MrMuffin

We are planning on moving back to the UK next Feb/March and are working towards that goal.

Yesterday, something came to light where my USC wife might be given a new position based in London with her current employer. They have a huge presence in the UK and USA. It would be a permanent move if it happens, and would be an exciting role for her.

Details are yet to be nailed down but they are talking about doing the Visa for her which would be great and save us some cash and hassles (I'm a UK citizen and the kids are dualies so my wife was the only fly in the ointment going back thanks to all the new 2012 rules).

So my questions are...

Does anyone have any direct experience or can anyone shed any light on the process of switching from a work visa over to a spouse visa?

Is there a 'preferred' time period to wait before making the switch? (E.g. Should she wait and get her firm to sort the visa then move and wait for say, a year?)

Are there any pitfalls going this route? (Other than the obvious one of her losing her job which is highly unlikely given her work history and the fact she's on a fast track to great things with the firm.)

Thanks so much!!

englishguygoinghome

You'll need 6 months salary evidence in your current roles to apply for the visa, so will have to wait that long, but her income will also count.
Change as early as possible as it is a clear route to ILR and potential citizenship, unlike many work visas.
Risk is that when it comes time to renew you've lost one or both jobs and don't earn enough. The risk on a work visa is that as soon as she loses her job it's game-over time.

MrMuffin

@englishguygoinghome Thanks for the response! We have savings to qualify for the spouse visa so hopefully that'll cover the bases for the application. So are you saying that if her company gets the work visa for my wife, and once we all have arrived and settled in we could start the process immediately to switch to a spouse visa?

What is the timeline and path to ILR when switching from a work visa? Do you start the 5-year path (like the spouse visa) from date of application?

Thanks!

formula

Her visa from her US company will be a Tier 2 (ICT) Inter Company Transfer and that visa doesn't lead to settlement in the UK.

Her 5 years to ILR will start when she is granted a Spouse Visa.


As you have the funds to qualify for a Spouse visa, why not apply for that instead of a Tier 2 (ICT)? She is allowed to work on a spouse visa. Priority paid spouse visas from the USA seem to be coming through in days according to www.uk-yankee.com.

SanDiegogirl

If this lady is getting a Tier 2 intra company visa, then, in my humble opinion, it is probably a lot easier for the company to do the visa application, than for hubby to apply for a spouse visa for her. As he says it saves him a lot of cash and hassle.

While the Tier 2 visa does not in itself lead to settlement, once in the UK and able to fulfill the financial requirements (and at this stage both her and hubby's income can be counted) she can apply for her spouse visa.

As previously said, her ILR does not start until the spouse visa is obtained.

With regard to timescales, since hubby will be sponsoring his wife for the spouse visa, when he can apply for the visa for her will depend on which category he is applying under -Cat A, Cat B, savings/investments etc. If he had 62,500 to hand when in the UK they could start applying almost immediately.

formula

He will need the cash and the hassle of a spouse visa at sometime; and visa fees rise. There is another rise next month.

He said he has the savings to meet the financial requirement and her ILR countdown will only start when she has a spouse visa. Priority spouse visas from the US are just taking days. She can work for her employers on a spouse visa.

Why put off getting a spouse visa when the have the funds? The forum members at uk-yankee will handhold during the spouse visa application to make sure they have all the correct documents etc.

SanDiegogirl

They are not moving until next Feb/March - so plenty of time to figure out which route they would like to take.

MrMuffin

Honestly I was thinking it would save some money and that perhaps we'd skip the first level of visa application fees if we started off with the company-sponsored tier 2 visa. But it sounds as though it's really not going to save us anything? Right?

And if we were lucky enough to benefit from the company-sponsored tier 2 visa and then did the spouse visa application from within the UK at least we could both use our joint salaries rather than only mine as the UKC sponsor, if we needed to... in case we use the savings for a house downpayment or something, correct?

SanDiegogirl

At some stage you would need to apply for a spouse visa so, correct, you are not saving any money,

If you go the Tier 2 route, when it comes to applying for the spouse visa, since you wife is already in the UK and legally working you can use both your salaries to fulfill the financial requirements, so, correct.

MrMuffin

I think at this point we'll wait and see what happens with the work visa and if it comes into play either before or around the same time as we were planning to move back anyway, then we'll take the opportunity of the firm doing the legwork for us. Also there will be other benefits with them 'moving' my wife including relocation expenses. If we go it on our own... even if she does continue to work for them... then we may not be so lucky in those other areas.

We'll just have to wait and see. We're continuing to get everything else sorted in the background (getting USA house ready to sell/rent, selling extra furniture and belongings etc.) so it's not really holding anything up. The only 'negative' it seems is the added time to the 5-year path to ILR but if we play our cards right it sounds as though we'd only be talking a few months at worst.

Thanks to all for your interest and answers to my questions!!

englishguygoinghome

Yep - if there is a chance that getting the visa yourself will lead to reductions in relocation allowances etc then I'd hold off on that!
Beware that the UK will tax any lump-sum allowance as income immediately and any paid epenses over 8000GBP when it comes to tax-return time.

In your shows I'd be sure to have the savings in cash on the day I arrived in the UK (e.g. go into temporary accomodation rather than purchase a house from abroad), apply for a spouse visa immediately (within days) and then put the money into whatever you feel like