Lovedup

Hi I have my immediate family all in the US (Mum, Dad and Brother) all of which are US citizens now. I have been visiting through the VWP, over the last 14 or so years that they have been here. I had a GF over here for a little while and the last time I visited we decided to get married in Arizona, US. I have overstayed by 4 months as we were trying to apply for a visa for me to stay. Due to paperwork complications, and her not being able to show she can support me, application has not been possible without a serious overstay and we have both decided to try and live in the UK together. I am a born/bred British Citizen and want for her to stay with me rather then us be apart. As I have been out of the country for sometime I have not been working or living in the UK, however I will find a job on my return which will be over 30k per annum.

My questions are:

What is the best and quickest route for me to take her with me?
How long and how much will it cost?
She has a misdemeanor offense of underage drinking when she was 18, will that be an issue?
Will I be able to apply if I can't show an income or place of residence that goes back 6 months?

Noorah101

Your questions are about having a USC immigrate to the UK. This forum is for UKC's who want to immigrate to the USA.

You need to visit www.uk-yankee.com. They have a forum there, similar to this one, which deals with USCs moving to the UK.

In the meantime, I'm going to move your post to the "Moving Back to the UK" forum on this site; maybe you can pick up some knowledge there.

Rene
Moderator

Noorah101

If you have overstayed your allowed 90 days on the VWP, you realize you can NEVER use the VWP again, right? If you leave the USA now, and want to visit the USA again in the future, you'll need to apply for a B-2 visa.

Rene

Lovedup

Thanks moderator, wasn't sure where I should be posting.

Noorah101

No problem! Good luck with everything.

Are you SURE you don't want to stay in the USA and just adjust status to permanent resident? The paperwork is not complicated, and yes it's on the expensive side, but the good thing is that you have a lot of family in the USA who can help out with fees and/or financial sponsorship (if that's a problem).

Rene

chaoclive

There are loads of posts in this thread about British citizens (you) who wish to move back to the UK with their non-EEA family members (your wife).

This forum is the right place for your post. Of course, UK Yankee also provides the same service but your situation is not unique and it is definitely not affected by the fact that your spouse is American. This is a query about the UK Immigration Laws.

You may not have noticed, but there is a very useful post on the launch page for the UK Citizenship/Passport page called: 'British citizen living abroad? Non-EEA spouse? See this thread for basic information': http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=830478

This will tell you what you need. I'm sorry to say that if you haven't been earning in the last while or don't have about 63000GBP in savings you might find that it's really hard to move back at the moment.

However, do not fear. There is a possible route to be found in the EEA regulations. You may want to research something called: the Surinder Singh route which put simply means that a UK citizen works in another EEA country, e.g. France/Spain and then, after an undefined period, applies for a visa for his/her family member to move back to the UK with them. Google has loads of info about this. There are no crazy financial requirements!

Good luck.

chaoclive

I guess his post must have been somewhere else before you posted your answers. This is the 'Moving back to the UK-Citizenship/Passports & spouse/family visa' section - the perfect place for his query about a non-EEA citizen going to live in the UK his/her British citizen family member.

BritInParis

You'll need to earning over £18,600 per annum for six months before you meet the financial requirements for a spouse visa. However as a US citizen your wife can visit the UK for up to six months without a visa. She won't be able to work but you can live together. Once the six months is up she'll need to return to the US to apply for her spouse visa which she should then qualify for.

WEBlue

For a full explanation of the new UK spouse visa financial requirements there's a link at the top of this board called 'Spouse Immigration-UK':
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spouse_Immigration-UK

Or as Chaoclive has stated, another legal alternative is the 'Surinder Singh Route to Family Reunification in the UK':
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Surinder_Singh

And beware of the idea that your wife can 'live' in the UK for six months on a tourist visa. She can't, and for immigration purposes it will be a 'visit' only. Plus, in order to receive the six-month tourist stamp from the UK immigration officer on entry, she must bring proof that she has strong ties to her home country, the US, that will insure she won't overstay. Otherwise she runs a risk of not even being allowed into the UK.

BritInParis

An argument over semantics perhaps. The practical upshot is the same. Although you are correct that she will need to prove strong ties to the US to allowed in by an immigration officer. If she does this successfully however then there's no reason why she can't 'visit' the OP for the six months required to qualify for the spouse visa. The alternative to remain apart for those six months as the OP has overstayed and will now face problems re-entering the US.

WEBlue

Yes, it was a completely semantic nitpick, sorry! I'm warning the OP because I know someone who slipped up at the UK POE and said the wrong word when asked about the purpose of her visit, which led to her refusal of entry. She said she was coming to "live" with her British BF for six months. When the couple is married it's even more important to state to any and all officials that this is a "visit".

She should carry proof that she will return to her home country--a job, school course, family ties, pets, whatever, and demonstrate knowledge of the UK visa rules (--i.e. she can't 'move' to the UK without a visa, on the one hand, or in the case of Singh living with her EEA partner while he exercised EU treaty working rights elsewhere in Europe before moving to the UK).

BritInParis

Not to worry, it was a bit imprecise of me. The phrasing is important, especially if the couple involved are married, as demonstrating ties to the US is going to be more difficult if the husband is residing in the UK and their intention is to live permanently in the UK together at a later date.

Bringing documentation that demonstrates ongoing ties to the US (employment contracts, payslips, tenancy agreements, etc..) will be important in order to be successful.