Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
Jul 15th 2017, 8:22 am
#1
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Joined: Jul 2017
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Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
So we met online, hit it off and have been visiting eachother for the past year. I'm currently out here in Massachusetts staying with her and we just found out she is pregnant.
Things are extremely complicated because
1) I am a student
2) she has a daughter
3) I have a son in the uk from previous relationship
If it wasn't for my son I would move over here, however I couldn't live without him so it's out of the question for me. Thankfully she understands that and ideally what I want is for us all to live over in the uk (her, her daughter, our new child and myself).
Let's say we were to marry. The issue is the £18k I need to be earning (she has a daughter so it's like £22k or something no?). Well as mentioned I'm a student so not only do I not have a job that earns near that, I won't have a decent job till I graduate in April (exactly when baby is due). Is there anything else we can do? This stupid law makes me so angry.
Let's say I have no choice but to quit or delay uni and get a job, how long will the whole process take? Will she be able to receive medical care during her pregnancy? Will her daughter be able to attend school? So many questions I don't even know where to begin.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Things are extremely complicated because
1) I am a student
2) she has a daughter
3) I have a son in the uk from previous relationship
If it wasn't for my son I would move over here, however I couldn't live without him so it's out of the question for me. Thankfully she understands that and ideally what I want is for us all to live over in the uk (her, her daughter, our new child and myself).
Let's say we were to marry. The issue is the £18k I need to be earning (she has a daughter so it's like £22k or something no?). Well as mentioned I'm a student so not only do I not have a job that earns near that, I won't have a decent job till I graduate in April (exactly when baby is due). Is there anything else we can do? This stupid law makes me so angry.
Let's say I have no choice but to quit or delay uni and get a job, how long will the whole process take? Will she be able to receive medical care during her pregnancy? Will her daughter be able to attend school? So many questions I don't even know where to begin.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Jul 15th 2017, 9:52 am
#2
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Joined: Dec 2013
Location: Consolacion,Cebu
Posts: 1,931
Re: Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
I'm afraid you have yourself a bit of a pickle!
Others, especially Brit in Paris - our UK visa guru -may come along but here's a few points:
1. Yes, you need to have held a job in the UK for 6 months earning £18,600 or, held a job in another country for 12 months earning the same amount AND have a job contract for a job in the UK earning the same , or more, to start within 3 months of returning to UK.
2. your new baby will automatically be a British Citizen at birth - assuming you are not a UK citizen by descent. This means you will need the 18.6K plus one child - 2.4K I think.
3. your wife will need written permission or a court order in order to take her daughter out of the US
4. It seems to take between 4/6 months from application to approval , unless you are from one of the "suspect" countries when it takes longer.
5. As you don't want to move to the US - and that's not easy either! - then I'm afraid you have to meet the UK immigration rules. Whether it's fair or not is a subject for discussion elsewhere , but they are the current rules and many folks have had to work around it.
6. The only possible alternative is the Surinder singh route whereby you move the centre of your life to an EU country for 6 months or so whereupon you can apply for an EEA Family Permit to move back to UK without the financial requirements.(Use the search facility above) Your wife/partner will still need permission to remove her daughter from the US.This route will likely be closed when UK leaves the EU or even before as the government have been talking about it for some time.
I hope you find a way to accomplish your aims, but it is not going to be easy and will take some time.
Others, especially Brit in Paris - our UK visa guru -may come along but here's a few points:
1. Yes, you need to have held a job in the UK for 6 months earning £18,600 or, held a job in another country for 12 months earning the same amount AND have a job contract for a job in the UK earning the same , or more, to start within 3 months of returning to UK.
2. your new baby will automatically be a British Citizen at birth - assuming you are not a UK citizen by descent. This means you will need the 18.6K plus one child - 2.4K I think.
3. your wife will need written permission or a court order in order to take her daughter out of the US
4. It seems to take between 4/6 months from application to approval , unless you are from one of the "suspect" countries when it takes longer.
5. As you don't want to move to the US - and that's not easy either! - then I'm afraid you have to meet the UK immigration rules. Whether it's fair or not is a subject for discussion elsewhere , but they are the current rules and many folks have had to work around it.
6. The only possible alternative is the Surinder singh route whereby you move the centre of your life to an EU country for 6 months or so whereupon you can apply for an EEA Family Permit to move back to UK without the financial requirements.(Use the search facility above) Your wife/partner will still need permission to remove her daughter from the US.This route will likely be closed when UK leaves the EU or even before as the government have been talking about it for some time.
