Kady

After living in the US for 10 years with my British husband, we have decided to move back to the UK and not soon enough for either of us. I love England and have no problems living there.

Question is: We were going to cash in our life insurance policies and the money was going to help us with airline tickets, my visa and moving 4 animals there. Well, after being told by my insurance agent, my policy alone was worth $15,000.00 to cash in, come to find out, to surrender my policy, I would receive a lousy $304.00. What a let down. Anyway, I roughly figured up we need around $8,000.00 just to make the move with above items. We will live with my in-laws for a while to get back on our feet. If you have moved to the UK from the USA, how much money (if any) did you take with you? I do feel like we need some but what the hell, in-laws are getting older and if we don't move now, we never will so I am willing to get the $8,000.00 together to move and won't worry about any extra money until we get there.

What do you think? Am I crazy?

Mummy in the foothills

You could figure out your time line and live on rice and beans, and save every penny that comes in. Don't forget you will be selling just about everything so theres bound to be some money there.
Dh and I saved half his wages in a 12 month period cause we wanted to buy a house. It's do able.

manny1980

I believe you are a US citizen hence would require a settlement visa before you can immigrate to the UK. That itself costs around $1400, I believe.

If either your husband or you do not have a job, you would have to demonstrate you will not rely on public benefits in the UK i.e have adequate amount of money in your bank to show you are self-dependent until you get a job. Your in-laws maybe able to help you here if they are willing to do so.

Maltoo

you are also going to need around $25,000.00 from my understanding maybe $30K just to get the Visa to prove to the UK you can support yourself for 6 months until you get on your feet. If your inlaws help sponsor you then maybe a little less.

I know this because we are in the same boat as you, only I have been married to my Brit for 27 years and will be moving to the UK in two years because we want to keep our home(it's paid for) and our 2 rental properties(also paid for).

I know that sounds like we have money to burn but we are like most Americans we live pay check to pay check which we never know when it is coming since we are self employed. We have no car payments, very little CC debt ( around $3,000) a small amount of retirement and I do mean small.

Our 2 year time plan is because my husband needs to become a US citizen before we move in case we want to move back to the States at some point(I do not foresee that but it is Insurance) that will cost about $800. Then he needs to renew his UK passport $244.

Then we have to get our son's UK Passport and US Passport another $167 and $120.

Then their is my settlement Visa to get and that will be about $1500 and my US passport renewal, $165.

Add the $30,000 to that and it is going to take us at least 2 years to do this.

Oh and the moving cost of around $5000. to ship belongings and Pets and 3 plane tickets.

Mummy in the foothills

Where did you get that you need $25,000 from? That seems to be a really high figure to have cash on hand to move.
If you read the instructions you just have to prove enough income for the family after rent and council tax are paid, if you will be working (or Dh are working) you don't need that much. Will you be living with family, or renting?
I think www.uk-yankees.com have a lot more info on US spouses moving to UK with a UK partner

Maltoo

$25,000.00 - $30,000.00 is the consensus on most expat forums you are required to have at least $3000. US a month, for support of just a wife let alone add a child into the mix, for 6 months that is around $18,000 before rent and council taxes. I am just saying what has been posted over and over on other forums. You have to be to pay rent and council tax and how are you going to do that without a job. The UK government will only allow you to move in with inlaws if the ratio is alright for the home.

Maltoo

Sorry I seem not to have a post count to support me posting as a mod has to approve my reply to your question.

Mummy in the foothills

Sorry I saw £ signs when I look at the amounts, maybe cause we are talking of UK, $3000 a month does seem more like a normal family income. That covers rent, tax, food everything doesn't it. There was me thinking £30,000 wow theres an awful lot of the UK raising kids on less than that.
I'd never heard of that. well the post showed up just fine it must have been approved.

Maltoo

LOL, only took a couple of hours to show up I thought I had been banned before I even got started

dave99

well I just did the move back to the uk, just me, no partner, no pets, shipped about 9 boxes of things.

All up, the moving, staying in a hotel a week until I found a rental flat, a cheap car, its cost me about £6000

manny1980

How much did it cost you for shipping 9 boxes? I assume that approx. 40-50cubic-feet of items. We have approx. same amount of items and our total budget for everything including immigration papers, shipping items, travel etc is close to £6000 also for both my wife and myself.

drhewitt

I recently called an immigration agency, can't recall the name, and they said that if I didn't have a job lined up, then $25-35,000 would suffice. This is for a family of four. Of course, I would prefer to have a job to go to, but need to cover my bases.

Maltoo

So if you have a job they do not require a bankroll? That would be awesome news...

drhewitt

This is a post I made recently on this forum...


OK, I called someone at Marriagevisahelp.com and they told me, based on my savings, that we should be OK even if I do not have a job to go to.

The rep said that she has had individual clients who want to bring their family over, including children, with only $10,000 in savings.

Bottom line, if you're moving to the UK with kids, you will need a reasonable amount of savings, it does not have to be 27 months of salary (about 2 1/2 years) which is pretty much out of range for most people, but it should be sufficient to maintain a family without recourse to public funds.

What you have after you've paid your rent/mortgage, council tax and utility bills should be 105 pounds a week for a couple and an additional 58 pounds a week per child.

Even though the rules say otherwise, it appears you can show statements of IRA's (Individual Retirement Accounts) for additional backup.

If you're going to the UK with a spouse and no children, I would imagine that $10,000 to be more than sufficient, but again, other factors have to be taken into account, such as do you have a job to go to, what accommodations will you have etc.

drhewitt

If you have a job they will require 3 months of bank statements.