DCF filing - should I wait to become a UKC before leaving?

Hi everyone

My husband (UKC) and I (USC) are looking to move back stateside next spring. I have lived here since being a student in 2004 and have been very happy, but my husband and I really want to try a life together in the US and amongst my family. We are going for DCF and were hoping to get back to the US in March/April next year.

My question is - is it worthwhile waiting around to get my UK citizenship before starting the process of going back to the US?

Not that we are planning on giving up quickly on the US and moving back the UK, however if we ever did, I know that the ILR I currently have would expire after 2 years. I know after this you have to apply for re-entry to the UK via 'visa' (which one?), however what are the chances of this being denied?  If I am denied, will I never be able to enter the UK again???

If you are granted this visa, does that re-grant your ILR and you are okay from then on?

Anyone at all who has experience in this area, I would really value your insight and 'story'! 

If you've been here since 2004 and have ILR you probably already qualify for Naturalisation now. Any time you spent in the UK under immigration control counts toward your 3 years residence, so you may want to look into that now and you really don't have to 'wait around' for anything as most naturalisation applications have been taking about 4 weeks it will be finished WAAAYYY before your DCF is done.


Your ILR will lapse after 2 years absence from the UK and if you wanted to return after that point you would need either a Returning Resident visa (which is almost 99% impossible to get) or you would need to apply for another spouse visa in order to be able to return to the UK to settle.

Given that UK immigration rules are constantly changing if you have any doubts that you may want to return to the UK at some point in the future I'd go for Naturalisation.

My husband and I started the DCF process early last month and our Petition should be processed any day now ( I check the Embassy website constatly!) and we're hoping to have the visa portion complete and be able to return to the US by the end of the year. I am eligible to apply for Naturalisation on 31 August (next month) and it's one of those things that my husband & I keep debating if it would be worth it. We keep trying to think of reasons why we would need to return to the UK but as we have no family here (save his mum who is 76 and won't be with us much longer anyway).

So I guess I could say I'm in the same boat as you, but I am probably going to get it just in case because visa fees keep going up and it's just a pain to have to deal with visas to begin with and not something I'd like to keep repeating.

Due to all the sweeping changes going on with immigration, I personally would err on the side of caution and get citizenship. But I've always been the "better safe than sorry" gal.

I got my citizenship for that very reason.  It will only get more expensive. 

I qualified for citizenship in March and applied for it, even though we had already started the DCF process to bring DH over to the states.  I figured it was a safety net to have just in case....Or if in 30 years the EU is still going strong, we can retire in Italy! 

I think its definately worth doing, for so many reasons.

1) Eventhough, you dont like to think about it, if something were to happen to you, medically, that you couldnt afford to take care of, without selling your house . . . NHS?

2) If you do want to go on extended vacations, or even retire, anywhere in the EU, you can do so. You can even work here too.

3) If you have children, they can 'backpack' throughout Europe, and work hile doing tht. Or even better, they can go to university anywhere in the EU, without having to get expensive visas.

4) Most importantly, you have no idea what the future holds. If someone would have told me, 10 years ago, that I would be happily settled in England right now, I would have laughed so hard! You just never know.

Hi everyone

Thanks for the replies, all really insightful.  I am definitely going to apply for citizenship now - I have my appointment with the new NCS office in Edinburgh tomorrow to go through my paperwork.  Agree it is totally worth doing, and compared to the DCF we are about to start, the paperwork was a breeze!

Hi everyone

Thanks for the replies, all really insightful.  I am definitely going to apply for citizenship now - I have my appointment with the new NCS office in Edinburgh tomorrow to go through my paperwork.  Agree it is totally worth doing, and compared to the DCF we are about to start, the paperwork was a breeze!

Glad you were able to get an appointment that quicky...good luck!