I hope you find a way to accomplish your aims, but it is not going to be easy and will take some time.
Jul 15th 2017, 11:56 am
#3
Joined: Feb 2012
Location: Not in Paris
Posts: 18,193
Re: Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
Not an easy situation. The savings route is a possibility that doesn't require you to be employed but I'm guessing you are not likely to have £62,500 sitting in a bank account.
My personal take is that you should finish your studies, graduate and aim to find a job earning over the threshold as soon as possible. After six months of employment you can then sponsor your girlfriend to move to the UK, either as your fiancee or as your wife if you were to marry in the US beforehand. The baby will be six months by this point so it's not ideal but I think it's your only realistic option if it's not possible for you to move to the US. Your girlfriend will need the father's written permission or a court order to take her daughter to the UK so that's something that will need to be looked into.
A possible alternative would be if your girlfriend has any recent British, Irish or other European ancestry (parents, grandparents) that she could parlay into a passport that would bypass the need for a spouse visa.
My personal take is that you should finish your studies, graduate and aim to find a job earning over the threshold as soon as possible. After six months of employment you can then sponsor your girlfriend to move to the UK, either as your fiancee or as your wife if you were to marry in the US beforehand. The baby will be six months by this point so it's not ideal but I think it's your only realistic option if it's not possible for you to move to the US. Your girlfriend will need the father's written permission or a court order to take her daughter to the UK so that's something that will need to be looked into.
A possible alternative would be if your girlfriend has any recent British, Irish or other European ancestry (parents, grandparents) that she could parlay into a passport that would bypass the need for a spouse visa.
Jul 15th 2017, 12:03 pm
#4
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,446
Re: Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
I'm afraid you have yourself a bit of a pickle!
Others, especially Brit in Paris - our UK visa guru -may come along but here's a few points:
1. Yes, you need to have held a job in the UK for 6 months earning £18,600 or, held a job in another country for 12 months earning the same amount AND have a job contract for a job in the UK earning the same , or more, to start within 3 months of returning to UK.
2. your new baby will automatically be a British Citizen at birth - assuming you are not a UK citizen by descent. This means you will need the 18.6K plus one child - 2.4K I think.
3. your wife will need written permission or a court order in order to take her daughter out of the US
4. It seems to take between 4/6 months from application to approval , unless you are from one of the "suspect" countries when it takes longer.
5. As you don't want to move to the US - and that's not easy either! - then I'm afraid you have to meet the UK immigration rules. Whether it's fair or not is a subject for discussion elsewhere , but they are the current rules and many folks have had to work around it.
6. The only possible alternative is the Surinder singh route whereby you move the centre of your life to an EU country for 6 months or so whereupon you can apply for an EEA Family Permit to move back to UK without the financial requirements.(Use the search facility above) Your wife/partner will still need permission to remove her daughter from the US.This route will likely be closed when UK leaves the EU or even before as the government have been talking about it for some time.
I hope you find a way to accomplish your aims, but it is not going to be easy and will take some time.
Others, especially Brit in Paris - our UK visa guru -may come along but here's a few points:
1. Yes, you need to have held a job in the UK for 6 months earning £18,600 or, held a job in another country for 12 months earning the same amount AND have a job contract for a job in the UK earning the same , or more, to start within 3 months of returning to UK.
2. your new baby will automatically be a British Citizen at birth - assuming you are not a UK citizen by descent. This means you will need the 18.6K plus one child - 2.4K I think.
3. your wife will need written permission or a court order in order to take her daughter out of the US
4. It seems to take between 4/6 months from application to approval , unless you are from one of the "suspect" countries when it takes longer.
5. As you don't want to move to the US - and that's not easy either! - then I'm afraid you have to meet the UK immigration rules. Whether it's fair or not is a subject for discussion elsewhere , but they are the current rules and many folks have had to work around it.
6. The only possible alternative is the Surinder singh route whereby you move the centre of your life to an EU country for 6 months or so whereupon you can apply for an EEA Family Permit to move back to UK without the financial requirements.(Use the search facility above) Your wife/partner will still need permission to remove her daughter from the US.This route will likely be closed when UK leaves the EU or even before as the government have been talking about it for some time.
I hope you find a way to accomplish your aims, but it is not going to be easy and will take some time.
Per point 5, the Supreme Court has already determined that the rules are "fair", and theirs is the only opinion that counts.
The cost of the initial visa and related fees alone is over £2,000, so if you don't have a job/ income that alone is going to be quite a hurdle.
