Marriage Visa Dilemma

He can access any funds he is entitled to as a British citizen.  That doesn't matter.  It's the American citizen who can't access certain public funds.

To the OP, can I ask a question just to be certain?  Forgive me if this sounds daft, but I'm just making sure because it sounds as if whoever has been advising you has given you some really bad advice (for instance, no, you can't marry on pretty much any visa in the UK.  I have no idea where that idea came from. You have to come with a fiancé visa or a marriage visit visa with very few exceptions).

I'm just wondering if your husband is caring for another person.  I know that sounds basic, but I'm just making sure.  It would certainly be difficult to have a disability and be caring for others besides--especially since the ESA jerks would almost certainly say if you can care for someone, you have the ability to work (I've seen people unable to move from bed for months who were told they could get a job because they could wipe themselves, but this is  another issue entirely, so I'll stop digressing). I've certainly known others who had disability concerns but have still had to be carers for others.  I was just making sure you weren't thinking of the carer's allowance as something you apply for in lieu of ESA, because they are very different things. I'm not sure if you can receive the two together since I'm not sure how carers allowance is impacted by other benefits.

The person we have been getting advice from isn't that competent, but thankfully I find out recently before I tried taking any more of his advice.

My husband isn't someone's carer yet, but we're working on applying for that. The situation is basically that we won't be eligible for a visa unless my husband is a legal carer of someone. We were thinking, since we visit his mom anyway, that he can be her legal carer (she's getting DLA). The Carer's Allowance only interferes with contribution-based ESA and he's getting income-based ESA, so we're good on that part.

They might take away his ESA, claiming that he doesn't need it if he is caring for someone. But if he doesn't try getting Carer's Allowance, we can't stay together in this country at all. Hopefully, we'll get the visa and then worry about the rest later. Worse case scenario, if I get the visa, I can get a job and he can try re-applying for ESA- which was hard enough the first time around but we don't have much of a choice at this point.

 Yea, the ESA people are pretty bad. My husband has very bad arthritis but got a lot of points taken off (not sure how the points system works exactly) because his phone rang and they saw him taking it out of his pocket!

We've sorted out most of the complications. The CA/ESA one is the latest one but there's not much we can do about that one, unfortunately.

I hope that was clear enough. There's so much going on, it's hard to be coherent!

If someone is receiving carers allowance, they are also entitled to certain other benefits. When I was a carer, I also got income support and housing & council tax benefit.  The income support and carers allowance totaled about £400 a month.  Income support can be back dated so if he were already receiving carers allowance before he applied for the income support, they will back date payments to cover those previous dates. 
http://www.nhs.uk/CarersDirect/moneyandlegal/carersbenefits/Pages/Overview.aspx

whoever has been advising you has given you some really bad advice (for instance, no, you can't marry on pretty much any visa in the UK.  I have no idea where that idea came from. You have to come with a fiancé visa or a marriage visit visa with very few exceptions).

Not strictly true, you can get married on a normal visitor visa (ie turn up at the airport).  As long as getting married isn't your intention when entering, there's no problem.

The UKBA disagrees.

There are restrictions on what you can do in the UK in these visitor categories. For example, you cannot get married.

From http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/visiting/

The UKBA disagrees.

There are restrictions on what you can do in the UK in these visitor categories. For example, you cannot get married.

From http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/visiting/

Strange.  I thought it was no longer a problem.

The rules state

The requirements to be met by a person seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom as a general visitor are that he:...

......does not, during his visit, intend to marry or form a civil partnership, or to give notice of marriage or civil partnership"

No itent, no rule breaking.  But then the link you supplied contradicts this, so who knows!

You no longer have to ask permission from the Home Office to get married (the old Certificate of Approval), so as long as the registrar is willing to marry you, you technically could get married on any visa, but it is strongly discouraged, and if they think you used deception to enter at the border when you were planning to get married, you could face problems.

Does what he receives on ESA and housing benefits count towards the old income requirement? or are his ESA and housing benefits counted as "accessing UK public funds"?

He can access any funds he is entitled to as a British citizen.  That doesn't matter.  It's the American citizen who can't access certain public funds.

Hi, are you 100% sure about the above information? Sorry, but I just need to be absolutely sure. Hope you understand.

Hi, are you 100% sure about the above information? Sorry, but I just need to be absolutely sure. Hope you understand.

Yes, it's stated explicitly on the UKBA website (http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/guidance/ecg/maa/#header2):

MAA2 Public funds

There is no objection to the British citizen / settled sponsor receiving any public funds to which he / she is entitled in his / her own right.

The fact that an applicant may not be eligible to claim public funds is not in itself sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Rules.

An important factor to consider is whether there will be a need for the sponsor to claim additional public funds to support the applicant if leave to enter was granted.

And from the immigration rules (http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/immigrationlaw/immigrationrules/introduction/):

6A. For the purpose of these Rules, a person (P) is not to be regarded as having (or potentially having) recourse to public funds merely because P is (or will be) reliant in whole or in part on public funds provided to P's sponsor unless, as a result of P's presence in the United Kingdom, the sponsor is (or would be) entitled to increased or additional public funds (save where such entitlement to increased or additional public funds is by virtue of P and the sponsor's joint entitlement to benefits under the regulations referred to in paragraph 6B).

So, the British citizen can claim any public funds he or she is entitled to as a British citizen, but they should not claim any extra because of the visa applicant (i.e. they can't claim more income support or a bigger council house due to the US citizen being there too, they can only claim what they would be entitled to as a single, unmarried person).

My husband receives DLA, so our solicitor advised us that we merely had to prove that we would not need to receive public funds were I admitted to the UK. We don't need to show 18,600 a year, but we did need to demonstrate that we would be better off than a couple on benefits. To do this, we used 6 months of bank statements with colour coded highlighting (expenses, income, DLA payments, family support) and a breakdown of our current living expenses and his income. We are planning to move back in with his family the month after we hope I'll be returning to save up for buying a place in a few years and help take care of his mum. We also submitted our projected new expenses (rent and council tax no longer apply as of May 2013) with his income.

Additionally, as I am highly employable and have contracts waiting for my signature and work permission, I've included those along with my CV. Technically they don't count for anything, but they help to paint a picture for the caseworker. My husband and I have definitely proven that we'll be fine without public funds, which is all they ask of applicants whose spouse receives DLA.

Has your husband considered applying for DLA instead of a Carer's Allowance? That might be better in the long run than screwing up his ESA. I know time is of the essence right now, but it might be worth looking into. If you'd like the name of my very capable solicitor, I'd be happy to PM it to you. She's fantastic and will give it to you straight in terms of your options.

Why won't the council tax/Housing benefit tax count in May?

We pay council tax on our flat now, but come May, we're moving back in with his family and we won't pay council tax on their house. They pay it. They're refusing to take money from us to help pay it.

Why won't the council tax/Housing benefit tax count in May?

The OP says, "We are planning to move back in with his family the month after we hope I'll be returning ..."; so I guess the assumption is the family will already be covering council tax, and they'll be living rent-free, so they believe those expenses won't count for consideration on the application.

ETA: X-posted with the OP.

The OP says, "We are planning to move back in with his family the month after we hope I'll be returning ..."; so I guess the assumption is the family will already be covering council tax, and they'll be living rent-free, so they believe those expenses won't count for consideration on the application.

ETA: X-posted with the OP.

That's what the solicitor we hired to help us said, anyway. We included a statement from his parents that outlined our accommodation agreement with them, down to our contributions and living space. We also included a land registry extract to prove his parents own the house. We are still okay even under our current expenses with his income, but it does help that the expenses will go down soon.