EmilyAD

Hi all,

So after 3 years of living in Canada and having my first baby here I am desperate to go home to be with my family.

Our situation is that we are both working full time here, although I have been on maternity leave since Feb 2016 and will be returning to work in March 2017. We would like to return to the UK in August 2017 once my tenant has moved out of my flat. We also own a house here that we are planning to sell.

I am not sure what savings this will leave us with it depends on the house prices.

I will be able to return to my old employer but the salary is questionable, they used to pay me 23,000 per annum (I am hopeful to return on the same salary).

I have a couple of questions that I am really hoping that you can help with.

1. Do I need to earn 18,600 per annum to sponsor just my husband as my daughter has a UK passport? Or do i need to earn 22,400 because I would need to sponsor her to? She was born in Canada.

2. Do I need to have been back from mat leave and working full time here for six months before we return so that we can move back as a unit together?

I thought that moving out here was stressful and that was just me, oh boy is this so much harder! I have spent hours reading the UK immigration websites and can not make sense of it.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Novocastrian

Welcome to the forum Emily, you're in the right pace to find proper advice.

I can answer Q1: 18,600 because your daughter in a UKC.

As to Q2: I'm afraid I don't know the rules on (unpaid) maternity leave, but it's irrelevant if you have a job offer starting within 3 months of your return paid at least 18,600.

EmilyAD

Thank you so much for responding, so if I have a job offer and a contract for 18,600 they won't need to look into my earning for the previous 12 months? I am reading way to many other threads and have sent my head into a tail spin.

Also, this is going to sound like a really dumb question and I am sorry I am asking it, but just for peace of mind.. she counts as a UK citizen because she is my daughter even though she was born in Canada?

BritInParis

Providing you were born in the UK your daughter is a British citizen and therefore is not included in the financial requirements. She only requires a British passport which you can apply for here.

If you choose to go down the salaried income route (Category A) then you would need to be earning £18,600 p.a. for the last six months in Canada and have a job offer in the UK starting within three months at the time of application which also paid you £18,600 p.a. If you sell your house and it generates at least £62,500 then you can use that to fulfil the financial requirements under the cash savings category (Category D) and therefore your employment status or income is moot.

Only if you pursue Category A and have not been earning above the threshold for at least six months in Canada.

SanDiegogirl

Read the following document carefully to see under which category you can apply:

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

Which category you can fulfill depends on whether or not you will have a job to go to within 3 months of your return, and/or already earn 18,600 per annum in your current job in Canada. Instead of earnings, savings can be used OR savings used to make up shortfall of earnings.

YOU have to sponsor your husband not your child if the child is a British citizen.

If your Canadian husband has European and/or British ancestry then there might be other options available to you which are easier than the settlement/spouse visa.

EmilyAD

Thank you all for responding. I wish he did have ancestry but from what I can tell there isn't anything to be had. His mothers side is British but I think it goes back a little too far, she was born here and her mother was (in Canada).

I am on a good wage here (when I am working) so we could meet the 6 months if we held off for a couple of months before returning.

I read somewhere that once he is in England, and has the initial visa we can then use his income to meet the financial requirements on the extension of the visa is this correct? Can his income be used in isolation? I am just thinking ahead as we would like to have more children in the next couple of years, but may delay further if I have to provide income proof for the extensions until he is granted ILR.

SanDiegogirl

Once the initial settlement visa is issued, then for future extentions, yes, both incomes can be taken into consideration.

For the initial visa it is only yours taken into consideration.

BristolUK

Isn't there a requirement for that to have been 'in the bank' for 6 months though?

If the target is August 2017 then it would need to be in the bank -ie house sold - by February, raising the issue of where do they live until August.

Assuming this is still correct.

BritInParis

No. If your cash savings are the proceeds of a property sale then you need only show that you owned the property for at least six months before it was sold otherwise, as you point out, you would be homeless for six months.

BristolUK

Well at least that's good then
Bit of a surprise though. When this nonsense first came out and we were all talking about it on MBTTUK, I was someone who would not have met the income requirement.

I posted many a time that I could have returned (with my non EU spouse) with enough money from house/duplex sale to have bought somewhere to live and had an income exceeding the means tested benefits (as well as still having capital) so would not have been due anything anyway, but still not met the income requirement demanded.

I often mentioned that I could meet the capital rule but from house sale to 6 months later where would I live?

Nobody ever said the 6 month condition would have been satisfied from ownership of the property.

It certainly did look silly that we'd have been above means tested benefits but not allowed back unless via the capital route but then because it had been spent on accommodation while meeting the 6 months, there wouldn't then have been enough left to have bought somewhere, meaning somewhere rented would have been needed and then likely becoming eligible for means tested Housing Benefits when the remaining capital ran out. (and breathe)

But then as it was such a bad rule, it seemed entirely in keeping with it.

Really surprised nobody said it was okay if the property had been owned for 6 months.

spouse of scouse

I'm pretty sure that this rule wasn't included originally, it was added some time after the new legislation took effect, although I don't remember how long after.

BristolUK

Well that would explain it then, ta