Hey everyone....just wanted to share our experience of getting our spousal visa from NY.
I was very worried about our situation before we went and hope that others who might be in a similar situation read this and feel comforted.
I am on income support for myself and my son and receive housing benefits for my 2 bed flat (350 per week).
I work 4 hours a week cleaning a house (for 20 pounds as allowed by benefits)
My American husband had not worked since June when he had a very serious brain injury after a bike crash.
I thought there was no way that they would approve us given these curcumstances.
We arrived at the consulate NY at 8:45 am for our 9am appointment, i was feeling as sick as a dog and with folder in hand got in the lift. My hubby was holding me and i said that i hope this is gonna not be too painful. There was a lady in the lift with us who the asked if we were there for a visa to which i said yes and she said that we would probably be seeing her as she worked in that dept.
We went and sat down (it was very quiet...4 other ppl) and waited.
At 9am we were called up to a window by the lady in the lift. She asked to see both passports, the wedding cert, my bank statements (my husband didnt even have a bank acct, much less statements) and my tenancy agreement that clearly stated that only myself and my son could live there, i had no letter of permission for my husband to stay there as i was placed in this flat by the homeless persons section of the council a few years ago and when i had asked them for such a letter giving permission, they refused to give me one saying that they would only consider him able to live there after he was legally in the country and had been interviewed by them (dont ask me....crazy law Grrrrr ) I also gave her a statement from the bank saying i had 2500 pounds in a savings account (that had been placed in there in one lump sum 3 days before) and finally a letter from my mother saying she would financially aid us until my husband was employed.
The lady took all this away and we stood there sweating for all of 4 minutes, when she returned and said that his visa was only for 2 years and that he would need to apply for futher stay 1 month before his visa expired.
She asked for no evidence of the relationship (i think cause she saw us kissing in the lift lol) and basically that was it....took about 10 minutes in total. The part that took the longest was waiting for them to take our money. Oh and btw....we didnt fast track our application either. we went to Tacobell for an hour and went back to collect it. I cant tell you how many sleepless nights i had over this and in the end the whole thing was as easy as cake.
I hope that anyone else who is in the same position with benefits can get a little reassurance from this experience. It is the hardest thing to hand over your life to someone you dont know.
So.....alls well that ends well.
Goodluck to everyone else who still has this to go through...i know how stressfull the worry can be.
This is a great site that has offered a lot of help, support and reassurance, i know i wouldnt have been able to cope with all of this otherwise.
Just goes to show that in this materialistic world that you dont have to have loads of money to live the rest of your life with your loved one.
Stay safe
Jules
