Canadian/American couple enquiry

Hello everyone, I stumbled in here while looking for information about emmigrating to the UK.

Our situation may be a bit different than others here, in that I am a Canadian with British parentage/ancestry, and my husband is American.  I live in the US with him and I have a green card (legal permanent residency) valid for 10 years.  Which of course I'll lose if I stay out of the US for 12 months or more, but we can deal with that later.  We're pros at US immigration now :p

We recently visited the UK and are considering moving there (we keep coming back to this every year or so).  I am eligible to apply for an ancestry visa, as my father was born in the UK as well as his parents and their parents etc etc etc....I can easily prove my decent by obtaining my father's birth certificate and my grandmother's birth certificate.  I am a Canadian (commonwealth) citizen.

Questions I have though are:  is my husband eligible as an American to apply for a spousal visa, based on my ancestry visa?  (assuming my visa is appoved)  Or put another way, will I be able to sponsor him based on my ancestry visa?  (I know of only one couple who went to UK on ancestry visa, but they were both Australian/commonwealth citizens)

I've read conflicting information on the ancestry visa that its valid for 4 years, and somewhere else that said 5 years.  That a spousal visa is good for 2 years, and that he'd have to reapply or renew the spousal visa until we're both there long enough to apply for indefinite leave to remain.  Would he have to reapply after 2 years?

We also have 2 (rather large!) dogs which would of course have to pass all the health exams and 6 months quarantine before we moved.   I've seen a couple of posts here of people who have moved small dogs from the US to the UK, has anyone moved with giants?  We have Saint Bernards.

I have the link to the UKvisa page with the information about ancestry visas, but its all geared assuming that both the applicant and their spouse are commonwealth citizens.  I emailed them about 2 years ago to ask, and was told "well we don't know until you apply"    

Has anyone here ever applied for the ancestry visa, or know anyone who has, and sponsored a non-commonwealth spouse?

I've read conflicting information on the ancestry visa that its valid for 4 years, and somewhere else that said 5 years.  That a spousal visa is good for 2 years, and that he'd have to reapply or renew the spousal visa until we're both there long enough to apply for indefinite leave to remain.  Would he have to reapply after 2 years?

It used to be 4 years and they changed it to 5 years so as to be consistent with the other tenors in the MM scheme.  And yes, a dependent cannot go for ILR without the primary.

so he'd have to reapply/renew the spousal visa after 2 years?  Or is there a way to get a 5 year visa, the same length as the ancestry visa that I'd be applying for?

Then after 5 years we can both apply for ILR? 

Wouldn't you both go under the UK ancestry?  (Garry?)  My husband is under mine - but he is Canadian.   

The ancestry visa was so simple to get - just make sure that you have all the supporting documents.  More than you think you need.   

Where in Canada are you from?  I'm from Edmonton.

If your father is a British citizen, born in the UK, are you sure you're not a British citizen by descent?  If you are, then all you need is your British passport and all your husband would need is a spousal visa.  And if you've been married more than 4 years, he can be granted ILE right away. 

If you go for the ancestry visa, it will be approved for 5 years, and your husband will be granted a five year visa as your dependent.  He is not actually going for a spousal visa, it will be a visa as the dependent of an ancestry visa holder.


Vicky