Last edited by Pulaski; Jul 15th 2017 at 12:08 pm.
Jul 15th 2017, 1:55 pm
#5
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 4
Re: Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
I'm afraid you have yourself a bit of a pickle!
Others, especially Brit in Paris - our UK visa guru -may come along but here's a few points:
1. Yes, you need to have held a job in the UK for 6 months earning £18,600 or, held a job in another country for 12 months earning the same amount AND have a job contract for a job in the UK earning the same , or more, to start within 3 months of returning to UK.
2. your new baby will automatically be a British Citizen at birth - assuming you are not a UK citizen by descent. This means you will need the 18.6K plus one child - 2.4K I think.
3. your wife will need written permission or a court order in order to take her daughter out of the US
4. It seems to take between 4/6 months from application to approval , unless you are from one of the "suspect" countries when it takes longer.
5. As you don't want to move to the US - and that's not easy either! - then I'm afraid you have to meet the UK immigration rules. Whether it's fair or not is a subject for discussion elsewhere , but they are the current rules and many folks have had to work around it.
6. The only possible alternative is the Surinder singh route whereby you move the centre of your life to an EU country for 6 months or so whereupon you can apply for an EEA Family Permit to move back to UK without the financial requirements.(Use the search facility above) Your wife/partner will still need permission to remove her daughter from the US.This route will likely be closed when UK leaves the EU or even before as the government have been talking about it for some time.
I hope you find a way to accomplish your aims, but it is not going to be easy and will take some time.
Others, especially Brit in Paris - our UK visa guru -may come along but here's a few points:
1. Yes, you need to have held a job in the UK for 6 months earning £18,600 or, held a job in another country for 12 months earning the same amount AND have a job contract for a job in the UK earning the same , or more, to start within 3 months of returning to UK.
2. your new baby will automatically be a British Citizen at birth - assuming you are not a UK citizen by descent. This means you will need the 18.6K plus one child - 2.4K I think.
3. your wife will need written permission or a court order in order to take her daughter out of the US
4. It seems to take between 4/6 months from application to approval , unless you are from one of the "suspect" countries when it takes longer.
5. As you don't want to move to the US - and that's not easy either! - then I'm afraid you have to meet the UK immigration rules. Whether it's fair or not is a subject for discussion elsewhere , but they are the current rules and many folks have had to work around it.
6. The only possible alternative is the Surinder singh route whereby you move the centre of your life to an EU country for 6 months or so whereupon you can apply for an EEA Family Permit to move back to UK without the financial requirements.(Use the search facility above) Your wife/partner will still need permission to remove her daughter from the US.This route will likely be closed when UK leaves the EU or even before as the government have been talking about it for some time.
I hope you find a way to accomplish your aims, but it is not going to be easy and will take some time.
As for moving to the USA, I actually have American citizenship because my father is American however it's out of the question because I can't leave my son in the uk.
Jul 15th 2017, 1:57 pm
#6
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Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 4
Re: Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
Not an easy situation. The savings route is a possibility that doesn't require you to be employed but I'm guessing you are not likely to have £62,500 sitting in a bank account.
My personal take is that you should finish your studies, graduate and aim to find a job earning over the threshold as soon as possible. After six months of employment you can then sponsor your girlfriend to move to the UK, either as your fiancee or as your wife if you were to marry in the US beforehand. The baby will be six months by this point so it's not ideal but I think it's your only realistic option if it's not possible for you to move to the US. Your girlfriend will need the father's written permission or a court order to take her daughter to the UK so that's something that will need to be looked into.
A possible alternative would be if your girlfriend has any recent British, Irish or other European ancestry (parents, grandparents) that she could parlay into a passport that would bypass the need for a spouse visa.
My personal take is that you should finish your studies, graduate and aim to find a job earning over the threshold as soon as possible. After six months of employment you can then sponsor your girlfriend to move to the UK, either as your fiancee or as your wife if you were to marry in the US beforehand. The baby will be six months by this point so it's not ideal but I think it's your only realistic option if it's not possible for you to move to the US. Your girlfriend will need the father's written permission or a court order to take her daughter to the UK so that's something that will need to be looked into.
A possible alternative would be if your girlfriend has any recent British, Irish or other European ancestry (parents, grandparents) that she could parlay into a passport that would bypass the need for a spouse visa.
She is Dominican-American and her maternal great-grandparents were Spaniards however her grandmother has no information on them so I think that's a bit of a dead end anyway.
