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British citizen living abroad? Non-EEA spouse? This may affect you!

British citizen living abroad? Non-EEA spouse? This may affect you!

Old Jun 10th 2012, 3:33 pm
  #166  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

Originally Posted by nun
I take a very simple approach to all this.

If you are a British citizen you should be able to come and live in the UK with your non-EU spouse and children. There should be no income limits or restrictions on benefits.

If May wants to stop immigration through "sham" marriages there should be an investigation to see if the marriage is just a ruse to gain entry to the UK. That would address the issue she (and the Daily Mail) has.

Personally I resent this legislation....I'm single, but if I was still married to my US ex I'd have to jump through hoops just to return to where I was born. What if I had to move back to the UK to look after my aging mother, would the UK force me to be separated from my US spouse? It's knee jerk legislation of the worst kind.

This makes me worry for my children, US/UK citizens. Should they marry in the US and have children who won't be UKC they wouldn't be able to move to be near us. One will be a high earner so I shouldn't worry. the other will be a Policeman, hardly a high earner when you look at those figures, if that is for a couple thats fine, but add a few children and a Policeman wouldn't be able to bring his wife and children home to UK.
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 3:53 pm
  #167  
 
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Post Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

She was interviewed on the Andrew Marr programme in the UK this morning:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...foreigner.html
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 4:13 pm
  #168  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

Originally Posted by Englishmum
She was interviewed on the Andrew Marr programme in the UK this morning:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...foreigner.html
I notice their spouse or partner must have a genuine attachment to the UK, be able to speak English, and integrate into our society,

Is this a new requirement as well? There must be huge numbers of Britons who move to other countries with no intention of speaking the language and integrating into the society.
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 5:04 pm
  #169  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

Originally Posted by Sally Redux
I notice their spouse or partner must have a genuine attachment to the UK, be able to speak English, and integrate into our society,

Is this a new requirement as well? There must be huge numbers of Britons who move to other countries with no intention of speaking the language and integrating into the society.
I think part of the proposed new requirements are taking a "Britishness quiz" - that most current residents and citizens can't pass (anyone who watched the documentary "Make Bradford British" will know what I mean).

In terms of integrating and speaking the language, I feel there is a difference between earning citizenship and/or permanent residence (for which I think an expectation to integrate and speak the home language is reasonable) and earning permission to live and work temporarily (for which the integration/language expectations should be lower).
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 5:44 pm
  #170  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

Originally Posted by dunroving
I think part of the proposed new requirements are taking a "Britishness quiz" - that most current residents and citizens can't pass (anyone who watched the documentary "Make Bradford British" will know what I mean).

In terms of integrating and speaking the language, I feel there is a difference between earning citizenship and/or permanent residence (for which I think an expectation to integrate and speak the home language is reasonable) and earning permission to live and work temporarily (for which the integration/language expectations should be lower).
Thanks, that makes sense.
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 6:16 pm
  #171  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

Originally Posted by formula

What an earth do you do all day while the children are at school?
It must be nice to live in your superior castle.

My next of the woods, till the kids hit 6 and go to school, with two kids, would need to earn $25K just to break even, add a commuting cost for where the bulk of jobs are and you're looking at $35K to break even.

Not everything is easy.

Anyway. - http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/32167

Seems appropriate for this thread, even though it does seem some what lacking in signatures.
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 6:26 pm
  #172  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

Originally Posted by formula
Neither I nor any of my friends stayed at home after the youngest had started school (age 4) even though our respective husbands' earned enough for the family to live on. Most of us even worked SE from home in the evenings just months after the baby was born. We all wanted to work to keep our selfworth as we came from familes that installed a good work ethic, so we wanted to contribute to the family pot. New laws have made it even easier for a parent in the EEA countries to drop off and collect their children from school.

What an earth do you do all day while the children are at school?
I was a career woman too and thanks to women have choices I chose to look after my own babies when they were small, and even after school started with the younger two. It doesn't make me less of a person, my husband earns enough and I have more than enough to get done while he works all day outside the home.
It certainly makes for lovely days off together spending time as a family when I get stuff done while he is gone. Laundry, cleaning, shopping, cooking, taking kids to dance, swim and everything else that goes on. He gets all the outside stuff done cause I hate gardening, he services all the vehicles, trims trees gardens as needed and vacuums and mops.
No one is more important than the other we are a team.
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 6:35 pm
  #173  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

Originally Posted by formula

What an earth do you do all day while the children are at school?
I have the freedom to do whatever I want to do.
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 6:44 pm
  #174  
 
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Talking Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl
I have the freedom to do whatever I want to do.
Yes me too, and like Jerseygirl our offspring are now adults.

