New here, nervous, excited and a little sad...

Hi Everyone,

A bit of backstory: I (American) did my MA degree at the University of Manchester in 2004/2005. A month before I moved back the states I the most wonderful (English) man ever and we were married just over three years ago. We've been living together in Chicago since then, knowing that eventually we would want to move either back to Manchester or back to my home town in Nebraska. We have been literally agonizing over this decision for nearly a year now, and have mostly made the decision to move back to England. The problem is that we both agree we could be happy either place, and now that it's nearly time to move (well, relatively speaking, we are thinking of moving in the fall of 2011) we have to deal with giving up on one of them.

I'm happy that we will be moving back to England, I loved it there and never would have left if I could have found a legal way to stay. But it's hard not to think about what we will be giving up, and especially how hard it will be to live (and have children!) so far away from my family, whom we both love very much. The problem is it's just as hard to think about being that far from his family, and it has to be one or the other.

And of course, I'm a planner like nobody's business, and the uncertainty of what will be going on with immigration law when it comes time to apply for a visa is very hard for me. I want to be doing things to prepare now, and it seems like there is not much I can do. Everyone says that US immigration is more complicated, and maybe it is, but I found it much easier to find comprehensive guides and informtion when I was arranging my husband's fiance visa to come to the states. Moreover, I'm led to believe that there is a small but real possibility that I will not have access to the NHS, which would make moving to the UK impossible.

Anyway, that is my long, complicated, probably overly informative first post I tend not to post much in these kinds of communities, but I definitely appreciate all of the advice and information available on the site!

As a spouse you will have access to the NHS, no worries there.

If you are close to four years, and all of those outside of the UK, you might want to wait because you can get a different visa, but it is semi-complicated to get into on your first post.

I would say the US is more exacting and clear; the UK is more wishy-washy.  You need X money and Y whatever else, but the UK is enough money to support yourselves.

Still, the UK is easier once you get into it. 

Just wanted to say "hi"! from Manchester. This is a great forum for support, please keep coming back!

I'm also in Manchester, its a fantastic place to live! All the Mod Cons! Good luck with everything!

Welcome to UKY!

One thing you may want to consider is getting your husband US citizenship before you move to the UK. Since you're wishy-washy on the move, it sounds like there's a chance you may want to move back to the US at some point. The last thing you want to do is go through the whole US immigration process again, not to mention the cost!

Thanks for the support and the advice everyone! We will definitely wait until we have been married four years (next May) to apply for the visa. As far as I understand it, under the current system one would generally apply for further leave to enter (in my case, since applying from outside the US) and then, after 2 years, apply for Indefinite leave to remain. However, if we apply after 4 years of marriage and I have passed the Life in the UK test, I can skip a step and start out with Indefinite Leave to Enter, is this correct? My problem is I thought that this was all changing with the introduction of probationary citizenship, and that they haven't yet spelled out what the process will be. I was also worried that, with the new probationary citizenship they may decide that even spouses won't have access to the NHS, but it looks like this isn't a concern?

I definitely agree about hubby getting US citizenship, he is eligible to apply at the end of this month and we have started looking into the process. My SIL is coming to visit in October and I was thinking of having her bring over a book so that I can start studying for the KOL test (like I said, I want todo something), it would be funny if he was studying for his citizenship test at the same time as I was studying for the KOL test! Difference being I know the answers to the citizenship test, he's pretty clueless about the KOL test 

Yes, you've got!

I think the general opinion is that they won't try to pull the NHS from spouses, although they could do anything. 

Hello & Welcome!

I wish you luck with your test and hope that you'll find comfort in this forum. Everyone here is really great 

Welcome to UKY!

I'm going to be a grad student of the Uni of Manchester in the fall. Welcome to the board.

Welcome to UKY!