movingtolakes

Hi All,

Brief but concise summary of my situation followed by my specific question:

-British father (me) married since 2014 to Trinidadian, 1 British/American son, in USA both have Green cards he has UK pp, met and worked at same company since 2009, wife currently stay at home mum.

-Planning move to UK early 2018 under spouse visa for wife (me as sponsor) and doing due diligence a year in advance to prepare documents and knowledge to submit application (aim to submit from USA while still working). Hope current company will allow me to relocate to UK keeping same job but unconfirmed.

My 2 questions which i posed to the gov.uk website (and received a response saying they can't tell me it's too specific) are

1. My wife's Trinidad pp has her maiden name however she has her married name on her green card (we got married after her last pp renewal), should this matter to the application or should we look into getting her a new pp under her married name, our son holds the married name?

2. I have read that i cannot use the savings route to apply if applying outside the UK, it must be salary based only. Is this true? I hope to move with same company in which case i wouldn't need to but in the eventuality that i do not get the option to transfer with current job (Oil- who knows right now!) would i need to move to UK to use the savings route (i can cover the amount needed - 62,500).

Thank You greatly

Richard.

quiltman

I'm sure BIP will be along sometime with his views, but so far as I'm aware, you can use the savings route whether applying from inside or outside the UK. The savings need to be easily available and been held by you for at least 6 months. See here for full details of the financial requirements: Appendix_FM_Annex_1_7_Financial_Requirement.pdf

BritInParis

1. Probably a good idea if your wife intends to use her married name going forward to start the process with an updated passport to make life easier. You should also consider acquiring US citizenship before you depart if your son is a US citizen so that you're not separated from him in later life if he decides to move back to the United States.

2. The savings route can be used if applying from within or outside the UK. What can't be used outside the UK is the applicant's salaried income. If you have the £62,500 in cash savings then it will be by far the easiest way to meet the financial requirements in terms of paperwork.

movingtolakes

Thanks quiltman and BIP, i foresee i will have many questions over the next year while i go through the process, your responses help, i'm sending off the application for wife's new pp today. Once i've been through the process i can do a summary if that would also help others on the board
Cheers