American moving to UK with English wife. Advice please!?!
 

My wife and I are considering moving to England where she is from. I am an American, and we are both in the dark about how difficult it may be. Paperwork, job prospects for myself, and anything else I may be leaving out. I myself am 38, I was a football player at one time, 10 years in the military, and have spent the last ten years in the construction and technology sector. Construction wise, I have been making right around $100K the last few years as an estimator/project manager working with asphalt and concrete here in southern California. So, can anyone fill us in on what paperwork and timelines may be involved, and also if anyone has an opinion about what my job prospects might be over there as an American. Would finding a job over there be more difficult for myself than existing citizens?

Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!

Re: American moving to UK with English wife. Advice please!?!
 

For you, see http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk and also:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spouse_Immigration-UK

For your wife, has she got her US citizenship or not?

Have you got children?

Re: American moving to UK with English wife. Advice please!?!
 

Yes, I have children, and she is pregnant. Only one child at the moment, 16 years old.

She has been granted residency on a temp basis until the marriage is 2 years in, which would be next January.

Re: American moving to UK with English wife. Advice please!?!
 

It would probably be best for her to get her green card conditions removed and then wait another year to become a US citizen.

Her child will be British by descent if she was born in Britain:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Britis...en_Born_Abroad

In order for the 16 year old to get domestic rated university tuition in Britain, child would normally need to be a permanent resident/citizen in the UK and have 3 years legal residence.

Re: American moving to UK with English wife. Advice please!?!
 

Hi, how long have you been married?. I think if it's longer than 4 years the whole thing is just a formality. It was for us when I came back with my Canadian wife. It was a simple matter of paying around 1000$ (Canadian) for a visa and showing a few bank statements. I'm not sure if it would be any different from the USA.

Jobwise, I can't comment on your sector but my wife spent about 2 weeks looking and was offered 3 jobs. It didn't matter that she was Canadian at all,

I hope this helps

Jonathan

Re: American moving to UK with English wife. Advice please!?!
 

Check out uk-yankee - you may find some info on there that might help

Re: American moving to UK with English wife. Advice please!?!
 

Economy-wise, the UK is about 6 months behind the US in terms of economic cycle so things are pretty bad. Construction especially. You may get a bump for the Olympics in the UK's South East but generally the construction industry is suffering.

It wont always be this way of course, but if your plans are immediate focussed, I 'd recommend holding off until the economy picks up. Being American makes no difference at all in terms of opportunity, the jobs are there ...or they aren't.

Re: American moving to UK with English wife. Advice please!?!
 

Here is the link:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/

I often recommend this site to folks moving back with an American wife (or a Canadian wife) as it not only has some real practical advice from the 'been there/done that' crowd but it also has a 'gripes & homesickness' board that I think should be required reading for anyone taking a spouse back to the UK. You'll find some of the complaints there mirror the complaints UK expats have when they go overseas, and it might also give you some insight into some things that seem perfectly normal to someone from the UK but drive an American absolutely nuts.

It also has a running thread on where to get Mexican food in the UK, should you have acquired a taste for that while visiting the states.