Hi Everyone :-)

Hi All,

A short intro letter here..

I came across this site whilst looking for help. I am British,48 yrs old, and live in Devon. I met a wonderful lady through the internet who lives in Kentucky, and we want to be together. Sooooooooo, we have both been offered a new job here in the UK, so the reason I was looking for help sites was to find out what she has to do to come over here in January.

She hasnt a passport yet..and she will probably need a work permit too, to allow her to stay longer than the 6 months. So thats what we are checking into now.

Gawd..soooo much red tape...if anyone has had similar experiences and can offer any advice we would be grateful  :-)

~~Andy~~

 Hiya there Andy

 Welcome to UKY.Small world,Iam from Kentucky as well married to a British Man  We are coming back over in March to May again.Iam so very excited too.Anyone here can tell you that,since I mention it alot  LOL.

I know there are ppls here that can help you with some of your questions.I can offer my advice that yes she will have to get a passport ,and to me thats the first important step.It can take up to six weeks to get it,or pay more to the US government or a company online,to get it faster than that.

 Iam sorry I cannot offer my advice about the work permit,since the first time that I entered the UK,it was on a fiance visa,then we was married there later.

I know it can be very frustrating,and your right the red tape will drive you around the twist at times
 Hang in there,though you will be able to sort everything out.It just takes time,money and effort.
    All worth it,to be with your soul mate

 So what part of Ky is your gf living in then??

 


 

Hi Andy.  Best I can do is welcome you to the site where you'll find the answers you need.  Sorry I can't really provide any.  But I'm interested in hearing how things work out for you and your lady.  Good luck Andy.  

Hi Andy...welcome to UKY.

Hi Andy and welcome!  I suggest that you might want to post some questions to the Visa section of our board as it many be viewed by some one who might hae more insight to your specific situation.  Plenty of the people here have meet in very similar circumstances to yours.

If she already has a job offer then the company should take care of the paperwork.  Other than that it's either tourist or fiance.  Regardless, I will defer to those that have been in similar situations.  

Here's the link for the Visa section and we look forward to future posts.
http://www.uk-yankee.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=visas

Hi Andy!
I am sure you will find a ton of answers to your questions, as there are many helpful and friendly people here.
Welcome!
Melissa

Thank-you so much for that wonderful welcome!!  I'll look forward to peeping in here on a daily basis. *smiles*  ~~Andy~~

Hi, Andy -- Welcome!  I'm new, but have found this site to be a lifeline already! Best of luck with your move, and with the red tape. First things first -- the passport. Should be a fairly straight-forward process. As others have mentioned, you can probably pay for express service -- a couple of years ago or so, it was about $300 to get quick service. The US government Internet sites and those for the UK are useful. Have you checked them out? Google can help. My husband and I came over here because he had been offered a job in London, and the company he works for obtained a work permit for him, and for good measure, they got one for me -- spouses who work in the UK are supposed to be happier than ones who don't, they say. Will your employer do that for your sweetie? It would be good, as apparently the British bureaucracy isn't too helpful to foreigners trying to get work permits on their own, even if they have a job. The reason is that there has to be a good excuse for a company to hire a foreigner over a native --as in the U.S. The explanation (and sometimes the subsequent argument) has to come from the employer. Hope this is helpful. Best of luck! Katelyn

Hi Katelyn....thanks for your reply..in answer to your question about my g/f's UK employers here in the UK..yes they will do the work permit for her. Firstly she has to get a passport, which she is in the process of doing now. But, today, I phoned the Work permit office here in the UK to ask them if she could travel over to the UK BEFORE she got the work permit, ( she wont actually start work till late February ), and the guy said that shouldnt be a problem...so, as we had planned for her to come over here first week in January, we are thinking, 'lets get over here, and spend a month settling in and then send the form for the wrok permit in'.
Soooooooo.thats what we are looking to do.   ~~Andy~~

Andy will your lady write here on the board as well?

Hello Andy and welcome to UKY...  I can not give you much help in the work permit area...only been in england 3 weeks now...and on a fiance visa...so I have a while to go yet before I can even apply for a job.

I wish you lots of luck...as well as lots of love when your lady friend gets here.

UKY will surely be a good help for both of you...that I am sure of.

Shel

Thanks for that Shel..and everyone else for all your kind messages ...I contacted the Work Permit offices yesterday and asked them if we could apply for a work permit AFTER Denise arrives here in the UK..I was told that wouldnt be a major problem..sooooooooo...as we are going to not be starting our jobs till Frbruary, we intend spending a few weeks settling into our new home in Scotland. In that time we get Denise's employers to apply for a work permit for her. Hopefully that will be ok.

So good to see such friendly faces here  :-)  Ive also sent the addy for the site to Denise for her to join too.

~~Andy~~