Stribs

Hello lovely people of britishexpats...

So I know this is the most standard question around, but reading here there seems to be a few different advice I've seen....

This is very early thoughts for us, I've just got my green card.

What are the absolute cliff notes of moving my American wife to England to see our days out in the UK.. me earning18kpa for 6 months first?

Thank you.

SanDiegogirl

With regard the financial requirements to sponsor your wife for a spouse visa for the UK read the following document carefully to see under which category you would qualify:

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...ugust_2015.pdf

Currently, you have to be earning 18,600 GBP per annum under the income categories OR you can make up a shortfall with savings OR if no income at all then savings of 62,500 GBP will qualify.

If you have to return to the UK to find work then you need to be in the job for 6 months before qualifying.

Pulaski

Stay in the US for three more years to get US citizenship (apply 90 days ahead of third anniversary of getting your green card). That will give you the freedom to move back and forth if you want or need to.

Consider the assets basis to support a visa for your wife - if you are talking about "seeing your days out" it sounds like you're somewhat "approaching retirement", so I would hope you have enough of a nest egg to meet the assets requirement, even if it means selling your house.

Stribs

Haha, im 30.. I'm definitely thinking about retirement, unfortunately not realistic for another 40 years. Lol.

So the other option. Is to have a ton of money to head back to the UK with.

Crazy world. Sounds like it would be really hard to move us back to the uk. Trying to get a job, 6 months earning 19k. [Insert immigration rant]

Thanks for the quick replies.

Pulaski

It depends what you do. The figure of £18,600 is the cut off for a couple to qualify for income support, so borderline poverty. A teacher's income starts substantially above that, and teaching is not known for high pay.

Stribs

I guess it's more the being 6 months apart from your wife. And I'm sure it's not 6 months on the dot as I've learnt no one's in a rush in this game.

Good info for us to think about though. I think we miss having europe on our doorstep and Saturday night take away.

Pulaski

You make it sound like something that you stepped in by accident!

mattleppard

This is interesting. I'm in a similar position:

1. Been away from UK for 16 years.
2. Most of that time has been spent working in senior mgmt positions and I have all documentation, taxation stuff, etc. plus references and so on. But I am NOT currently working and have not been for 12 months.
3. My wife is Indonesian. She works as Director of Communications for a large five-star hotel here and has held senior management positions for about 5 years. She is 33.

She earns approx GBP30k pa and we have about GBP5k saved up.

4. We have one 3yo child who has dual nationality plus another on the way.
5. My parents are old and sick so we're looking at how to get back to the UK to help out with them.

Specifically we need BOTH of us to be able to work pretty much as soon as we hit the ground.

There will, of course, be some time looking for work and finding somewhere to live. I hope to do most of this from overseas, and my wife can apply for jobs from here too.

I read the financial "rules" given above, but missed the part where it says how long you need to be earning the minimum.

If I was to be offered a job on say GBP40,000 pa, could I immediately apply for a spouse visa, or does the "six-month rule" apply?

Could my wife start looking for work immediately on arrival?

Or... Would it be possible, for example, to come back to start work and have my wife on a visit visa and then "convert" it to a spouse visa after six months, or when/if she finds work?

I read somewhere else that the authorities are wary of this especially when a child is involved because they suspect the spouse may never leave to "renew" the visit visa.

Also, what's the difference, if any between a visa and "entry clearance"?

Many thanks in advance of any helpful replies.

mikelincs

You, as the sponsor, will need to be earning the £18.600 a year for 6 months before she can get a spouse visa, that or having £62,500 in savings. you wife's earnings cannot, at the first stage, be taken into consideration. Your wife is the one who applies for the spouse visa, and it has to be done from outside the UK. It's highly possible that your wife might be refused a visit visa if you are here working for the 6 months as immigration often think the person will not return to their own country at the end, that sccenario has happened to at least one person on BE. If you wife could get a work visa (not an easy task) then if she was here she COULD apply for the spouse visa from inside the UK.

Pulaski

You have to have been earning at the £18,600 level for at least six months in the UK to apply for a spouse visa.

The foreign cannot apply for a spouse visa from within the UK. Ever.

