Pip007

I am a British citizen, and my wife is a citizen of Singapore. We have been married for 20 years. We have lived in the USA as Permanent Residents since 2002. We are planning to move back to the UK. We meet the financial requirements. But I have three questions about the Spouse Visa that my wife will need to apply for (I hope it's OK to ask 3 questions at once):

1. Given that neither of my wife or I are currently resident in the UK, which application form does my wife need to use? VAF4A seems to be for spouses joining a partner who is already in the UK, and that is not our situation.

2. How long after receiving the visa must one arrive in the UK? Does the initial 2½ years period begin when the visa is issued or when first entering the UK?

3. Because we live in the USA we have no place of residence in the UK. Our plan is to rent for 6 months then buy a house. Is the accommodation requirement (which seems to apply if a spouse is joining his/her partner who is already in the UK) waived in a case like ours, or would we have to rent a house before applying for the visa (that would seem a bit crazy).

Thanks, Philip H

SanDiegogirl

1. Apply on this website:

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa

2. Usually 30 days after visa issued.
3. You have to have accommodation sorted prior to you arriving in UK. It is more difficult to rent when abroad but people have managed it. Many folks go for vacation rentals.....

Pip007

Thank you. Just to confirm #3: We must secure accommodation prior to arriving ... not prior to submitting the visa application. Have I got that right?

SanDiegogirl

You have to have accommodation when you complete the application. It asks for your address in the UK.
Bearing in mind that a standard application takes some 12 weeks to process you will need to have arranged your accommodation to commence around the time you intend to arrive in the UK

Pip007

Got it. Thanks.

christmasoompa

A lot of Air Bnb's or holiday rentals will have free cancellation up until fairly close to the booking, so you can do that and then if you need to cancel you won't incur any financial loss.

Pip007

Thank you.