Emma M

I just don't know how to go about it.
For the agony aunts and those who are brilliant at giving advice, or those with tons of experience with what I want to do, please help!

I have been in the US for 8 months now. I cannot settle, flatly refuse to settle completely, want to go home so bad that I'm desperate to get away from this place, at this moment in time I would lie cheat and steal to get the air fare home, even if I went on my own. Basically the US is lovely but not for me. At all.

Now, I have just bagged myself a job, so we can at last get saving to move back.

Which is the easiest, quickest way of moving home and getting hub a visa to work and live in the UK?
Does anyone know exactly what we would need, how we would get it, what it would cost, stuff like that?
Where would we apply, would we apply while still here or apply over there?

I have already been on UK Yankee and Home Office website, still none the wiser, would really appreciate some sensible advice

petally

We're going through the big move right now. We're in NJ and planning to move back to the UK in August. We're getting hub a spouse visa, hopefully with ILE as we have been married for 6.5 years.

First things first, fill in the online app. You need to book a biometric appointment (after you do the app online). That can be a pain. We've got to wait until July for ours, but many centres are faster. Then you have to send in the print out for the biometrics, a print out of your app form and all the supporting documents.

It's pricey tho - just paid $1082! But I understand it's quick. I understand that if we use one of the visa companies registered with the consulate in NYC (I don't whcih consulate you'll have to use in NC) we'll get an answer the same day or the next at most. Certainly FAR easier than the US system.

What you need to show in the supporting document is that the marriage is genuine (evidence of cohabitation is great), that you can support yourselves in the UK (i have a job offer so we're showing that, bank statemets, hub's CV, educational qualifications, printouts of job ads he could do and a budget showing how we can live on my earnings until he gets a job) and evidence of accommodation (this is tricky for us but printouts of estate agents' ads in our price range, letter from my Mum saying we can stay plus a copy of her title deeds). You also need things like wedding certificate, passports etc.

I actually found the UK Yankee site really helpful - they have a dedicated visa forum. All kinds of little details, like that you have to explicitly ask for ILE if you are married more than 4 years. Otherwise you get a spouse visa for 2 years and only then can you apply for ILR.

You definitely have to apply while you are here. If your dh goes to the UK on a tourist visa, he could be refused entry if the immigration officer suspects that he's here to settle. You also can't do it from the UK unless you can show that some change of status has occurred (i.e. you met in the UK,got married and now he wants to apply to stay as a spouse).

hth!!

Emma M

ok, thanks for the advice

Dave_Was

Everything said above is the same as my understanding.

One things that you might want to check out is do you need to do the knowledge of life test. I believe that you need that to get the ILR.

You basically need to show three things.

1, Proof of your relationship. Anything to show your relationship is genuine.
2, Adequate accommodation in the UK.
3, That you won't resort to public funds. So you need to show savings, employability, etc.

I have been told that the process in the US is quick. Good luck.

Keep posting and maybe we can help you through this.

Emma M

Well I don't need to do that, but he does
Speaking of which, a couple of months ago he took one online. I failed, he passed lol!
ok thanks for that Dave. I will keep posting. It's mad, that Home Office site. Nothing like the USCIS site... and I thought that one was bad enough.

Dave_Was

Actually Emma, could you say how long you have been married? I know you say that you have been in the US for 8 months. I think that the KOL test only needs to be done for indefinite leave to remain.

From my understanding ILR through marriage has two timescales.

The first after two years of being married and in the UK.
The second after four years of being married out of the UK.

I'm sorry I might have caused confusion bringing up the KOL test. You may have to get the spousal visa form VAF 4 first and then in the future go for the ILR SET(M) form.

I know how you feel though, generally this year my wife and I have been okay and plodding along. Now my birthday is coming up, as is fathers day and a good friend is going home to visit family and the homesickness has really kicked in this weekend.

Download the forms and go through the guidance information and see what questions those generate.

Good luck.

Triboy

I think the 4yrs thing has been scrapped now. In other words ILR cannot be obtained from outside UK no matter how long you've been married. I think it was effective April last year.

Could be wrong.

petally

The difference is that you can take the KOL test straight away and then get ILR rather than have to wait two years.

