patience

Hello ,im a new user on here and I was hoping that somebody on here could help me. I am a British Citizen residing in the U.K and I am dating an American citizen.We would like to be married and for him to live here with me,at the moment I am on public funds and he is employed and searching for employement here.If we marry and apply for a spouse visa,would I need to be off public funds before the visa was granted or would it be granted on the basis that once he had permission to live here I would come of the funding and we would live of his wages. Also would it be easier to marry first then apply for him to live here so that he can work straight away?Any advice would be very much appreciated.I cant seem to get my head around all the technical jargon on the sites i`ve visited Thank you in advance

Jess5377

I am a US citizen and it is illegal to be looking for work and applying for jobs in the UK without a work permit. If immigration were to find out he could face trouble on his next visit. You may want to check out www.americanexpats.co.uk

You do not need to go off public funds, but he would need to prove he is able to support himself. Mainly, he will never be entitled to funds and must have a savings he could live off while finding a job. You being on public funds will not affect a visa application. It is much easier and cheaper for you to be married in the US and apply for a spousal visa at a consulate in the US- he would be able to work straight away and you would not have to pay for a fiance visa. You are able to get a visa in one day and will need to show proof of your relationship like plane ticket stubs from visits, phone bills, emails, and pictures. Good luck!

patience

Thank you Jess,I will check out the other forum ,and as we speak he is looking at `leave to enter` and spouse visa`s ,looking at our options.It is all just so confusing ,thank you again your advice is appreciated.

JAJ

Whatever you decide, turning up at a British point of entry as a tourist with the intention of staying longer in the UK (or working) is a no-no.

I presume you're familiar with http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk

I think the UK has a visa for fiances.

Jeremy

patience

Definately not planning to come into the country illegally ,we seem to be leaning towards the marriage visa,and getting married before he moves over here.That way he can start looking for jobs straight away.Just trying to see what options we have at the moment,I have two children and dont want to leave the UK so we are living on long weekends together right now .We were looking to marry within the next 6months or so anyway,I just dont know how the spouse visa works yet as I dont really want to be apart from him when we do marry.Any advice is gratefully recieved,thank you.

Celtic_Angel

[QUOTE=Jess5377] You being on public funds will not affect a visa application.[QUOTE]




Are you certain of this?? i think that once they are married she will have to come off benefits and live solely on earnings.....i know that all the information sites can be confusing, I've often recieved conflicting advise myself but I'd really go to my local C.A.B or Welfare office to find out the info for sure.
I'm thinking of moving back to the U.k , if my U.S hubby comes with me the only benefit i will be able to recieve is child benefit, of this i am certain, i'm not sure if it'll be different for you as you are already on benfits.....you may just have to prove that you will not require additional benefits because of your new husband.....

to make it more confusing the rules regarding fiancee's and spouses can be different...look into it......good luck!!!!!
like i said try and visit your local C.A.B

Bob

http://www.britainusa.com/visas/othe...5&Other_ID=322

Check that out for more info on the visa thing.

patience

[QUOTE=Celtic_Angel][QUOTE=Jess5377] You being on public funds will not affect a visa application.

I know that I will be able to continue to recieve child benefit as for some reason this isnt classed as a benefit/public fund payment,I was wondering though if me being on funds when we claim for his visa will effect it,I will definately be coming off the benefits when we are married/together,just need to know if that will be good enough or if they expect me to come off them before we apply.Yes it is very confusing and some info contradicts others I have researched.He is phoning the British Consulate today to try to find ut which option is quicker/easier and more suitable for us.Thank you for your replys and information.

Jess5377

there are people on the americanexpats site that are on benefitis. It doesn't affect your application. I'm sure you need a genuine reason for being on them- disability or whatever. The whole thing is you can not get anymore more benefits except child ben.

patience

We have decided that he should come over next week as arranged for another long weekend,then in the new year he is coming over on a long `holiday` and staying for all of january.We plan to fly to the states to get married in february (so his family can be there) and then we shall apply for a spouse/marriage visa.If i have no intention of staying in the US do i need a fiancee visa ?how i`ve read it is that they seem to be for uk citizens who plan to stay in the US after marriage...Thanks

Englishmum

You should be fine on a visa waiver if you have no intention of remaining in the US after getting married there; my friend's brother from London and his girlfriend from Essex got married in Central Park, NYC and after a fortnight's honeymoon touring New England they returned home to London. You just need to find a 'celebrant' to perform the ceremony (not sure if you need to apply for the marriage licence yourself from the 'town hall' - I think you do - or if the celebrant can do this on your behalf).

You need to be careful though if packing a suitcase with a (traditional) wedding dress and other wedding acoutrements; the US Immigration may not be convinced that you will really intend to return to the UK if they realise that you're going to marry an American citizen on US soil. Might be safer to send wedding stuff by FedEx or get someone else (not obviously travelling with you) to take your stuff through for you.

Bob

Or bring lots of proof that you'll be returning like employter letter, lease agreements etc, otherwise agent at POE might not let you in.

patience

Im 28 with two children and really dont want a traditional white wedding dress, so im just going to pack a really pretty dress which will pass as an `going out` outfit so no worries there,and i will gather proof that im returning and just on `holiday`,also my children arent coming over with us(we are going to have a blessing here after,which they will attend) so my two boys will be proof of my return plus my home etc.Thank you again for your advice.

FlyergirlUK

If that's the case then why does it say:

But...

So it's not illegal to look for employment, only to accept it until you're authorised it seems.

And for spouses:

on the UK Embassy website, (we're looking into it ourselves at the moment).

patience

Thanks Flyergirl ,we saw that `offers of employment` part and so he is looking at potential jobs now.I told him it doesnt hurt too look and it seems that if he can prove he has been looking it will ACTUALLY help our case.Fingers crossed for us we are marrying in february in Texas and then both of us are going to L.A to apply in person for the spouse/marriage visa.