jjjj200282

Hi,
I am currently working as a Defense Contractor for a US company in the UK. My wife is a UK Citizen. To obtain a spousal visa, do I now have to quit my job and fly back to the USA?
Thanks for any insight!

BritInParis

What visa do you currently hold? Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer)?

SanDiegogirl

If on Tier 2 or similar visa you can marry and switch to spouse visa.

jjjj200282

Correct, Tier 2. Can I switch to spousal visa if already married?
Thanks

SanDiegogirl

Yes ......

formula

Yes, but if you are on a Tier 2 (General) visa, your time on that visa to settlement will start again if you switch to a spouse visa. i.e. the 5 years to ILR (Indefinate Leave to Remain). Although the work visas holders now have to earn a minimum income for ILR from 6 April 2016 unless you are doing a job on the UK's job shortages list

If you are on a Tier 2 (ICT) visa and it was applied for after 6 April 2010 and you haven't had UK work visas before that date, then that ICT visa doesn't lead to settlement anymore. Therefore it won't matter if you switch (switch = apply in country) to a spouse visa as your 5 years to ILR won't start until you are on a spouse visa.

On a spouse visa you can work in any job, even the one you have now.

As you are working legally in the UK on a valid visa, you can use your salary too to make the financial requirements your wife needs to meet to sponsor you on a spouse visa.

jjjj200282

Thanks all!

infocat13

Hold here folks, he is on a NATO/us defense (DOD) statues of forces employment agreement
please check with your american employment agreement office but be careful here, you can not hold both statues of forces agreement and local national work permit.
if your spouse will stay employed with the UK and you are not going to work in the local economy and stay with the status of forces agreement employment you are ok I think.
Perhaps your american contractor is not under this rule?

BritInParis

Where are you getting that from? OP says he's in the UK on a Tier 2 visa not a SOFA.

jjjj200282

All, sorry and back from the graveyard, but you are correct...I am on a NATO/us defense (DOD) statues of forces employment agreement (SOFA). I thought it was Tier 2 until I got a better understanding.

Further to this, I held a Spousal Visa in 04-05, lived in the UK then, and then returned to the USA for about 10 years. I recently returned to the UK on a SOFA so that my wife could be closer to her family and I could work.

This seemed to be the easiest path to quasi immigration at the time as opposed to meeting the financial threshold for my wife to obtain the Spousal visa (and one of us being separated from our children) pursuant to the laws that changed in 2012.

What can we do from here? I'd like to consider immigration to the UK prior to or at the end of my contract here in the UK.

BritInParis

If you're on a SOFA then you are exempt from immigration control in the UK. In practical terms this means that normal rules don't apply to you, both in terms of entry and resident in the UK but also in pursuing settlement.

If you wish to settle in the UK at the end of your contract then you would need to return to the US to apply for your spouse visa and meet all the normal requirements including the financial requirements.

jjjj200282

Thanks for circling back around.


I guess this means that if I want to stay without having to go the other route, I can simply keep working US or IC contracts.


Is there any way that I can work a part time side job in the UK? I don't think my visa allows me to do that correct? I ask because my pay is pretty lousy at present. I do have a national insurance number from the last time I lived here.....but I guess that wouldn't matter due to the SOFA right?


Thanks

Vanessa_GA

Is this in writing somewhere please? My husband might be in the same position in a few years time. He just got a SOFA visa for a new job in England, which will last for 3-5 years, and I was assuming he could change to a spouse visa (I'm British) when the job finishes.

If he has to go back to the US to apply, how long would it take to get the spouse visa and would he have to do the biometrics again?

Thank you!

jjjj200282

Lol, everyone is doing this.


Vanessa_GA....what made you assume this? Did you research it first?
I'd like to know more about it if you had grounds to believe this.


Not being a troll, I too just try my best in this constantly changing immigration world that is becoming more and more restrictive and hope for the best outcome. Just being honest.


Also, my last question still stands along with a new one.


Am I allowed to move from one SOFA job to another within the UK at another US Defense Contractor? I ask because I am certainly worth more than they are paying now...and I am not just saying that.


Thanks!

Vanessa_GA

I hadn't done any research, I just (stupidly) jumped to that conclusion based on posts I'd read on this website & the UK Yankee one, where people mentioned changing from a "work visa" to a spouse one. I didn't realise that the type of work visa made a difference.