Accommodation - Fiance Visa

Hello!

My fiance is a UK citizen and I'm a US citizen looking to join him. We've been putting the application together, and the only thing that's causing us a bit of worry is the accommodation section. He's currently living in London, where he works, with a friend, and their lease expires at the end of October. We're starting to look for a place now, to move into in November, when I will hopefully be there. Since we're trying to sign a lease before I have a visa (or a job in the UK), so that we can include it in the application, we're not sure that someone will agree to let a flat to us.

Our back-up plan is to stay with his parents. They have room for us, but they live in York, which is about 2.5 hours away from my fiance's job. Is this a problem? Do you guys think UKBA will care that it's so far away as long as we have a place to stay?

Thanks so much for any advice!

Sara

P.S. This forum is such a gift! A really, really great community.

We're starting to look for a place now, to move into in November, when I will hopefully be there. Since we're trying to sign a lease before I have a visa (or a job in the UK), so that we can include it in the application, we're not sure that someone will agree to let a flat to us.

You don't need someone to agree to sign a lease with BOTH your names on (because you usually need to have your visa and be in the UK to be able to do that). You can just have him sign a lease for himself only, and then have the landlord write a letter giving you permission to live there as well once you have the visa.

So, you just include your fiance's lease with his name on and the landlord's letter with the application.

And depending on your application timing, if you think you will get the visa before his current lease is up, you can also include the current lease and a letter from his current landlord giving you permission to live there until October.

Our back-up plan is to stay with his parents. They have room for us, but they live in York, which is about 2.5 hours away from my fiance's job. Is this a problem? Do you guys think UKBA will care that it's so far away as long as we have a place to stay?

You can use his parents in theory (you just need to include a letter from them givng you permission to live with them and evidence that they own the house), but if it's that far away, it might look a bit odd.

I would say have your fiance try to get a lease for himself, and a letter from the landlord giving you permission to live there too, and then an last resort would be staying with his parents if you can't do this.

Since the topic is in discussion, hope you don't mind me jumping on the bandwagon and asking a quick question. Myself and my new husband are in the last couple days of collecting the final bits of paperwork for our spouse visa application (getting the last payslips and HR paperwork and bank statements) but am still waiting on the letter from my landlord. I asked a LONG time ago but it has yet to appear despite several responses of 'yes, I will send it soon'

Question is, how would we get on if we didn't include a letter from the landlord BUT my husband is listed on the original rental agreement as a permitted occupier and always has been (as he came to stay in the apartment with me before we got married when he was in the country on his Visitor visa for the purpose of marriage)

Of course we can continue to wait for the landlords letter but it may never materialise as he has never been reliable in any way, and as I'm sure you can understand we are keen to get this application going!

Thanks for the quick response!

You don't need someone to agree to sign a lease with BOTH your names on (because you usually need to have your visa and be in the UK to be able to do that). You can just have him sign a lease for himself only, and then have the landlord write a letter giving you permission to live there as well once you have the visa.

Good advice! Do you think he'll have any trouble getting a lease on his own with a 20k salary? His parents (and mine, if necessary) can cosign, but I wonder if he might be considered too risky for letting agencies.

You can use his parents in theory (you just need to include a letter from them givng you permission to live with them and evidence that they own the house), but if it's that far away, it might look a bit odd.

That's what we were thinking. If it comes to this, maybe we'll also include a note saying what trains he plans to take in, that he's prepared to make the commute, etc.

I would say have your fiance try to get a lease for himself, and a letter from the landlord giving you permission to live there too, and then an last resort would be staying with his parents if you can't do this.

Thanks again for all this advice!

Question is, how would we get on if we didn't include a letter from the landlord BUT my husband is listed on the original rental agreement as a permitted occupier and always has been (as he came to stay in the apartment with me before we got married when he was in the country on his Visitor visa for the purpose of marriage)

If he's already on the lease, then you don't need a landlord letter, because he already has permission to live there.

The landlord letter is only needed to give permission for someone who is NOT named on the lease to live in the property.

Good advice! Do you think he'll have any trouble getting a lease on his own with a 20k salary? His parents (and mine, if necessary) can cosign, but I wonder if he might be considered too risky for letting agencies.

I doubt he'll have any problems - a £20K salary is pretty decent and as long as he has good credit and a regular income, it should be fine.

I've easily and successfully got 2 leases on my own with a base salary of £21-22K.
I also have a friend who has been renting properties on her own for about 15 years now and her salary is only £13K... plus her rent is even higher than mine because she lives in a more expensive part of the UK.

I doubt he'll have any problems - a £20K salary is pretty decent and as long as he has good credit and a regular income, it should be fine.

I've easily and successfully got 2 leases on my own with a base salary of £21-22K.
I also have a friend who has been renting properties on her own for about 15 years now and her salary is only £13K... plus her rent is even higher than mine because she lives in a more expensive part of the UK.

Thanks! That's really comforting to know.

One more question, which might be really silly: Is there any way it matters where we send the application from? I was going to send the application and my documents to London, so my fiance can add his, and then send it all on to Sheffield. Is it okay that it's coming to them from within the UK? I can't see why it would matter, but you never know about the specifics of immigration law.

Yes, it's fine to send the documents to your fiancé and then he send them on to Sheffield for you.

However, they will only return the visa and documents to a US address so you will need to include return packaging and set up an international return waybill (you can set one up online with FedEx/UPS) for return of all of the documents back to the US.

Just wanted to say another thanks to ksand for being so helpful and quick! I don't know what my fiance and I would do without this forum. Thanks so much!!