Jul 15th 2017, 1:59 pm
#7
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Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 4
Re: Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
Per points 3 & 6, "permission" is required from the child's father, irrespective of whether he has any custody or visitation rights, or indeed any contact with his daughter at all. If permission, or a court order, is not obtained the father could fairly easily claim that his child has been abducted under the Hague Abduction Convention, and have her repatriated from the UK to the US, and there is pretty much nothing that could be done in the UK to prevent that.
Per point 5, the Supreme Court has already determined that the rules are "fair", and theirs is the only opinion that counts.
The cost of the initial visa and related fees alone is over £2,000, so if you don't have a job/ income that alone is going to be quite a hurdle.
Per point 5, the Supreme Court has already determined that the rules are "fair", and theirs is the only opinion that counts.
The cost of the initial visa and related fees alone is over £2,000, so if you don't have a job/ income that alone is going to be quite a hurdle.
The father has no contact and there was actually a restraining order put in place against him. He suffers from mental health issues (schizophrenia I believe). How would that affect the process? I'm hoping it would affect it a great deal because not only has the man not been there since the birth of the child but he's a threat to them both. He stops by the house randomly and has threatened violence before and that's literally the extent of his relationship to them both.
Jul 15th 2017, 2:12 pm
#8
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,446
Re: Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
The father has no contact and there was actually a restraining order put in place against him. He suffers from mental health issues (schizophrenia I believe). How would that affect the process? I'm hoping it would affect it a great deal because not only has the man not been there since the birth of the child but he's a threat to them both. He stops by the house randomly and has threatened violence before and that's literally the extent of his relationship to them both.
Jul 15th 2017, 2:13 pm
#9
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Joined: May 2006
Location: ex ex-pat, in Taunton
Posts: 27,211
Re: Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
The father has no contact and there was actually a restraining order put in place against him. He suffers from mental health issues (schizophrenia I believe). How would that affect the process? I'm hoping it would affect it a great deal because not only has the man not been there since the birth of the child but he's a threat to them both. He stops by the house randomly and has threatened violence before and that's literally the extent of his relationship to them both.
Jul 15th 2017, 2:22 pm
#10
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Joined: Nov 2014
Location: London
Posts: 556
Re: Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
If I were you I wouldn't drop out but finish your degree as you need to think long term not short fixes. Yes immigration is a pain but getting your degree will make it much easier to get a good job not only to qualify for the visa but to support the family in the future. Start looking into getting written permission from the court to remove the American child from the USA. Your girlfriend can use her health plan for the pregnancy and birth and you can fly over to be with her when the baby is due. Unless you plan on a fiancée visa, which I advise against, you also need to plan on getting married over there.
Last edited by LondonSquirrel; Jul 15th 2017 at 2:25 pm.
Jul 15th 2017, 5:28 pm
#11
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Joined: May 2010
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 9,654
Re: Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
What's the benefit to her and daughter moving to the UK?
You are a student and have a low paying job; you don't graduate until next April so presumably you won't be able to support her and her daughter, never mind the new child (and let's not forget support of your son)
Better for her to remain in the US (she has family, friends maybe she has a job?), have the child in the US (presume she has health insurance - pretty dumb to get pregnant if she has not) and then, when you have obtained a decent job, then decide what to do.
If you cannot meet the requirements for her and daughter to come to UK, then you go to the US - visit your son.
You are a student and have a low paying job; you don't graduate until next April so presumably you won't be able to support her and her daughter, never mind the new child (and let's not forget support of your son)
Better for her to remain in the US (she has family, friends maybe she has a job?), have the child in the US (presume she has health insurance - pretty dumb to get pregnant if she has not) and then, when you have obtained a decent job, then decide what to do.
If you cannot meet the requirements for her and daughter to come to UK, then you go to the US - visit your son.
Jul 15th 2017, 6:54 pm
#12
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: May 2010
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 9,654
Re: Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
No..... you have to prove that you and your family moved to Greece and made it the centre of your lives -jobs, accommodation, entry into Greek life. Not ust taking a Greek vacation.
You have to prove that YOU were exercising your treaty rights in Greece (working) in order to qualify for SS route - 6 months is not going to cut it.
Jul 15th 2017, 11:27 pm
#13
Still alive
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 28,994
Re: Trying to move Pregnant American girlfriend to uk
If the baby is due in April, and it's now July, that's a very early pregnancy test result. She's what, a couple of weeks along at most? I think personally I would be waiting for a while before making any life altering decisions. Especially marriage and/or quitting university.
