Xcelency

Hello Everyone,

I have been reading these forums (thank you to the people who set it up!) and although I do see some people with some similarities, I have not been able to find anyone with the same issues that I have.

BACKGROUND:

I am a British citizen (My mother is Burmese and step Father was English, he officially adopted me in the 1970's).

My Wife is Vietnamese and we were married 3 years ago in Thailand. We had been together for 2 years prior to that.

My Son (2.5) was born in Vietnam and we will be registering him with the British consulate shortly.

My Wife is currently 3 months pregnant.

I am returning to the UK because my business, which I had invested my entire life savings into was stolen by my Vietnamese landlord. The police say that there is nothing they can do, because I am a "foreigner"!

Anyway, enough of the sad story, I have to restart my life and at a young 52, I have no problems hunkering down, working hard and getting my family back to normal. I am very well qualified (CEO, COO, Director level) but can't get a job out here because I can only apply for 1 job in about 1000.

WHAT I WANT TO DO:

I am planning to return to the UK as soon as I am offered a job. Because my wife is pregnant, I don't think I can bring her with me to the UK to have the baby there... well not without it costing me a large fortune in hospital fees.

So, keeping that in mind here is what I was thinking I would do.

• Work in the UK for the next 8 months (My salary is generally well in excess the £18,600 threshold)
  
• Register my son immediately and begin his UK passport application
  
• When my daughter (fingers crossed) is born, immediately register her and begin her passport application
  
• Ensure that I have suitable accommodation for my family
  
• After 8 months, fly my children on one way tickets home
• and my wife (on a tourist visa and return ticket) to the UK
  
• A month after she arrives in the UK switch visa and apply for a spouse visa in the UK.

MY QUESTIONS:

1. Is what I am proposing do-able?
2. Is there a better way?
3. Would it be better if I used a migration agent (if so, please recommend one)
4. Would I have a lot of hassles if I flew my wife in on a 1 way ticket?
6. Would it be easier for me to go the Surinder Singh route?

Yes, I will be going to collect my family and escort them home. There is no way I would let my wife travel with an infant and a 3 year old.

Thank you all for your help in advance.

michali

Firstly, I am sorry you have had such a bad experience. Your plan looks doable and probably the best way to bring your family to the UK. One big mistake though, I am afraid! Your wife cannot enter on a tourist visa and then switch to a spousal visa in the UK. She would have to return to her home country to apply for the spousal visa. So it would appear to be better for her to remain in Vietnam and apply when you have completed your six months at a salary of £18,600 or above. There is no guarantee that she would be granted a tourist visa anyway as UKVI might feel she is going to stay (which was your plan, albeit to apply for the spousal visa once in the UK) unless she could show strong ties to her homem country.,

HKG3

Consular registration is not necessary, so you can apply for your son's passport first. The passport application can take a long time.

You may want to consider for a certificate of entitlement in place of a British passport using your son's Vietnamese passport.

https://www.gov.uk/right-of-abode/overview

BritInParis

Whilst I wouldn't disagree with HKG3's post on the subject I would highly recommend at least registering your son's birth with the FCO, either if you don't order a consular birth certificate at this time, as I would suggest replacing a Vietnamese birth certificate from the UK in years to come is likely to be very difficult.

scot47

I echo Britinparis. I registered both my daughters who were born abroad as dual nationals. Registration with UK authorities has made it a lot easier in terms of getting copies of birth certificates etc.

Xcelency

Thank you all who have replied. I checked out the consular registration and it seems relatively straight forward. Of course anything to do with the UKG always costs a fortune!

So add another £400 to the total amount. Oh well, at least it guaranteed my kids' rights.

QUESTION:

1. How long (average) is a child passport taking these days?
2. Can I apply for my kids passports in the UK and take them with me when I go to collect my family?
3. What does HMG consider "suitable" accommodation for my family. If I rented a 2 bedroom flat, would that be considered sufficient?

BritInParis

A worthwhile investment.

Providing your application is correct and complete then it can take as little as a week to ten days or as a year depending on the country in which the child is born. Vietnam is a 'Group 3' or high risk country. The official advice is that an application for a child who was born and is living in Vietnam will take at least 16 weeks. This is the same time that is quoted for the Philippines where applications regularly take up to a year. Before you do anything regarding moving your family back, including applying for your wife's spouse visa, it's very important your children have their British passports.

If your children are in Vietnam then you need to apply for their passports from Vietnam.

If you were planning on having your daughter sleep in a cot in your bedroom and your son has the other bedroom then yes that would be acceptable given their ages.

Xcelency

Thank you BritInParis (who is not in Paris )

The main reason I asked this question is because my plan is for us to "rough it" for the next 3 years (perhaps only 2 for my wife and kids) so we can save enough deposit to buy our own place. It's so much easier to do when they are little ones.

QUESTION:

1. Since my little one is still in the oven, should I make application for my son's passport now or just wait and do the registration and passports at the same time?
   
2. Does having 2 children and a husband who are British citizens increase the likelyhood of my wife's Spouse visa being approved?
   
3. I read somewhere that if we have been together for more than 4 years, my wife does not have to go through the probationary 30 months visa and then apply for an extension. Is this true?

SanDiegogirl

Having a British spouse and children does not increase likelyhood of application being approved.

The 4 year rule is no more. Your wife will receive a 2.5 year initial visa, which has to be renewed for a further 2.5 years making 5 years in all. At that point she can apply for Indefinite Leave to remain. Following that naturalisation.

Xcelency

That's disappointing on both counts. Thank you SanDiegogirl.

Oh well, no pain, no gain I guess. Hoops are you ready for for us to jump?

Tr1boy

I don't see where you have acknowledged this from Michali's post? You are aware you can't bring your wife here and switch from Tourist to Spouse visa, right?

One big mistake though, I am afraid! Your wife cannot enter on a tourist visa and then switch to a spousal visa in the UK. She would have to return to her home country to apply for the spousal visa. So it would appear to be better for her to remain in Vietnam and apply when you have completed your six months at a salary of £18,600 or above.

Xcelency

Thanks for your concern mate, I have resigned myself to being away from my family for the best part of a year. I am quite miserable about it, but alas, what can I do? I will try over the next couple of months to see if I can get a job offer before moving back to the UK on my own.

Tr1boy

No worries, I just didn't think you'd picked it up. The rules aren't great, my wife is an Australian (now dual Brit) citizen. We came under old rules and would have been ok with the new ones in savings but to be honest, had they been in place when we applied from Oz, I doubt we would have have bothered.

It's much better to get it right from the start though, rather than digging yourself a big hole and trying to get out of it.

Good luck

Xcelency

Thanks Mate,

The rules are in place for a reason and like it or not, I have to comply. My qualifications and work experience will allow me the luxury of getting a good job which should definitely pay well in excess of the £18.6k threshold. I was on A$115k when I was living in Melbourne in 2008.

You are absolutely correct, I am already in a deep enough hole filling fast with raw sewage and the last thing i want to do is to burst another pipe!

Well at least its "only" a year and hopefully I can fly out and see my family at Christmas.

Xcelency

Lol.. at some point I think I need to stop reading and researching!

I just read that I don't actually have to be working for my employer for 6 months.

If was on a 12 month employment contract and my salary is £45,000pa, would that be sufficient for me to begin the process of applying for my wife's visa?