Emma M

I've been married for 7 months. There's no way I want us to stay here for 4 years before moving back! Then again, by the time we have the money to do so, we could be looking at near on that anyway

Bevm

While you wait, can you move within the States? I don't know where you live, but if it's a suburb, an American suburb would have me suicidal right quick. I'm not bashing the US in general, but I've been to some suburbs and small towns that are really alien.

OTOH, I actually like NY, and horrified an American by saying in reminded me of an English city. Same with Boston. Many places in the North East feel more like England. New England, after all.

Or the west coast. Oregon and Washington State. Great place for a protracted holiday when you know you'll be home in a few years. But 8 hours time difference and a long flight home. (Some of the things that bug me about living in BC.)

Bev

Emma M

There is a possibility of us moving to his parents (which would help us save a LOAD of money), they have offered for us to live there for ages, but it's in Kansas City and we are in North Carolina, so it would take us a while to move even that far, especially seeing as I'm waiting for my GC and I don't want a change of address messing that up, plus I'm starting a new job in a week or so.
But it is an option, but only so we can get back to the UK, I wouldn't want to settle in the US for good, my husband wants out of the US too!
IMO, there's nothing wrong with the US, but my hub wants out of it because of political and social reasons, I want out because it's not home and I don't ever want it to become my permanent home, I have too many ties to the UK.
Yeah where I live is a real suburban town. It's hostile IMO, and where it isn't hostile, they insist on making a novelty out of you if you have a different accent. I don't like that, because where I come from people are used to diversity, it's not even an issue if you have a different accent. They class it as rude to point out differences like that in a stranger.
Being here was never something I thought through anyway. It was all a spontaneous "let's get married! Woo hoo!" sort of thing.
So it wasn't like I gave it much thought to leave the UK, my friends, family, and everything I love behind, it was more of a case of being so blindly in love that it was almost like nothing else mattered, and now the dust has settled and I'm thinking more clearly, I want to go home with my hub and settle there. I know he has given thought to moving to the UK because that had been our original plan, and he would love to move there, we just did it all backwards out of frustration at the distance, I think.

Dave_Was

Hello Triboy,

Could you point to a reference for that please? It's something that would effect the decision that my wife and I would take on when we move back to the UK. For example, if we got to close to the four year mark and were thinking about moving back home we would try to hang on to make the four years so that we only had to apply for ILR.

Looking at the UK Border Agency website and specifically this page

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/uk...ecivilpartner/

It looks like the four year marriage rule is still available.

Do you have anywhere that says the changes that came into effect?

Many thanks.

Triboy

Well I can look. I was actually remembering something that was written here as it was a bit of a topic last year. I think JAJ was quoting this to some others. I'm in Oz so maybe different rules apply here?

BHC site is timing out for me here. Do a search on some threads and you may find it. I was going from memory, and I'm getting old these days, so I could be wrong

petally

From what I understand, the ILR is given with the proviso that you have to take the KOL, so it's still a visa not ILR. However, you can then apply for ILR as soon as you arrive in the UK. Otherwise, you have to wait two years and then apply for ILR, demonstrating that you have been living together for the past two years. It saves some hassle and maybe some money as well (I'm not sure - you may still have to pay for the ILR in the UK, about 750 quid) but that's about it. I have heard that empoyers somewhat prefer it if you have ILR rather than a two year visa, but that might not be an issue.

I'd recommend that if you are going to go down that route, make sure taht you have proof that you have been living together for 4 years. A marriage certificate is not enough on it's own and you need to prove to the ECO that you have been living together. And, apparently, you need to explicitly ask for it.

hth,

TaraC

I have a question on this. I did look at the visa website, but it didn't really clarify. My US OH and I have been married for seven years. I'm a UK citizen with a GC in the US and will shortly be getting my US citizenship. For the last year, however, I've been in the UK studying while he's been back in the US working and supporting my education. Our goal is to get him to join me in the UK sometime next year after I finish my degree and have a job, which would mean we won't technically have been living together for about 18 months, even though we lived together as husband and wife for five years before I left for school. Does this mean we won't be able to apply for the ILR before he leaves the US? Will we have to live together in the UK for two years before he can apply? It would be great to apply for both together, so I'm curious as to whether we're going to have problems.

Does anyone know?