1. Do I need to get a job and accommodation before he can join me in the UK?My husband (UK Citizen) and I have been married for 8 years (living in the US that entire time) and I applied for my Spousal Visa and we are both here in the US now. He did not have to go back to get a job/accommodation first. We just sent our pay stubs from here, available jobs that we printed from online just to show there are jobs available and our CV's to show that we are employable.
We are staying with his parents at first so they wrote us an accommodation letter and we sent in a recent mortgage statement, a copy of the registry/title plan view, pictures of the rooms and a floorplan that my FIL drew up.
2. Could he go back as a returning resident?Not sure about this one somebody with more experience in that will have to come around to help out.
3. Can a family member act as a sponsor if I haven't got a job?From what I have read on here there can be no more 'sponsors' like that.
4. How long does it take to get a spouse visa (through San Fransisco)?If you live in San Fransisco I would assume you would apply to the LA Consulate and right now Visa's are taking around 20 days maybe a little more. If you use a courier it could get it down to a couple of days.
5. Anything else we should know!!Since your husband had his ILR so many years ago I do not believe he would have taken his Life in the UK Test for it. In my case since DH and I have been married for more than 4 years and living outside of the UK I was able to get my Spousal Visa w/ a KOL Stamp which means that once in the UK I can immediately take the Life in the UK Test and apply for my ILR rather than having to wait the normally required two years.
However if I would have already taken the Test in the UK before I applied I could have actually applied for my ILE from within the United States and bypassed the Spousal Visa altogether. But we weighed the cost and because of high ticket prices it cost us less to just go ahead and so the Spousal and then the ILR from within the UK later.
But.... If you have a trip to the UK planned you can have him study and schedule the test while over there and go the ILE route when you are back in the US.
If you do not do the ILE route then be sure to specifically ask for the KOL in your sponsor letter and in your application (additional information space). They will not automatically give it to you, you have to ask for it and provide some documentation to prove you have lived together.. Usually people just send the last 4 years of joint tax returns.
If I am wrong about any of this I am sure somebody will come along to put me right!