' to have a job offer or are we reading things wrong?

I think I may have set a serious ball rolling in South Africa. I made an announcement that I and may family have decided it's time to move back home after 30 years away... now everyone wants to follow me.

Any advice would be most gratefully received.

HKG3

Mary C - the main purpose of the ancestry visa is to enable the holder to work in the UK - please see link below -

https://www.gov.uk/ancestry-visa/overview

(Please see Point 4 of the Section 1 'Overview')

Mary C

Thanks HKG3, We did read this, and we assume that it is not a requirement to have a 'job offer' as part of the application. My friend most definitely wants to work and will work, but getting a job offer prior to arriving in the UK is proving to be a little difficult. I think we need to stop 'over thinking' things and just get it done.

HKG3

Well Mary C - your 'master' baker friend surely can start a business being a self employ master baker or get a job in the catering trade.

Mary C

Thanks HKG3, she would like to continue working for herself, but is not opposed to being gainfully employed. She makes the most beautiful wedding, birthday or any occasion cakes. They are so beautiful it is almost a shame to cut into them and eat them. She was just a little worried that she would be required to have a job offer as part of the application for the ancestral visa, but this would appear not to be the case. I think she will now be able to make some firm plans to make the move.

formula

Can she support herself if she can't make a living from selling cakes? A lot of people make and sell cakes, to make extra spending money.

If she can't support herself by making cakes, has she got any other skills that will make her employable by companies at age 64+? For at least 5 years? Her age may be against her as her pension age if she was a UK citizen, would have been from age 60. A lot of EU citizens look for low skilled work in the UK.

It's something to think about because on a 5 year Ancestry work visa, she will have no access to any UK public funds if she finds she can't earn much money/find work.

"You can't get Public Funds"
https://www.gov.uk/ancestry-visa/overview


Public funds include a range of benefits that are given to people on a low income, as well as housing support. These are:

income-based jobseeker’s allowance
income support
child tax credit
universal credit
working tax credit
a social fund payment
child benefit
housing benefit
council tax benefit
council tax reduction
domestic rate relief (Northern Ireland)
state pension credit
attendance allowance
severe disablement allowance
personal independence payment
carer’s allowance
disability living allowance
an allocation of local authority housing
local authority homelessness assistance

Mary C

Hi and thanks for input. She has a fair amount of money put away and has a property worth quite a lot of money that is paid off which would be sold before making the move to the UK. So financially she would not have any worries about finances, but makes the cakes purely for pleasure and enjoys getting some pocket money from it. So hopefully she will be either able to carry on making the cakes from home or find a job earning her a little pocket money. She understands that she will not be entitled to any of the benefits etc.

feelbritish

I would be very interested to see if she gets given her Ancestry Visa due to age and to not be going to be working full time. The question is really if she gets given her ILR after the 5 years and if they accept her work as being a cakemaker. Good for her though to take on that challenge at her age! UK should not be age discriminate! Keep us posted!

Gozit

Why shouldn't she? She meets all the requirements.

And like others have said, she won't need a job offer.

formula

At the moment there is no income requirement for ILR for Ancestry visas to ILR. But they are bringing in income requirements from 2016, for those on work visas and wanting ILR. That income requirement (which must be from work in the UK) will be a salary of at least 35k in 2016 and I assume will rise every year. The new criminality laws are much tougher too although some MPs want them to be even stricter.

They have brought in income/savings requirements for those entering the UK on a spouse visa and wanting settlement (ILR).

They have also closed down some work visas, stopped others leading to settlement and amended other work visas by putting a time limit in the UK (commit any crime, driving offence and that may mean they lose their chance of settlement). But they started 3 new visas for those that will be an advantage for the UK to have and shortened the time to ILR if they can create a set number of jobs in a set time.

The self employed are going to get a lot of changes.i.e. income requirements are changing for the SE wanting welfare payments too for themselves and their families; Germany plans to change the self employed free movement EU rules.
I can't keep up with all the EU changes and the way EU countries can just change EU rules to stop the ones they don't want.

One of the UK governments were talking about getting rid of the Ancestry visa, but I suppose they could just change the requirements/settlement requirement instead, at some point???

From all those changes, I wouldn't rule out income requirments for all routes to UK settlement, at some point.

formula

She may have to buy an NHS levy to be able to use the NHS, which is due to come in soon. It will be cheaper than buying health insurance. Things like, not being able to have IVF for free on that levy, won't affect her

Gozit

35k? You've got to be joking. Link please. I think they should have British citizenship extend indefinitely, ie if your parent is a British citizen then you are a British citizen, simples. I think they should do that as the Maltese government has done, and also get rid of this ridiculous spouse visa, and then make immigration from non-EU countries harder. That should be how it is, not shutting out people who have a connection to the UK whilst letting people who have no connection to it at all in.

formula

Your school should be teaching you this.
How to Search the Internet: 9 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow

Even earning 35k gross, that is still a very low amount to raise a family on, pay for a place to live etc. 35k = £2,229.56 per month net, before any deductions for things such as pension contributions, student debt.

From their net pay they have to pay rent/mortgage for the size house they need. A 2 bed flat in London is a safe(ish) area, will be about £1,500 - £2,000 per month. Then they have service charges if it's a flat, their bills for gas & electric (about £60 - £100 per month for a flat; more for a house) council tax (another few hundred per month) water and sewage bills, various insurance policies, fares to work, clothing for the family, medical prescription charges, dentist costs, food, presents, haircuts, days out, holiday. Car purchase (plus insurance, road tax, servicing, wear and tear) and we have double tax on petrol/deisel. Petrol is about 1.26p a litre at the moment. Plus their other bills.

35k is very low wage as they now have to be doing a graduate job for a work visa at a set minimum wage for that job. The minimim is 20k for the lowest jobs. Most will need to start on more than 35K for a visa.

Those visa numbers are capped/or don't lead to citizenship anymore. There are some exceptions I believe i.e. those doing a job on the UKs shortages list. Those earning over 153,000 (ish) aren't capped and neither are those entering the UK on the shortages list, nor those who will bring something to the UK i.e. creating jobs, investing 1 million in the UK.


What some immigrants want a country to do and what that country want to do, will always be two different things, for obvious reasons


They have made "immigration from non-EU countries harder" hence all the visa closures, visa changes and the three new visas designed to attract immigrants who will bring something to the UK. Now some northern and western EU countries are looking to do more of the same with those using the EU route to their country.

HKG3

Mary C - just a side question - why British expats in South Africa like yourself wish to return to the UK? South Africa appears to be a beautiful country with lots of sun and the big houses with swimming pools I saw on newspapers/magazine/TV - what more one can ask for?

WEBlue

With the sole exception of the very first sentence--which actually IS about the Ancestry Visa--I really do not see how any of this information you have given in this very long and detailed post helps the OP, or in any way answers the original question.

The OP is not asking about work visas, or spouse visas, yet you give gratuitous details of both, followed by completely unsupported speculation about the future of both. The conditions for the AV are not the same as those of the work or spouse visa. I think your post may be meant to confuse the OP, to inspire fear and uncertainty rather than actually answering the enquiry...as this board is rightly meant to do.

Bolded words--and in some cases my bolded words--are added to provide some clarity to the OP or other readers who may be confused by exactly which visa this poster is discussing.
None of this information is applicable to the OP's question about the Ancestry Visa, and very little of it to Gozit's question, and that's quite aside from your complete yet detailed speculation about the future of these visas.

As for your speculations, one wonders how you come upon these ideas of how visas will work in the future. Are you really "in the know"? Hobnobbing with politicos and the movers & shakers of the Home Office?