Hello, all.. I'm sure this question has been asked already in a multitude of different ways, but I thought it would be easier just to lay out the situation my wife and I find ourselves in and find out what our options are. I'm 53, and I moved to Washington State from Scotland in November of 2023 on a K1 Fiance Visa to marry my wife, who is a 55 and a US citizen. Initially, our plan was to sell her house and use the equity to move to another city in the Pacific North West, probably Portland or somewhere nearby, but due to various dramatic changes in circumstances since then, we are now trying to work out if we can find a way to set up home back in Scotland instead. My wife is the primary earner in our household: she's a licensed clinical social worker and works in community mental health as a therapist. After getting my Green Card in March of 2024, I've been working for the local school district as a school bus attendant to top up our income (I'm still on a probationary 2-year Green Card and have to file for removal of conditions in November of this year). My wife is now considering a lateral move into telehealth in order to be able to continue working as a therapist if we find a way to relocate to Scotland.

I had been led to believe that it was impossible for me as a UK citizen to sponsor my wife because my income is considerably less than £29,000 PA, (and I no longer have a UK address) but I've been doing some preliminary research into the UK Family Visa, and the precise wording on the current UK government website is that "if you apply for a family visa as a partner, you and your partner usually need to prove that your combined income is at least £29,000 a year.". Given that our combined earnings would be at least equal to and probably more than that if she continued working remotely from the UK, I'm not clear that we would be automatically disqualified on income grounds (most forums insist that I would have to be resident in the UK and that only my earnings can be taken into consideration for a first application, but the current wording on the UK government's website appears to contradict that). I appreciate that she would have to pay income taxes in both the US and UK (as well as National Insurance in the UK); could she contact HMRC and arrange to pay the necessary income tax voluntarily? A permanent UK address is also a consideration: we would have adequate equity to pay a deposit on a house in Scotland, but not until we've sold the house here in the US. Could we rent a property temporarily in Scotland and use that as a UK address until such time as we're in a position to buy?

Thank you in advance for any insights you can offer.. We're a little overwhelmed with conflicting information and just trying to work out if this is even going to be possible.

Hopefully someone will be along to answer your question. I just want to welcome you to the site and wish you all the best in your efforts to move over.

The wording you quote refers to if someone was already in the UK (on some sort of visa) and then wanted to marry a British person, they could then include their income with that of the British citizen to qualify for a spouse visa.
In your circumstances as your wife is applying from Canada that ruling is not relevant.
YOU as the British citizen must sponsor your wife on your income alone and it must be 29K GBP or above.
Having said that if you have savings etc you can top up your income. OR you can use savings alone (88K GBP) or pensions.

Below is the document giving all info regarding financial requirements:

https://assets.publishing.service.go...rement__1_.pdf

If your wife has British ancestry there may be a way to get an Ancestry visa for her......

As regards accommodation, you can use rental property, even Air b&b's when submitting the application.

Sorry, there is no Ancestry visa for your US wife .... mistook her citizenship for Canadian not US.
In first note it should read " as your wife is applying from the US" ...

That's exactly what I thought too regarding only my income being relevant. But the current link on the UK government website for applying from outside the UK "to join or accompany a partner" takes you to exactly the same page, which states that it's our combined income which is taken into consideration. I don't know if the rules have changed very recently, or whether it's just plain wrong (which wouldn't be a first for a UK government website).

Provide the link....

Here's the link from the UK government website..

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/proof-income-partner

Yes, I can see how the phrase "you and your partner usually need to prove that your combined income is at least £29,000 a year."

You can add to YOUR employment income - savings (yours/hers/combined), pensions (hers/yours/combined), rental income (joint) ......

You cannot add her employment income as, she is not able to legally work in the UK (as yet) and her US income is not relevant (foreign income usually ends once the applicant moves to the UK) (remote working is a whole new kettle of fish.)

Note in the following sentence the words "UK income"



For example, you’ll need to prove your own and your partner’s combined UK income in your application if you’re applying as a partner.

From the sounds of it you do not earn the equivalent of 29K GBP in the US?

What about the money you get from the sale of your current house? That can be used immediately the sale has gone through and the monies are received.

Unfortunately, I work as a school bus attendant for the local school district, so I only earn the equivalent of about £7,500 per year. My wife, on the other hand, earns around £60,000, which is why we wanted to use our combined income for the application. Our "Plan B" option (because she's a licenced clinical social worker) is for her to try to get an employer-sponsored job in social work back in Scotland.. Failing that, our last resort would be what you suggested: sell the house, put the equity in the bank and declare that as savings on the Family Visa application.

No chance of you moving back to Scotland and getting a job earning 29K ...?

None. I don't have any property in Scotland.. I lived in a council house in the Scottish Highlands before I moved over to Washington State two years ago, so I had to give up my address. I worked in a fish-&-chip shop as a fryer for seven years before that, and my salary was less than £12,000 a year. No, if we move back, we're going to have to do it together, I'm afraid.

Hello.
Has your wife looked on the internet at job vacancies in your preferred location in the U.K. ? Just to see what is available and potential salary. As a social work professional, a potential employer would probably snatch her hand off. Skills like hers are much sought after in social work.

Good luck with all your applications.

It's hard going but worth it. I relocated back to the U.K. with my husband after living in New Zealand for nearly six years. We will have been back in the U.K. for ten years next year. I have peace of mind which I didn't have in New Zealand. Nice place to visit but for me, living there was nothing more than as expected.

Back to you.

Your two primary options would be to sell your property and use the proceeds to meet the financial requirements through cash savings or you move back to the UK ahead of your wife, find a job earning over the salaried income threshold and wait for six months before sponsoring her to join you.

This sounds like a reasonable suggestion. One would need to check that her qualification is transferable (there's easily accessible list for England on the gov.uk website but not sure about Scotland). And then the starting salary is below the minimum requirement for applying for a visa, but Social Worker is on the current list of professionals that can still apply (despite not earning above 38k). Of course this might mean a big paycut compared to her existing salary but it might be that the cost of living/house prices are much lower in Scotland than where the OP lives at the moment...and sometimes if people really want to move they ust have to accept this is part of the price to pay.