knvbknvb

Im British and have lived in oz for 6 Years - I married a Kiwi Lady and together we have 2 Beautiful Kids together.
I have moved back to the UK to sort out a Job and prepare a future for us.

Whats going to be our Easiest and cheapest option in Getting them Here permanently ?

(1) Get the kids and Wife here with me - sort out there British Passports (I belive the kids can be Dual ( 4 month old and 2.5 year old)

Then Apply for an extension to there visitor visas and then apply for extension / residency whilst here in the UK (Spouse route)

We have been Together for 3 and a Half years!
Married for 16 Months!


(2) Apply offshore but have been told that can take upto 6 months - this is not an option as we need to be together.
Not in a position to afford a move back to Australia - But have room at my parents for my wife and the kids and can support them without any need any help whatsoever from the UK Government.
---
UK Border Agency have been laughable - and have told us to call a premium rate number to the British high commision in Australia (Canberra).

The UK BA website is full of so much contradiction and very sketchy advice.

Our situation is quite Unique as I hold Permanent Residence to Australia can live there but want my family to be here - yes for a better life!

Any Ideas - can special circumstances be taken - I can not believe that the UK government could deny a happy family?

Any advice please ??

Pollyana

A government doesn't care whether a family is " happy" or not, thats the first lesson when dealing with Immigration anywhere.
If you kids are able to hold a UK passport they don't need visas, visitor or otherwise, they need UK passports.

The rest of the info I will leave for people much more in the know on UK Immigration

knvbknvb

Thanks for your reply Pollyana - Yeah I understand they dont care about happy !

Kids have Aussie passports - Aussie Birth Certificates - will sort them British ones when they are get here - obviously as having a british Father this will not be a problem one would have thought!

Just the route we took as they need to get here in the first place!

brissybee

With the impending changes to foreign born spouse rules I would just get them all there, asap, and sort it out on local phone calls. Why wait?

knvbknvb

Thanks for this post it is exactly what I need to here !
That's helped my Dilemma - that's the route we will be taking for sure!
Get them here and sort it out - paid into this tax system for 18 years never claimed a penny out of the system - never been unemployed - the wife is a stay home mum and has no intention ! No burden on the system and I have work here now to support my wife and kids!

Bermudashorts

I don't know the UK immigration system, but is your wife quite as happy with the route you are suggesting as you are. Considering she is the one who apparently would have no status in the UK? Surely it is not normal for people to bring over a spouse and only then apply for the appropriate visa.

knvbknvb

She wants to be in the UK - she left NZ for Australia as I did UK for Australia - both over Australia - but has been our Life Journey and we have 2 beautiful kids and a happy loving relationship - She already has a Job which she loves - FT Mum!

Bermudashorts

Well that is really nice. But what I was really asking is if she is happy to fall foul of UK immigration?

SanDiegogirl

From your post I gather that your children have Australian passports and your wife has a New Zealand passport.

With both these passports they can enter the UK as VISITORS without visas;however they can only remain for 6 months. As the UKBA site says you cannot change from visitor status to any other status while in the UK.


You will need to apply for spouse and dependent visas for your family. You will not be able to do so while in the UK, and I believe you will find that your family will have to leave the UK in order to apply for said visas.

Start here:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/vi...led/spouse-cp/

Mummy in the foothills

Why don't you just apply for the kids British passports right off the bat, they don't take that long to come.
At the same time start the paperwork for the spouse visa ASAP do it right the first time it's more straight forward that trying to put it right later.
http://www.uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/di...z_descent.html

brissybee

I agree and didn't mean to suggest in my earlier post that, in haste to get to the UK, the OP should flout laws. Always best to follow immigration rules... but what I meant was, given the impending changes, I wouldn't hang about.

Also, I hope the OP will make sure that there is never a separation of children from mother if he and they are allowed to stay in the UK and she isn't.

roaringmouse

You should get your children UK passports before they go to the UK, however with you already gone to the UK I'm not sure how straightforward that will be with supporting documents.

There's nothing cheap about UK immigration, the current application fee for a settlement visa based on marriage is £826 which is currently AU$1,280 using the Consular rate of exchange. The next stage, which is ILR in the UK is currently close to £1,000 for a postal application and more for an in-person application - this generally increases in April each year, but you don't know how much by until a couple of months beforehand.

Your wife must apply for the visa in Australia - she cannot go to the UK and then apply. Recent processing times for applications from Australia indicate that almost all settlement visas were processed within 8 weeks (40 business days) in February, and about one third were processed within 3 weeks.

If granted under current rules (this depends on when the visa application is made) your wife would get a 27-month visa. Presuming the change in rules doesn't effect current visa holders then your wife would be able to apply for ILR (permanent residency) from 28 days before her 2 year anniversary of arriving in the UK on the visa - but of course the changes this year may alter that, particularly as the new probationary period will likely increase from 2 years to 5 years.
You didn't consider getting Australian citizenship before all this? I know you say you're over Australia, but this could change in the future - and if your kids are Australian (or New Zealanders) then they may want to live here when they're older, so it would make it easier for you to spend time in Australia with them.

quoll

Agree with the others, get your kids their UK passports now. By any chance does your wife have any UK ancestry - dont suppose her parents were UK born? or grandparents? If her parents were UK born then she can apply for citizenship by descent or if her grandparents were UK born then she can apply for an ancestry visa which is a whole lot easier than a spouse visa in the first instance. Otherwise looks like a spouse visa is your only other option - she wont want to be here on a visitor's visa!

MarylandNed

That doesn't apply though if you're a UK citizen. We repatriated to the UK from Canada with 2 Canadian born kids. My kids entered the UK on Canadian passports. As long as you can prove "right of abode", you won't be admitted as a visitor (we had their full Canadian birth certs that had details of both UK born parents to prove their "right of abode"). Even if they were admitted as visitors, I could simply have obtained UK passports for them in the UK. They can't deport UK citizens.

mentalist

Any idea of the latest situation? I heard that the relevent bill had not yet been passed so surely it will be April 2013 before any significant changes occur.