Questions about visa for my spouse
#1
Just Joined
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Joined: Sep 2020
Posts: 6
Questions about visa for my spouse
Hi everyone,
Apologies if these questions are answered elsewhere, I searched and did not find anything.
I am a UK citizen living in the US since 1999. We are moving to the UK in November/December.
- My wife is American.
- We also have two dogs to move back (kids are fine, I got them UK passports).
- Due to cost of moving dogs to UK (as in $5,000), my wife plans on traveling via Paris where a company will pick them all up and bring them back to the UK. Saves us about $3,500).
Questions:
- Under what visa should my wife enter the UK? Time is too short for a spouse visa, plus we have no money in the UK.
- If coming on a 6-month tourist visa, will she be allowed in? Will she require some form of a return ticket as evidence she is planning to leave, as in a return Eurostar ticket to France?
- Should we get a 2-year visa instead to buy (literally) more time? And then pay the NHS surcharge?
- Can she start the spouse visa while on that visa or does that require something else?
Any advice super appreciated, the Visa and Immigration website is not that helpful!
Apologies if these questions are answered elsewhere, I searched and did not find anything.
I am a UK citizen living in the US since 1999. We are moving to the UK in November/December.
- My wife is American.
- We also have two dogs to move back (kids are fine, I got them UK passports).
- Due to cost of moving dogs to UK (as in $5,000), my wife plans on traveling via Paris where a company will pick them all up and bring them back to the UK. Saves us about $3,500).
Questions:
- Under what visa should my wife enter the UK? Time is too short for a spouse visa, plus we have no money in the UK.
- If coming on a 6-month tourist visa, will she be allowed in? Will she require some form of a return ticket as evidence she is planning to leave, as in a return Eurostar ticket to France?
- Should we get a 2-year visa instead to buy (literally) more time? And then pay the NHS surcharge?
- Can she start the spouse visa while on that visa or does that require something else?
Any advice super appreciated, the Visa and Immigration website is not that helpful!
#2
Re: Questions about visa for my spouse
It lools like you already know most of what is required - your wife can only enter as a visitor and won't have access to the NHS other than in an emergency.
She will have to leave the UK and return to the US to receive a spouse visa
You will need to meet the income (£18,600 pa evicdenced by six months of pay slips, or 12 months of records if you're elf employed) or savings (£62,500, held for six months, or from the proceeds of a sale of real estate you own) requirements, or some combination thereof, to sponsor your wife's visa.
I don't know what you mean by "a two year visa". The initial spouse visa is valid for 2½ years (and requires paying the NHS surcharge) and approaching the 2½ year point she will need to apply for "further leave to remain" - that is the default route to "indefinite leave to remain" and onwards to citizenship if she want to take that step.
She will have to leave the UK and return to the US to receive a spouse visa
You will need to meet the income (£18,600 pa evicdenced by six months of pay slips, or 12 months of records if you're elf employed) or savings (£62,500, held for six months, or from the proceeds of a sale of real estate you own) requirements, or some combination thereof, to sponsor your wife's visa.
I don't know what you mean by "a two year visa". The initial spouse visa is valid for 2½ years (and requires paying the NHS surcharge) and approaching the 2½ year point she will need to apply for "further leave to remain" - that is the default route to "indefinite leave to remain" and onwards to citizenship if she want to take that step.
Last edited by Pulaski; Sep 29th 2020 at 9:06 pm.
#4
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: May 2010
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 9,618
Re: Questions about visa for my spouse
As said, she cannot apply for visa while in the UK; she'll need to return to the US. so will require to show a return ticket.
#5
Re: Questions about visa for my spouse
You don't need to transfer the funds - they don't have to be held in the UK. .... Is that what you mean by "transfer" ... to a bank in the UK? If you already have the funds in a bank account the 6 month clock is already running.
#7
Re: Questions about visa for my spouse
Nope. The funds don't have to be a UK bank, and don't have to be in pound sterling either. Just beware of currency volatility, if the non-GBP currency falls in value against the pound, so at the outset you should have a little more non-GBP currency than the minimum at current exchange rates.
#8
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: May 2010
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 9,618
Re: Questions about visa for my spouse
Read the following document re: cash savings
https://assets.publishing.service.go...t-v2.0-ext.pdf
Last edited by SanDiegogirl; Sep 29th 2020 at 8:49 pm.