You should look into paying NI contributions before you return to the UK - while you are overseas you can "buy years" for only around £143, including upto 6 years in arrears. At the moment you have ten years of contributions, maybe up to 14 years depending on what you were doing between the ages of 16 and 20, but you need 35 years for a full UK state pension. You likely have no more than 20 years more contributions after returning to the UK, so if you can make 6 years of contributions, plus the current year, that would put you in a much stronger position for a cost of less than £1,000. You need to contact the Departments of Work and Pensions in Newcastle.

scot47

Listen to Pulaski. He may be a died in the wool reactionary and militarist, but he knows whereof he talks !

robin1234

Dyed, I would hope. It's only Welsh sheep farmers with heart conditions who die in the wool, isn't it?

mattleppard

Hmmm. It's quite off-putting, naturally. If I were a migrant or hate-preacher it may be different, or so it seems from all the right-wing media hype around in the past few years, but that's not for discussion here.

I've been looking at this site: Marriage Visa which states:

Spouses of UK citizens or permanent residents (mainly those with indefinite leave to remain) may come to the UK under marriage visa category, and are able to work as soon as a visa is granted. You will need to meet the following marriage visa requirements:

If you have been together for less than four years you are granted a marriage visa for a probationary period of two years. If you are still married and living together at the end of two years in the UK permanent residence (properly known as indefinite leave to remain) will usually be granted.

If you have been together for four years or more outside the UK and you have passed the Life in the UK test, you are eligible for indefinite leave to remain (permanent residence) in the UK without having to live in the UK for two years.

The UK citizen or permanent resident must have actually met their non-UK spouse. This is to prevent a situation that occurs sometimes in arranged marriages where the husband and wife have never met.

You must intend to live together permanently with your spouse in order to obtain a spouse visa.

You must possess sufficient funds to pay you and your spouse's living expenses and those of any dependants without claiming public funds. Public funds cover various benefits paid by the Government if you are currently looking for work, if you are on a low income and if you are in various other situations.

Accommodation for the couple, and any dependants, must be suitable and available.
Spouses seeking to come to the UK on the basis of marriage to a UK national should apply for entry clearance before entering the UK.

If you have a visa valid for six months or less in the UK you cannot change status to a spouse visa.

Children of the marriage who are under 18 years old are allowed entry to the UK as dependants, and can make their application at the same time as the main applicant.

After a total period of three years in the UK if you meet the residence requirements you may then apply for UK citizenship.

This seems to jar with some of the above info. Is it wrong, or am I reading it wrong (or has it been updated?). Or does it refer to spouses already in the UK and not returning after an extended absence?

I've also been looking at the financial requirements PDF from the gov, specifically the section 5.4. Category B: Less than 6 months with current employer or variable income – overseas sponsor returning to the UK.

This states that:

Where the applicant’s partner is returning with the applicant to the UK to work, they do not have to be in employment at the date of application to rely on Category B. Instead, the financial requirement must be met and evidenced in two parts in the following way."

First, the applicant’s partner must have a confirmed offer of salaried or non-salaried employment to return to in the UK (starting within 3 months of their return). This must have a gross annual starting salary (or in non-salaried employment a gross annual income from that employment, based on the rate or amount of pay and the standard or core hours to be worked provided by the employer in evidence) sufficient to meet the financial requirement, alone or in combination with any or all the sources at section 5.3.6. (Category C: non-employment income, Category D: cash savings and Category E: pension).

Second, the couple returning to the UK must in addition have received in the 12 months prior to the date of application the level of income required to meet the financial requirement, based on:

- The gross amount of salaried or non-salaried employment income overseas of the applicant’s partner;
- The gross amount of any specified non-employment income received by the applicant’s partner, the applicant or both jointly, provided they continue to own the relevant asset (e.g. property, interest from shares) at the date of application; and/or
- The gross amount of any State (UK or foreign) or private pension received by the applicant’s partner or the applicant.

This seems to imply that our foreign earnings are taken into account. Or am I seeing in this something wrong, like, for example, this is not for a spouse visa and is simply to join a UK partner? In which case, what sort of visa does this documentation refer to?

mikelincs

That load of tosh is from a commercial site that just want you to pay them for them to say you do not fit any category. The offer to work in the UK MUST be a written one and from a verifyable source, so no letter from a mate promising you a 'job'.

You need to read the link in post #2 which is from the government web site and is the information they really need, and remember that these regulations came into force in 2014, so anyone telling you what they did to qualify in 2012 is working on old, outdated info where it was a lot easier.

Pulaski

I think what you quoted in bold is broadly consistent with the advice you have been given in this thread.

If you are working overseas and have a job offer in the UK you can apply for the spouse visa from overseas. It is the sponsor (you) who needs the income, not your wife, so unless you start working again this doesn't apply to you.

What you quoted also specifically says you cannot switch from a visitor visa to a spouse visa while in the UK.