sk22

Hi All,

Please can you help calm the nerves of my fiance as she is slowly convincing herself that even once we wed we wont be able to live in the same country for years! I've posted in the USA immigration forum a few times as I am a UK citizen engaged to a US citizen. We are getting married next June and the intention is for my to travel over, get married then both of us move to the UK while my US spouse Visa is processed (10 months or so) and my fiance can get the same Visa for the UK as it only takes about 4 weeks i've been told.

I've decided to let her worry herself about it as I wont convince her otherwise, but for my own peace of mind would like to get some answers on the details of her moving to the UK
One idea she has now had is to get married when I visit in December (simple ceremony) so that we can begin the UK visa application process and get it completed after our wedding 'reception' in the USA in June 2013 before she comes back with me shortly after.

Once she has a UK spouse visa what else would be needed for her to come into the UK with me? I've read that I would need to sponsor her which basically means I have to prove I can pay her rent and council tax (I read a figure of £105 a week) or have sufficient savings if I don't have a job, or a family member can 'co-sponsor' here.

To sum it up, I am an engineering contractor (i.e. self employed) and my current contract expires next May which was perfect as it meant I had some time off to go to the US. I have very little concerns about being able to get a new job after the summer but my fiance has convinced herself that if I am not employed (as in a permanent job) when she comes over they will send her home. I've told her this isnt true as I have savings etc, i'm an engineer and she is a qualified dental nurse and experienced teacher so its hardly like we are bums who plan to leach.

Can someone clear it up for me?

Thanks very much

englishguygoinghome

Hey SK,

It very much depends on your personal financial circumstances:
Very highly simplified:
- you need to prove that you are currently and have been earning over 18600 per year
- if you can't do that then you need 16000 PLUS 2.5 times the gap between your earnings and the 18600 threshold.

You will also need to show that it is a genuine relationship, time apart in different countries between marriage and application is probably not productive on this.

Take a look at the new rules under: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/si...oi-fam-mig.pdf

Your fiancee may well be right

Also look at the very first (sticky) thread at the top of this forum to join with others in similar situations and the advice and condolences given to them

Mummy in the foothills

Also look at www.uk-yankees.com where there are lots of UK/US marriages and US citizens moving to live in UK.
Which country do you intend to actually live in?
I don't see the point in applying for visas for UK if you aren't going to stay threre, same as US.
Why not just apply for a Fiancee visa and come to US, get married and do an adjustment of status and get your green card, you can still visit while waiting for the fiancee visa from what others have said.
If you are planning on living together in UK then just ignore that

Former Laowai

sk22, I recognize myself in you!
A few months ago I had almost no idea about immigration rules and just assumed whatever they were they wouldn't affect me and my "real family".
How wrong I was.
Mate, the rules are real and your wife is probably right to be concerned so please make sure you do everything you can to do things by the (admittedly very harsh and draconian) book.
Best of luck.

sk22

Thanks guys.

Sorry its taken me so long to reply, I fell ill!!! All better now though. Yes we are doing the UK visa first so we can live here for a couple of years, in that time I can apply for my US visa and when we get it we can move there.

Many thanks

ldollard

I'll tell you right now, its far far easier for you to move to the USA than for your wife to move to the UK.

You can even go to the USA as a tourist and adjust your status whilst in the USA (you CANNOT do that in the UK). You can get a fiance visa while you are in the UK to go within a few months to live and work in the USA (you cannot do that in the UK). You can have someone else sponsor you in the USA (you cannot do that in the UK).

Within a month or two of adjusting status, sending off for a work visa you'll have it.

If you really want to be together, moving first to the US would be by far the easiest route.

Now off course if you work in the UK making 18600 or more for 12 months, and all other things being equal you can apply for a spouse visa and you'll prob have it in 3 months of possibly less.

But your wife cannot come to the UK on a tourist visa if you are intending to get her a spouse visa, for one you'll need to send her passport off, for another if immigration found out they might deport her. I actually got this advice from an immigration consultant, as i had the same idea.

BlueMorpho

Just to clarify- your wife can come into the UK on a visitor visa for up to 6 months, but if you want to obtain a spouse visa she cannot do it if she has entered the UK on a visitor visa or no visa at all.

If I am wrong, please advise, but this is what we hope to do- wife enters for up to 6 months on visitor visa and we live in UK whilst our money (£62K) "cooks" in the bank for that 6 months. She returns to USA, at which time we apply for spousal visa with myself and daughter in the UK and wife in USA...visa obtained all else being equal, we live in UK!
I hope I have not thread-jacked too badly, because I was clarifying a point- them went tangential!

SanDiegogirl

While it is not illegal to go to the US as a tourist on the VWP and then apply for adjustment of status, it is not looked upon favourably by US immigration.

The prospective immigrant has to prove they had no intent on applying for adjustment prior to entering the States. If a "spontaneous" event happens, such as marriage, and then he/she applies for adjustment that would, maybe, prove no intent.

However, entering the States on the VWP means you have no "rights" whatsoever, and if your adjustment is turned down there is no appeal procedure and one is removed from the States pretty quickly.

Some who go this route are successful, some are not. To undertake this process depends on how lucky you feel.

Bluegrass Lass

What's your end goal here, OP? Do you want to live in the US or the UK?

If you are already earning the minimum amount of money to sponsor your US fiance (at least £18,600) and have been earning that level of salary for at least 6months, then you are in the position to sponsor your fiance's visa quite easily. If that's the case, then my opinion (for what it's worth) is for you to go down this route, and then you both stay in the UK long enough for her to gain UK citizenship - which is around 5yrs at the moment. I recommend this because UK immigration has tightened up considerably (obviously), and it may become next to impossible to immigrate to the UK in the future..or at least it will require a large amount of savings or a lengthy separation.

The one thing I would say, though, I don't know how the financial requirements change (if at all) for those that are self-employed. And I don't know how your contract coming to an end in May would effect it as well. Hopefully someone else can speak up about those issues.

Jerseygirl

It would have been best to point out that it is illegal to enter the US using the VWP with the intent of staying and adjusting status.

ldollard

I guess I got lucky, and when i did it there was an appeals process, i guess this has been taken away. But otherwise you are correct.

ldollard

it wasn't my intent it just happened that way.

Jerseygirl

But it looked like you were recommending that route...which of course is illegal.

SanDiegogirl

Do you qualify for any of the options to get a spouse visa in the UK - Categories A, B, etc etc as set out in the document below:?

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/si...df?view=Binary

Your first post mentioned financial requirements that are out of date (105 GBP per week), so have you researched the current financial needs?