Steve Junion

I would like to move myself and my family to the UK all as one unit. (from NZ)

The lump sum savings is too high i think, but I see you can combine with your income. The problem is I'm not clear if that income has to be income from within the UK, or can i use my income within NZ to qualify??

SanDiegogirl

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

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


You can't use income just from overseas employment alone - you have to have employment in the UK also meeting the financial level to qualify.

i.e even if you earn 50K GBP overseas, you need to have a job to go to starting within 3 months of return to the UK to qualify, OR the Brit citizen returns to the UK gets a job and after 6 months applies for the visa.

Steve Junion

Thanks, but this creates another issue. Say i get a job offer and they want me to start in 6 weeks...how do you get the settlement visa for your family in such a short notice??

Maybe it's just easier to sell the house here, since i think the proceeds from the house sale don't need to meet the 6 months savings stipulation.

Steve Junion

ACtually i have just thought of a way that could be the easiest - will this work

1. Sell house in NZ, we will at least 100,000 pounds profit from that
2. Move to UK, family just use their NZ passports as NZ citizens can stay in the UK for 6 months

3. Apply for settlement visas from within the UK using the cash savings option

That will work right?

michali

Sadly, no, that will not work! You can certainly use the funds from the sale of your house to meet the financial requirement and, as long as the house has been owned by you for longer than six months, the funds from the sale can be cashed and used immediately for the applications, as you have said. However, you cannot apply for settlement visas from inside the U.K. So you would need to apply for them from their home country. Not sure about priority but I expect it is an option for applicants from NZ so processing might not take too long. Would it be just your wife who needs a visa?

Steve Junion

Sigh...thank you for that. I thought that would be too easy, and we can't have that.

No, the visas would be for my wife and my kids since I'm only by Descent.

Ok, so how about this? Sell the house, live in my fathers house (thanks in advance dad *cough*), use cash savings to get settlement visas, and then move over.

BritInParis

Bingo. Pay for priority processing and it shouldn't be more than four weeks for a decision. Note that your children will get Indefinite Leave to Enter from the get-go and so will be eligible for British citizenship by registration rather than the more expensive naturalisation after three years providing they are still under 18. Your wife will have to apply for Further Leave to Remain after 2.5 years and Indefinite Leave to Remain at the 5 year mark before she is eligible to apply for British citizenship by naturalisation.

Steve Junion

Thanks guys! Sounds like the best (and easiest) option. Appreciated.