Mr Sifter

Hi all, I have been reading this forum for the last couple of days and find the whole marriage process pretty confusing as I'm sure everyone does at first. Last year i was living in massachusetts and met a girl who i fell in love with. Unfortunately my visa expired and i have had to return to the UK.

We have decided to get married and basically want to be together as soon as possible. Could anyone tell me which country it would be easier and quicker to get a visa for? either england or the US? Would it be easier for us to get married in england, live here for a little while then apply to the states so we will then be together as i go through the long and daunting visa process?

Im sure you have heard these type of questions before and I apologise for my lack of knowledge,

any help would be much appreciated!

meauxna

Hi there,

How old are you two? I ask because moving can be a big deal for some people and it is very expensive to ping pong immigrating between two countries. It can also be very stressful and hard on the relationship, so I guess the 'as soon as possible & don't care where' puts the red flags up.

It's completely faster to immigrate to the UK.
It will take about a year to immigrate to the US.
If you want to live in the US, it's much easier to simply immigrate to the US.. do you see where your questions are a bit confusing?

You could get a visit to marry visa for her for the UK.
She goes there, marries you and settles in.
She could immediately petition you for your US visa. 8 or so months later when the petition is approved, you two can decide how soon you want to move back to the US.
You can then immediately apply for your US visa, or wait up to about a year and apply.

There is no cut/dried answer to your questions, it's just a discussion that you need to have. We'll be happy to fill in the fact parts while you two hash out the personal parts.

Just Jenney

Welcome to BE.

I don't think that the visa processing time should be at the top of the priority list for deciding where you two should end up living together. There are SO many other factors besides visa processing time which are FAR more important, such as these (in no particular order):

• Where do both of you have the best options in terms of careers and income potential?
• Do you each meet the respective visa eligibility requirements, including the income requirements? If you don't, do you have a way to overcome those obstacles?
• Does either one of you have a criminal record to overcome?
• Financially speaking, which country could you afford to live in most easily in terms of everyday costs like housing, transportation, insurance, food, clothing, etc?
• Does the UK partner have any long-term or chronic health issues which would require expensive health insurance coverage?
• If you plan to have children one day, in which culture and/or educational system would you prefer to raise them?
• Does either of you have family you need to stay close to for emotional, financial and/or support reasons?
• Would it be logistically easier for one of you to move abroad versus the other? For instance, does one of you own a home while the other rents, do you have any pets to consider, etc?
• Does either of you plan to go or return to university, and if so, can you afford the fees (US higher education is $$$)?
• Is the UK partner ok with only getting an average of 2 weeks/year for vacation and very limited paid sick leave?
• Have both of you spent some time in the other's country for a decent amount of time? What do you each think about living there -- the weather, the traffic, the in-laws, etc?

And that's just what I thought of off the top of my head.

Are these things romantic? No. But nothing in immigration is romantic. Instead, these factors are essential to think about and prioritize waaaaay ahead of rushing to be together. What if you take the quickest route, only to discover that one or both of you is miserable because you didn't take the time to really consider these other factors? Trust me, those of us who have been around here a while can tell you that marriages can, and do, fail because some couples don't think things through properly in advance.

~ Jenney

ian-mstm

You will need a visa to live in the US. She will need a visa to live in the UK. The score so far? Even at 1 point for the US; 1 point for the UK. You do not need a visa to get married in the US. She will need a visa to get married in the UK. The score so far? The US is up 2 points to 1. But, getting a visa to live in the UK is much easier than getting a visa to live in the US. The score so far? The UK is up 8 points to 2.

In other words, you need to forget "how soon" and "easier". Focus on where you want to live... and go from there.

Ian

meauxna

That's the stuff I wanted to say! You did it so very well, Ms J!

jeffreyhy

Mr S,

Sigh, doesn't everybody? But if that's your #1 priority you're on your way to making some major mistakes that may ultimately shorten your time together.

Look at the big picture - where do you two want to go with your lives a little further in the future than tomorrow?

Regards, JEff

chartreuse

One thing which might bear checking out (UK-Yankee, I reckon) . While you are quite correct that he could visit the US and marry her without a visa, ISTR yet another new law (last year or v early this) that would let the HO refuse her leave to remain if he doesn't get some kind of "going abroad to get married" exit visa from the UK.

Yup - the UK govt will now do all in its power to stop you from going abroad to marry a foreigner without its permission. And will make your life misery if you somehow manage it anyway. It was touted as being vital to prevent forced marriages of under-age girls...

meauxna

Wot?! <splutterspluttersplutter>
Now your're going to make me find that aren't you, since you didn't put a linkie.

That's some crazy stuff. The inbound, I can understand. The outbound, in a Western democracy? Not so much.

chartreuse

Here's one article (not the one I remembered - can't find that) from last summer: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle4387090.ece

chartreuse

And here it is from the horses mouth: http://press.homeoffice.gov.uk/press...rced-Marriages

Bluegrass Lass

Do they propose to grandfather in people who left years ago to marry a spouse, and are just now considering moving back to the UK? There was obviously no requirement for this when my OH came over on a K1 in 2004, and would hate to think we wouldn't be able to move back because of this very stupid requirement. Has it actually been passed into law yet?

meauxna

Thanks for the links.. I haven't found the page describing how a sponsor goes about registering this and a quick look at uk-yankee didn't turn anything up yet. Will have to have a deeper look later I guess.
Raising the age to a flat 21 probably helped quite a bit already. ?

chartreuse

I did a bit more digging this morning. It turns out that, while this is on the cards, it looks like it hasn't yet been implemented. This page: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/si...ntsforpartners says:
And has a link to the overall policy document, which is at: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/si...wayforward.pdf

So I think the position is, it will happen (maybe) but hasn't happened yet. If it does, I can't see how they could not grandfather out people who left years ago. By way of example, when they brought in the "paths to citizenship" bollocks, they grandfathered out people with ILR.

Sorry to cause a scare!

Mr Sifter

Thanks for the help and ideas. We obviously have some long conversations ahead. Working in the UK looks like the better option at the moment. I'm struggling to get my head around everything that needs to be done and every website i read throws up another dilemma! Finances could be difficult as we are both still searching for our perfect career. Im guessing UK immigration wont look too favorably if I'm out of work when my girlfriend is applying?? Also we have been together 18 months, will immigration deny us straight away for not being together for 2 years?

Thank you again for all your help, its good to know that people have been through this and come out the other side happy!

meauxna

Whew!
I was more worried at my inability to find anything on the BA site; thought I was losing it.

You just have to give yourself some time.. ex just above. I'm not familiar with all the ins n' outs of the UK system and was on that site twice today looking for information. I *knew* what I was looking for and it was still hard.
Give yourselves enough time to figure the system out; when you know which road you want to take, the answers will come out.

There are financial requirements going either direction, so someone is going to have to get a j o b. Failing a job, you can usually use a family member's pledge of support (I'm being loose w/the lingo here) so again, cross that when you come to it. Or maybe a little bit before.

What's the two years about? US or UK, which did you hear that for? You may have misunderstood.