turnip65

Hi everyone,
First time poster here, but I've been following the forum for a while and using it as a resource to plan a potential move back to the UK next year and am trying to arm myself with as much of the facts as possible. That being said it's all left me a bit confused and would love some clarity so please bear with me!

Our situation: I'm the British expat residing in the USA on a permanent resident green card and my wife is a US citizen. We've been looking at moving back so that I can help take over the family business.

As far as i see it we have 2 options...
A) Family of a settled person visa (spouse visa?):
1) I think we are eligible and we've been earning approx $80k per annum here in the US and I'll have a solid job offer of over 18.6k GBP i believe we should more than satisfy the financial requirements?
2) How long would my wife's visa be valid for? i think i read 33 months and then she'd be potentially eligible for IDLR?
3) Would we have to travel back together or would it be possible for me to travel as an 'advance party' to help us get set up before my wife arrives?
4) It is my understanding that we should plan on starting the application about 3-4 months before we plan to arrive back in the UK, does this sound right?

B) 1) We could plan on my wife coming in as a visitor and then applying to join family living in the UK? would anybody recommend doing it this way? It seems to me that this option may give us more flexibility. Obviously she wouldn't be able to work or use health services etc
2) Would they even allow her into the country without a return ticket home?
3) I was worried about getting a decision in time for the end of her visitor visa but i guess if she applied as soon as she arrived that shouldn't be an issue?

Also on a more general note, we are at the point in our lives where we are considering starting a family, has anyone else had experience with this (in terms of juggling family with a move)? We're inclined to wait until we arrive in the UK to avoid complications, we could then retroactively apply for US citizenship for the child?

Sorry for the rambling, we are at the beginning of this journey and there's so many things to think about, it's definitely overwhelming but thankfully we have this wonderful resource to turn to! Thanks for your time, any tips and advice are greatly appreciated!

spouse of scouse

Hi. Option A is your only option, your wife needs to apply this visa www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk This link will also lead you to the financial requirements, which you certainly appear to meet as your wife's sponsor

Your wife will need to apply for Further Leave to Remain after 33 months. Same financial requirements apply, although for this visa both the sponsor's and the applicant's salary can be used. After another 33 months, she can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain, and after that she can apply for UK citizenship.

Following her initial visa grant, your wife could either travel to the UK with you or after you, not before.

At the time of making her initial application, your wife needs to nominate at date for her entry into the UK. She gets a month from that date to enter the UK, and must collect her Biometric Residence Permit within 10 days after entry.

I'm sorry, I don't know the answers to the rest of your questions but I'm sure someone else will. Best of luck.

Pulaski

Option B is not an option - it's not legal and won't work.

Under Option A, you can come ahead, or travel with your wife. The only permutation not permitted is your wife traveling ahead.

You should consider getting US citizenship while you have the chance - it will give you options in future.

SanDiegogirl

Wife cannot apply for a spouse visa from within the UK - it has to be applied for from the US.

Depending on how you qualify under the financial requirements you could travel together (if you have already obtained the visa) or you could go ahead and your wife follows when she has the visa.

Read the following document carefully to see how you can qualify:

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...equirement.pdf

Once the visa is issued she has 30 days to enter the UK to obtain the BRP document.

The initial spouse visa is issued for 2.5 years, at which point she applies for a Further leave to Remain - another 2.5 years. At the end of the 5 years she is eligible for Indefinite leave to remain and then naturalisation.

turnip65

That's great, thanks for your time guys, i know you probably answer questions like these all the time but already i feel a lot better so thanks! i'm sure i'll have more pertinent questions down the line but we'll see how it goes. We have some decisions to make!

BritInParis

Presuming your wife was born and raised in the US then your children would be British and US citizens regardless of where they are born.

However if your child wanted to pass on their US citizenship to a child of their own born outside the US, and the other parent wasn't also a US citizen, then they would need to have lived in the US for a period of at least five years at some time in his or her life prior to the birth, of which at least two years were after his or her 14th birthday. This is regardless of where they are born.

British citizenship generally only passes on automatically to the first generation born outside the UK however as the law stands if you a British citizen by descent yourself and have lived in the UK for three consecutive years at any time during your life beyond your child is born outside the UK then that child can registered as a British citizen with the Home Office before their 18th birthday.

Regarding your wife's immigration options then another possibility would be to investigate whether your wife has any recent European ancestry that would entitle her to a British, Irish or other EEA passport that would negate the need for a spouse visa.

Pulaski

Should be "before".

HKG3

The OP also should consider opening an UK bank account for his wife in the US before returning to the UK. This could make life a bit easier. HSBC offers this service in the US, please see link below -

https://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/home/per...g/open-account

turnip65

OK so we are taking the plunge, decision has been made. I've been doing my homework and i think everything is in order but wanted to confirm a couple of things for my own piece of mind.

1) A) My understanding of the process is that we apply and pay for the visa online and then bring supporting documents to an the appointment/ interview at which point we will supply supporting documents? Or is this just for biometrics?
B) We are aware of what supporting documents we need, but have not collected all of them yet, should we have everything in hand before submitting/paying for visa/ booking appointment?


2) As stated in my original post we do qualify based on our current employment/earnings and my job offer when i return to the UK. Does that then mean i do not need to provide extra evidence? For example we have about $12k cash savings and about $30k in a roth investment account plus an estimated $40k equity in the home that we will be selling. Should we provide evidence of this as a precaution or just apply based on employment status?

3) My wife will be the Visa applicant, i assume i also need to send 'sponsorship undertaking form SU07/12 with the visa application?

Lastly: Obviously the exchange rate is highly in our favor right now, we were looking at sending money over ASAP but were worried this might count against us on the application? Obviously we will be able to provide evidence of where the money has gone and our primary eligibility is coming from employment anyways? any thoughts?

Thanks again, gives me such piece of mind being able to get advice from you all!

Pulaski

Well for starters, if you aren't applying based on either savings or current employment, then you can't apply until you have been in a qualifying job, in the UK, for a minimum of six months.

Savings below £16,000 have zero value for immigration purposes.

There is no longer an "appointment" or interview - you mail the documents off to Sheffield for processing.

turnip65

[QUOTE=Pulaski;12096674]Well for starters, if you aren't applying based on either savings or current employment, then you can't apply until you have been in a qualifying job, in the UK, for a minimum of six months.

We have both been in our jobs (here in the USA) for over three years and between us earn well over $80k, that combined with my having a job offer (in the UK) with a salary of over 18.6k I believe qualifies us based on employment?

Pulaski

[QUOTE=turnip65;12096675] My mistake. I misread your post - you said "we do qualify" and I imagined a "not" in the middle.

turnip65

Jeez thanks for scaring the crap out of me for 5 minutes

So we fill out online*, print, then send that in with supporting documents? no bio-metrics at all anymore? Any thoughts on the sponsorship form? can't seem to figure out if its required as part of the application.

*Would you say we should have all the documentation on hand before we do this? or can we assemble it and then send it off whenever we are ready?

SanDiegogirl

1. Supporting documents are sent to Sheffield. Yes you should have ALL your documents in place before completing visa application and having the biometrics done.

2. If you are applying based on income (CAT A or B) then additional savings etc are not necessary and should not be included. Doing so only confuses matters.

3. No you do not need to complete SU07/12 forms. You DO need to complete Appendix 2

4. You can do what you like with regard sending money to the UK - as long as the application is not based on that money in any way.

turnip65

OK thanks. In terms of timing we are planning on being back in June 17, does it sound reasonable to be starting the application in January or should we get started as soon as possible?