Hello
Guest

Sponsored Links


Topic: Help! Very confusing!!!!  (Read 974 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

  • *
  • Posts: 24

  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Sep 2014
Help! Very confusing!!!!
« on: September 20, 2014, 11:31:49 PM »
OK, I'm active duty USAF married to a UK citizen who is a Permanent US resident.  Out daughter was born in TX.  We will go to the UK to live next year when I retire from the AF.  As I understand it, we can get our daughter UK citizenship by filling through the consulate.  I'm in a quandary whether to do a work visa or join family visa. 

I will have my bachelor's degree in Business Administration/Management with a Project Management Certificate. I already hold an associate's degree in Avionic System Technology and another in Instructor of Technical and Military Science.  I also have a Professional Manager Certification.

My wife and I got married in England 15 years ago.  My pension will meet the minimum income requirements before taxes to cover me and my daughter, but not for all 3 of us if I do the family visa.  With my wife a daughter recognized as UK citizens, what level of income am I required to show?  If I'm short, I plan to work but I don't have savings to make up the difference.  Problem is I can't work or enter without a visa.  Suggestions?


  • *
  • Posts: 1222

  • Liked: 6
  • Joined: Jan 2010
  • Location: London
Re: Help! Very confusing!!!!
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2014, 12:00:14 AM »
You're not required to show any level of income and in fact your income or potential income cannot be used to meet the financial requirement.   It's your wife who must meet the financial requirement for a spouse visa, not you.   There are several ways to meet the financial requirement.  One way is through the UK partner's employment. If returning from overseas, she would need to currently be employed in the US for at least 6 months and earning at least £18,600/year.  Additionally, she would have to have a job lined up in the UK earning at least that amount and starting within 3 months of her return. 

If she's not working then she can return to the UK, get a job earning £18,600/year and after she's been in the job for 6 months you can the apply from the US to join her. 

You can use your pension in the amount of £18,600/year but you have to be drawing on your pension for at least 28 days before application. 

You can use savings in the amount of £62,500 which has been held for at least 6 months untouched in a readily accessible account. 

Read through FM 1.7 to understand the options for meeting the financial requirement:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/337420/Annex_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement.pdf


Tier 2 General work visas are difficult to qualify for if your job doesn't fall on the shortage occupation list because an employer must prove there is no one who doesn't need to be sponsored for a visa who can do the job. 


  • *
  • Posts: 24

  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Sep 2014
Re: Help! Very confusing!!!!
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2014, 02:05:39 PM »
You're not required to show any level of income and in fact your income or potential income cannot be used to meet the financial requirement.   It's your wife who must meet the financial requirement for a spouse visa, not you.   There are several ways to meet the financial requirement.  One way is through the UK partner's employment. If returning from overseas, she would need to currently be employed in the US for at least 6 months and earning at least £18,600/year.  Additionally, she would have to have a job lined up in the UK earning at least that amount and starting within 3 months of her return. 

If she's not working then she can return to the UK, get a job earning £18,600/year and after she's been in the job for 6 months you can the apply from the US to join her. 

You can use your pension in the amount of £18,600/year but you have to be drawing on your pension for at least 28 days before application. 

You can use savings in the amount of £62,500 which has been held for at least 6 months untouched in a readily accessible account. 

Read through FM 1.7 to understand the options for meeting the financial requirement:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/337420/Annex_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement.pdf


Tier 2 General work visas are difficult to qualify for if your job doesn't fall on the shortage occupation list because an employer must prove there is no one who doesn't need to be sponsored for a visa who can do the job. 

This is going to be a problem as my wife is a stay at home mom due to health complications and we have little to no savings. Can I show current salary as a projection of what to expect for earnings?  We originally planned to live with her parents temporarily until I can get a job and figure out where to live.


  • *
  • Posts: 13025

  • Liked: 4
  • Joined: Oct 2005
  • Location: Washington DC
Re: Help! Very confusing!!!!
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2014, 02:26:03 PM »
The UK citizen is the only one who can be the sponsor. It is not possible for you to be the earner.


