Yeah, good choice not to try for the Returning Resident visa - I've been on this forum for about 8.5 years and I've never seen one be approved... even when one applicant had grown up in the UK and her parents and siblings were still living here... her visa application was still refused!
-Have any of you applied for a "remain with family in UK" visa while in UK as a visitor and as a spouse who previously had ILR? What was your experience?
It is not legally possible to apply while you are in the UK as a visitor, because the visitor visa does not give you the right to live in the UK or to switch to any other visa category.
So, if you were to attempt to apply as a visitor, it would be an automatic visa refusal.
-Will I still have to wait 5 years to apply for ILR again if I had it previously?
Yes, unfortunately you will. The only way you wouldn't have to do this is if you returned to the UK within 2 years of leaving, in which case your ILR would still be valid and you wouldn't need any more visas.
The visa fee for a spousal visa is now £956 plus you have to pay £600 NHS levy on top of that.
After 2.5 years you would need to apply for FLR(M), which is currently £650, plus a £500 NHS levy, and then after 5 years, it's ILR which is about £1,500 now.
The fees seems to have increased by quite a lot, so I am trying to figure out which option is least expensive but with the least rigamarole and so my husband and I don't have to live apart while I wait for my visa.
As KFDancer said, there are a couple of ways you can get the visa without being apart at all.
- If he has a guaranteed job offer in the UK paying £18,600 or more and starting within 3 months of moving back AND he has earned at least £18,600 in the US in the last 12 months
OR
- If you have at least £62,500 in cash savings which have been in your account in full for at least 6 months
OR
- If you have non-employment income totalling at least £18,600 per year (i.e. rent from property you own, interest from stocks, shares and dividends), which is guaranteed to continue in the UK.
Otherwise, the other option would be for him to move to the UK ahead of you, get a job paying at least £18,600 per year and work there for 6 months before you apply for the visa.
If he did that, you could try to come to the UK as a visitor for some of the time while you're waiting for him to meet the requirement, but you wouldn't be able to apply for the spousal visa in the UK, you would have to return to the US to apply.
