Hello. I am a UK citizen, married to a US citizen and been living here just outside Philadelphia for the past 7 years. We have 2 daughters, 5 and 3, who were born here but I just recently obtained their UK passports, giving them dual citizenship.

We are planning to move back to the UK in spring 2013 and I know I need to apply for a spouse visa for my husband, and I just wanted to know if anyone used a visa service company to help with the application/paperwork or is it easily done on our own? When the visa is issued how long till we need to leave US/enter UK?

Our move back may or may not be permanent so my other issue is with regards to my permanent residence status. My residence card expires in 2015 but I have read that I am only allowed outside the US for no longer than 6 months at a time and no longer than 2 years otherwise I will loose my residence - is this true? Would it be wise for me to take my citizenship test before we move ?

Grateful for any advice or information

Thanks

If citizenship is in your plans, go ahead and get it now.

"Green card abandonment" occurs when you are no longer 'resident' in the US. Technically it can occur in one day--the moment you shut down your house and leave the US, but I've never heard of it being enforced that quickly.

If you leave the US for less than 6 months, the burden of proof is on the US government to show "you have abandoned residency". They aren't going to do this--they don't have time or money or even the inclination.

If you leave for more than 6 months, the burden of proof is on you to demonstrate that you still have a residence in the US. At the border you'll be asked to show rent receipts, utility bills, etc.

After 12 months, it's basically assumed you have abandoned residency and you have to convince them otherwise, which can be a complicated process.

You can petition for an extended absence, upto 2 years I think, if you request it before you leave. Not sure what the form number is but others will jump in shortly to answer it.

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Green_Card_Abandonment

There is a time requirement on citizenship (i.e. you have to be present in the USA xx months prior to filing for citizenship) so you might just want to get that all done and dusted before you leave, if you want US citizenship eventually.

I'd get US citizenship before moving too. We have as the kids were all born here and you just never know.
Also you have to meet the new requirements to bring your US spouse to UK to live and get the kids their UK passports (if they are eligible)
Have a look at the top of this section and it says if you are married to a non EU citizen this may effect you. Or something like that, it has links to the new rules.
www.uk-yankee.com may be useful too.

Hello and welcome to the MBTTUK corner. I'm in the same boat as you even though I've been in the USA for a bit longer (three times actually . My wife is a USC and our two kids are 4 and coming up to 2. I have already got the kids their UK passports and have applied for my citizenship just in case my wife doesn't enjoy the move back to the UK long term, or for other future happenings. I have my interview and tests in another couple of weeks and expect that the swearing in ceremony will be sometime in January, or so.

I just wanted to say I'm in a similar situation to you so feel free to swap stories or ask questions directly. I'm up in NH so not a million miles from you.

As for your question about the paperwork etc. I wouldn't worry too much. Go on to the UKBA site and print out the application ahead of time so you can start to get things together. It's actually not too bad. I'm hoping that we'll be ready to apply ourselves next Spring but we just found out that my wife's firm is planning a major launch of a new product line in the UK and there's a chance she might be able to be a part of it. If that happens then we'd benefit from them getting her the work visa and the kids and I can go over at the same time. We'll see what happens!

With the Spouse visa, I believe once it's issued you have three months to make the physical move over. The first part is 33 months (3 months plus the first 30 months) then after that you apply for the second 30 month part. So it takes the 5 years now before being able to go for the full monty.

In any case, good luck to you!!

Thank you for all the information. Looks like the best thing would be to get my citizenship first then I would have no worries about loosing residence.

Our other line if interest now is has anyone moved to the UK and kept their house here and rented it out ??

Yup that's what we're doing. We've started doing upgrades etc. to make it ready for renting out. I'm hoping we'll be able to rent it out for 8 to 10 years and then sell it. The main reason for renting it for now is that the market is only just beginning to climb back so we'll try and time the sale for when it's a bit better. And then we'll hopefully have a nest egg towards retirement etc.

are you planning on using a rental agency to take care of your house or will you do it yourself?? We are looking at renting for one to two years so we also have the decision to either ship all our household stuff to the UK for that time or put everything in storage. Im going to start to get international shipping quotes, but im sure its going to be expensive.
we plan to live with my parents when we first get to the UK and then rent wherever we get jobs, so once in a rental we will need furniture etc, but trying to figure out what is going to be most cost affective.

