erose67

HI - am hoping for a little input from those that have been through this.

Our thought process in planning our move back was to stay with my Mother for the first few weeks after we arrive so we can look for a suitable home rather than trying to arrange that from over here. However, in reading through all the Visa application stuff for my fiance I noticed this: "you have suitable accommodation, which is owned or lived in only by you and your household, and where you and your dependants can live without any help from public funds". Does that mean we need to secure a place to live before we get there? Has anyone had a visa approved with a plan to stay with a relative while house hunting?

Thanks,

Karen

The_English_Bride

I'm glad you asked this question because I was wondering the same thing! I think there have been people who have stayed with family initially, so I'm curious to hear from them or others who may know too.

Rebster

I'm going through the process right now. We will not be buying straight away so we will be staying with my husband's parents. We have had them write a letter stating that:
1) they were allowing us to stay with them rent free
2) the house is suitably large for 4 adults (as in 2 bedrooms)
3) they own the house (they provided land registry paperwork as proof) If they didn't own the house they would have needed to provide proof that it was alright for us to be there (from landlord or local council)

I will be enclosing the letter and Land Registry paperwork with my Settlement application.
From what I've read on other forums this is not an unusual situation.

Good luck!

mayhemuk

We have done the same.
We did not have the letter from parents and the Consulate in LA phoned us.
In the end we agreed they'd accept the Council Tax bill because the Land Registry entry would take a while to dig out. (And it was a Friday)
We faxed in the letter and bill and they sorted it that afternoon.

Be sure to also show how you will support yourself until you find work unless you have a job sorted already.

Good luck!

erose67

Thank you Rebster and Mayhem.

I think we are going to actually have my Aunt do the accommodation support letter - about 5 years ago my sister and her husband bought a half share of my Mum's house so that she could pull some money out of it to supplement her pension etc - so the property is complicated - half ownership - my Sister's half has a mortgage attached etc etc.....

My Aunt owns her house outright, it is a 3 bedroom that she lives in alone so there is room for us to stay - she no longer uses the upstairs at all as she can't manage the stairs. I think this will be easier than trying the complicated route for my Mum's house!

mayhemuk

Sounds like a sensible idea. I don't think you'd have a problem with mum's place since it's still in the family but I did find going through the process simple makes explanations easier.

Good luck!