  • *
  • Posts: 24

  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Sep 2014
Re:
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2014, 02:43:16 PM »
Would my pension qualify as satisfactory income provided it went into a joint account that she had access to?


  • *
  • Posts: 13025

  • Liked: 4
  • Joined: Oct 2005
  • Location: Washington DC
Re: Help! Very confusing!!!!
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2014, 02:52:49 PM »
You said your pension was enough to meet the financial requirement. Will you be drawing on it?


  • *
  • Posts: 24

  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Sep 2014
Re: Help! Very confusing!!!!
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2014, 03:13:52 PM »
Yes, but not until next October. It's military retirement pension that gets paid automatically. 


  • *
  • Posts: 18235

  • Liked: 4985
  • Joined: Jun 2012
  • Location: Wokingham
Re: Help! Very confusing!!!!
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2014, 03:37:46 PM »
If your pension meets the £18,600 annual requirement, you will qualify.  But you cannot apply until you meet the requirements.

The UK is trying to reduce immigration and returning families have been hit hard.


  • *
  • Posts: 24

  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Sep 2014
Re: Help! Very confusing!!!!
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2014, 02:06:17 AM »
I'm also looking at the option of taking a job stateside with a company that will let me transfer from the US to the UK as well if they will sponsor me for a work visa.


  • *
  • Posts: 24

  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Sep 2014
Re: Help! Very confusing!!!!
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2014, 04:50:04 AM »
So do I have to show a full year of my monthly pension before I can apply or will they assume abb average?


  • *
  • Posts: 18235

  • Liked: 4985
  • Joined: Jun 2012
  • Location: Wokingham
Re: Help! Very confusing!!!!
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2014, 08:49:58 AM »
No, only for 28 days.  Do scroll up and read through the financial appendix Anonymiss linked.

A work transfer is a short-term option.  A Tier 2 ICT does not lead to ILR, so you will have to change tracks to remain in the UK permanently. 


  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 26862

  • Liked: 3589
  • Joined: Jan 2007
Help! Very confusing!!!!
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2014, 01:33:29 PM »

A work transfer is a short-term option.  A Tier 2 ICT does not lead to ILR, so you will have to change tracks to remain in the UK permanently.

Also, in order to qualify for the Tier 2 ICT visa you usually have to have worked for the US company for at least 12 months and the position must be at a certain level and salary and something that cannot be filled by a UK worker.

So, if you don't currently have a job that you can transfer with, I would allow at least a couple of years, maybe more, before you could be eligible for a work transfer visa.


Sent from my iPod using Tapatalk


  • *
  • Posts: 24

  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Sep 2014
Re:
« Reply #12 on: September 22, 2014, 04:27:59 PM »
So with that info, I'm probably going to go with the join family visa and not apply until October 2015. My what I wanted to hear, but what I need to know.  Thanks all!


  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 26862

  • Liked: 3589
  • Joined: Jan 2007
Re:
« Reply #13 on: September 22, 2014, 04:36:23 PM »
So with that info, I'm probably going to go with the join family visa and not apply until October 2015. My what I wanted to hear, but what I need to know.  Thanks all!

Yeah, if you can meet the requirements using your pension income (which is only £18,600 as your wife and daughter are British citizens), then it's not worth trying to get a work visa, especially as the spouse visa will allow you to work in any UK job you like without a work visa needed.

Usually, getting a work visa instead of the spousal one would be a last resort if you absolutely cannot meet the financial requirement in any other way and it would be years before you could move... instead, you could get a work visa and then switch to the spousal visa in the UK when your income qualified. But if you will be drawing a pension that meets the requirement, then it should be straightforward to apply for a spousal visa.


  • *
  • Posts: 24

  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Sep 2014
Re:
« Reply #14 on: September 26, 2014, 04:02:25 AM »
A friend of ours posted a link to a petition going around to make it easier for a UK citizen to return with a foreign spouse, but in the verbiage to get people to sign it,  it says that the join family visa requires the citizen to be in the UK and the foreign spouse to be living separately (not how I read it, nor does that seem to be the way people on here read it either). Can anyone confirm that this is in part misleading?  Here's the link :

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/65859


Sponsored Links