We're going to be using a rental agent who lives right across the street. He's been a friend for 10 years and we used to rent from him ourselves. He'll manage tenants, issues & problems, keep the grass cut etc. and do any repairs. We're expecting to pay him the equivalent of one month's rent per year plus expenses that crop up. I hope that helps.

thanks alot, yes every bit of information helps!!!! its quite daunting really.

If you will be coming to the UK without a job I assume you have enough savings and investments to meet the financial requirements to sponsor your USC spouse for a visa.

As you have USC family members it's probably a good idea to get USC to avoid any residency issues in the future. But make sure you understand all the tax and financial implications of becoming a USC. If you move back to the UK with the intention to stay indefinitely you will be taxed on your worldwide income by both the US and the UK which can lead to some complications for investments and taxation. For example you should avoid investing in the UK equivalent of mutual funds as they are taxed in a very draconian way by the IRS. Such funds are usually in stocks and shares ISAs and SIPPs so be careful.

If you keep the US house and rent it out make sure you understand the capital gains issues if you ever decide to sell. If it becomes a long term rental you won't get any capital gains tax allowance when you sell and you will have to file state taxes for the rental income. In some states owning the house might also mean that you have to file as a resident rather than a non-resident which could have serious tax implications.

Nun, would you mind elaborating a little on the last point? Sian is in PA and i'm in NH. Do either of those States have the resident filing requirement, and what will that mean exactly?

And regarding capital gains... in our particular case, we're not actually trying to make a huge profit... the intention and requirement for renting the house out is just to try and keep the house until we can sell it and pay off the outstanding mortgage. Unfortunately we bought in 2004 when the market was 'happier' so now we have the house like a noose around our necks until the market 'hopefully' regains itself a little.

Thanks. MrM

With regards to renting out our house we are not looking at making money on it, we just want to rent out to pay our monthly mortgage. The reason we are doing this rather than sell is because we may only be living back in the UK for a year or so.

With regards to the financial side and taxes I really need to know more about it all so any info is a great help as i have yet to research into this side of the move!!

Then there is another question I have about traveling back and forth between the UK and USA with different passports. When leaving the USA going to UK, I assume I use my UK passport when booking and giving Advanced passenger info. Then obviously the opposite when coming back, correct?

SianUKUSA

You'll have to comply with state tax law for any rental income you get. You need to look at the residency laws of the state to see if owning the house will be an issue for your residency. Your stated intent to return to the US, getting US citizenship and not selling your house might well convince some states that you should still file state taxes as a resident as it shows that you have not taken another domicile....each state is different, but keeping contacts with a state does not help.

If you are a US citizen you must leave and enter the US on a US passport. So if you are in the US use your US passport to buy the tickets and to leave the US. Then switch to the UK passport to enter the UK.

How you will be taxed if you move to the UK and rent the US house will depend on you and your spouses citizenship, residency where you have your money and income and how you decide to file taxes ie married separately or jointly. With the US rental income you will probably have US federal and state income tax forms as well as a UK self assessment form. If there are other investments and pensions they will need to be considered as well.

Yup, this is a complicated area of tax law that varies from state to state. Basically, in many states, owning property and leaving a state for a 'foreign country' and then returning to your state later means, to them, that you never really abandoned residency. Many states have the idea that you are still resident basically forever once you leave that state, unless you go to another state. Owning property, bank accounts, drivers licenses, etc in that state are used to 'prove' that you never really abandoned residency in that state.

I'm not sure on the specific rules of your state, and to be honest, most accountants would probably have to look it up (it's not a common question). I am certain though in some states coming back to a state after a period of time overseas can result in a 'back taxes' bill being demanded for the period of time you were out of state.

It's quite annoying.