AntMcG

Quick recap - I am UKC with USC wife. Both living in UK, pending move to California.

I'm now halfway through my '6 months' from Visa being approved and have yet to sell our house (which is the only thing stopping us from moving).

Does anyone have experience of extending the 6 months (we would hopefully only need a short extension of, say, another 3 months?)

Is it straightforward?
What's needed?
Are there any implications? to consider

The alternative to extending the period (even if this is allowed) is to go over to US briefly to activate the Visa and then return to UK to sell house...or to sell it from California. My concerns with this are the potential US tax liability of selling of UK house (having already become US Permanent Resident).

The advice on this seems varied. Apart from hiring an expensive attorney, how to do I find out my best course of action re Visa/house etc? Any thoughts would be most welcome.

Thank you and Happy New Year!
Anthony

sir_eccles

You'll get many votes for "sell it from California"

md95065

Or, at least, come to the US to get your permanent resident status and, if necessary, return to the UK to sell the house.

You will have to report any gain on the sale of the house on your US tax return (and, in fact, if your wife is a joint owner, she, as a US citizen, would have to report her share of it even if you both stayed in the UK forever) but you will quite possibly not end up owing any tax on the transaction unless you have a very large gain.

Take a look at this IRS web page and IRS Publication 523 for details.

S Folinsky

Hire an expensive CPA or Chartered Accountant.

Consultation is in order - and they are not all that expensive considering the money that might be involved. YMMV.

rpjs

As I understand it, it is not possible to extend the validity of the visa - it's use it or lose it and if you don't use it you have to start the whole process again from the start.

We sold our house from the US. We gave our solicitor power of attorney to sign documents on our behalf, and he also got us to leave a pre-signed deed of transfer. We gave him copies of all our house documents (guarantees etc) before we left and handled all the other paperwork like buyer's questionaire by email and Skype. It all went fine. If you're anywhere near Gillingham, Kent I'd heartily recommend the solicitor we used.

Noorah101

I agree, you cannot extend the validity of the visa. You must enter the USA before the date the visa expires...house sold or not.

Rene

AntMcG

Thanks, all. Not having an option actually makes it easier!

Happy New Year.

scrubbedexpat099

Odd

I can see lots of options

ian-mstm

I think he means that not having the option to extend the visa gives him a clearer course of action.

Ian

AntMcG

He does!!!

fatbrit

Watch out for your US CGT liability.

scrubbedexpat099

Or loss.