We are ladies of leisure.....and loving it!
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 7:34 pm
  #175  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

So slightly self-interested question but what happens to those of us who already have the visa? My DH is due to arrive on June 29th. He has a two-year visa. Will they just give him another temporary one at the end of it? Will that depend on my income or will they look at joint income too given that he'll be working then?
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 7:39 pm
  #176  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

Originally Posted by just_jenn
So slightly self-interested question but what happens to those of us who already have the visa? My DH is due to arrive on June 29th. He has a two-year visa. Will they just give him another temporary one at the end of it? Will that depend on my income or will they look at joint income too given that he'll be working then?
If his visa is already issued then he must have squeezed in just in time.
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 7:46 pm
  #177  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

You will have fulfill the criteria at the time of application for FLtR. I have heard suggestions that this may include the higher threshold, or that those current holding a 2 year conditional will be 'grandfatherd in' to the old rules. All will become clear when the full announcement is made.
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 8:06 pm
  #178  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

I just received my spousal visa with the KOL required stamp on it. Once I get to the UK I will take the Life in the UK test as soon as possible and will then immediately apply for ILR. The new rules should not apply to those who already have the visa. At least that is what others who have been following UK immigration for a while think will happen.
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 8:18 pm
  #179  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

Unless your marriage is more than 2 years old you can't immediately apply or ILtR can you? I was under the impression all visas were temporary in the first instance and for a set period. Could be wrong though.

I've seen both sides of the coin be mooted on UK Yankee. Simply put- wait and see. The relevant section currently says that the criteria that is in place at the time has to be met at the time of applying for the 'next step' visa. Unless specific provisions are made for current holders, and if this rule remains, I cant see anyway around having to meet the new financial criteria.

Last edited by civilservant; Jun 10th 2012 at 8:20 pm.
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Old Jun 10th 2012, 8:29 pm
  #180  
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Default Re: Theresa May wants minimum income of £25,700; £49,000 if you have 2 kids

[QUOTE=nun;10110766]I take a very simple approach to all this.

If you are a British citizen you should be able to come and live in the UK with your non-EU spouse and children. There should be no income limits or restrictions on benefits.
QUOTE]

This is already the case. You just have to move, with your non EU spouse and family, to another EEA country first - any one will do except for Romania and Bulgaria - rent a place, work or be self employed, and wait a year or so, then get an EEA family permit, along the lines of you plan to move back to the UK. The UK cannot delay granting this unreasonably. You arrive back in the UK, with your non EU spouse in tow, who should apply for a residence card immediately. There are no income checks, nor requirements on either party to work. The British spouse is entitled to claim the full range of benefits from the day they arrive.

The UK border web site details all of this. While they say this is not a route the Brit citizen should go down, they also acknowledge it is possible and that going down this route would mean no visa fees to be paid (the EEA family permit is free).

Thousands of people move to Britain every year with their non EU/EEA citizen spouses. And many of them claim benefits as soon as they get here, and housing benefit/council tax benefit as soon as the council says they are "habitually resident". Usually 3 to 6 months. Make sure you enrol on the electoral roll as soon as you arrive. It takes a few weeks to come through but this is one of the indicators used to determine habitual residence, i.e. they search the electoral roll to see if you have registered.

Theresa may seems to be trying to set something up so that British citizens who would be eligible for benefits if they came back here are not the kind of British citizens we want back. And indeed, if they are the kinds of well off citizens she wants back, presumably they are meant to have a job already lined up prior to coming back, or alternatively be so well off with investment assets (£1,000,000 invested at 4.9% per annum, anyone got this?) that they won't need a job. But she isn't in a position to stop this. EU rules triumph over home office rules. Any British citizen moving back to Britain from an EU/EEA country comes under EU rules.

If Theresa May is intent on stopping non EU spouses from being entitled to benefits, then all she has to do is say they have no recourse to public funds, and nor can their British spouses claim for them. Even then, if, after 5 years/3 years depending on how they get here, they decide to get British citizenship, I don't see how she could then stop their access to benefits.

Even requirements like learning the language are meaningless. That is not a requirement of EU/EEA citizens and their spouses coming here to work.

To those Brits with Canadian or American spouses wanting to return here, I recommend coming via Belgium. No fees, and British citizens married to non EU citizens don't need a visa for themselves or their spouse. Plus, if you feel like a night out on the town in London, there are direct trains.
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