Confused About Spouse Visa Requirements

As much as I try to read over the requirements for a spousal visa to the UK, I still feel confused as to my specific situation.

My husband is a UKC who has been in USA as a permanent resident since 2001.  I am a USC and have lived here all my life.

In order to meet the income requirements, it looks like my husband would have to have a job in the UK.  I'm not sure how to go about making this happen from the US.  Am I understanding this correctly?  Hubby is a truck driver.  I'm not sure if that is a job where they would hire him over there from over here.

Also, how do you arrange a place to live in the UK from the US?  I would hesitate to rent anything unseen.  The only family we have in the UK is my FIL who lives in a one-bedroom flat.  I doubt that staying with him would be possible.

My last concern is that I have an adult son who may want to move with us.  As far as I can tell, there is no legitimate reason for him to do so at this point according to the UKBA.  Do you know of any way to have an adult child join us in the UK?  I really really wish we'd have done this years ago when he was still a minor, but too late now.

Thanks for any advice or input.

In order to meet the income requirements, it looks like my husband would have to have a job in the UK.  I'm not sure how to go about making this happen from the US.  Am I understanding this correctly?  Hubby is a truck driver.  I'm not sure if that is a job where they would hire him over there from over here.

There are a couple of ways to do this.

1) He manages to secure a job in the UK while still in the US... the job must pay at least £18,600 per year and start within 3 months of you moving to the UK together. He must also have earned at least £18,600 in the US in the previous 12 months.

2) He moves to the UK ahead of you, finds a job paying at least £18,600 per year, works for 6 months, and then you can apply for the visa.

3) If you have savings of £62,500 or more, you can move without him having a job in the UK

4) If you have any non-employment income (income from renting property, dividends, pension being paid etc.), this can be used to meet the income requirements

Also, how do you arrange a place to live in the UK from the US?  I would hesitate to rent anything unseen.  The only family we have in the UK is my FIL who lives in a one-bedroom flat.  I doubt that staying with him would be possible.

Many people arrange to stay with relatives or friends in the UK until they are able to find their own place. However, their home must be big enough (have enough rooms) so that the property will not be overcrowded with you there too. If it is just the two of you and your FIL has at least 1 bedroom plus a living room (both larger than 50 sq. ft.), then you may be able to use his home for your accommodation (http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/guidance/ecg/maa/#header14).

Otherwise, you might have to think about making a short trip over to the UK to look for somewhere to live before you apply for the visa.

My last concern is that I have an adult son who may want to move with us.  As far as I can tell, there is no legitimate reason for him to do so at this point according to the UKBA.  Do you know of any way to have an adult child join us in the UK?  I really really wish we'd have done this years ago when he was still a minor, but too late now.

Unfortunately, unless he is under 18, the only ways he can move to the UK with you are:

1) You can prove that he is entirely dependent on you, he is not physically able to work or support himself or look after himself on his own, and he has no other living relatives in the US who he can live with (http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/partners-families/citizens-settled/elderly-dependent/).

2) He qualifies for a visa in his own right... i.e. he comes to the UK on a student visa (which is expensive for tuition and living costs and is only temporary) or he manages to secure a work visa (which can be very difficult to qualify for).

Thanks for your info.  That helps me.

One question, if my husband were to adopt my son (adult adoptions are allowed in our state by stepparents) then would my husband be able to apply for a British passport for him?

One question, if my husband were to adopt my son (adult adoptions are allowed in our state by stepparents) then would my husband be able to apply for a British passport for him?

If a child under the age of 18 is adopted by a British citizen, then they do have the right to a UK passport (I know this to be true because my aunt is a dual US/UK citizen who adopted 3 children in the US and they all have British passports).

However, I can only find information on the UKBA website about adopted children under 18, not about adult adoptions, so I'm not sure if you would be able to do it or not.

Does your son want to become a UK citizen though? You mentioned in your other post that he is 24 and doesn't see himself living outside the US.

Surely as he is an adult, if you want to move to the UK, then that should be your decision and it shouldn't be based around or affected by your son. He's old enough to be independent, to make his own life decisions, and to deal with it himself if you do decide to move. I know you say you are close to him, but at the same time, he's not a kid anymore and you shouldn't have to base your life decisions around him.

My parents have 3 kids - we're aged 29, 27 and 22 now and I'd say we're pretty close (at one point a couple of years ago, we were all living back at home again), but that hasn't stopped any of us from moving to different countries and living thousands of miles apart from each other.

Recently my parents have been seriously considering leaving the UK and moving to Austria. If they do, it will be entirely their own decision and us kids support whatever they wish to do - we have our own lives now, so what our parents choose to do isn't really anything to do with us anymore.

Having said that though, my 22-year-old brother won't support a move to Austria, but that's because he lives in Austria himself and he doesn't want our parents living there too... as he says, 'I'd rather you didn't come here, because moving to Austria is my thing, not yours' .

My other brother won't care either way because he lives in China and will only see the family once in the next 2 years anyway .

I'm the only one of us living in the UK still, but I have also lived in the US on my own twice (at age 20 and 24 - if I had stayed in the US for 5 years as I had planned, my parents would have had 3 kids living on 3 different continents by now ). I will also be moving to the Falklands in the summer for 5 months and then to Ascension Island for 3 months in 2014 (all for work), where there will be almost no internet access and phone calls will be extortionately expensive... so it doesn't really bother me as I'm not really going to be able to see or contact them much in the next two years anyway.