new here, hopefully moving across this year

Hi there,
I have a spouse who is a UK citizen who moved to America when we got married in 2002. We would really like to move back this year. We have one child together.  We are still working out details about the requirements for a spousal visa, etc. We currently own a business that we would transfer across with us.  The spouse requirement appears that he must need a job before we can move, but we live here so he doesn't have a job there,  obviously. I am still researching and wondering if being self employed even counts/qualifies and making sure my child doesn't need a visa since she's the child of a citizen by birth. I have been lurking for a bit and decided to officially join.  Thanks.

Did you register your child's birth and get a UK passport for them ?   If not do that first as it makes moving them easier and it's one fewer dependent.  Your child is automatically a UK citizen due to having a UK citizen father, but registering the birth and getting a UK passport makes it "official" (and is inexpensive in the grand scheme of things).

https://www.gov.uk/register-a-birth

Second, do you have $100k in savings ?  If so that may be the simplest way to meet the financial criteria.   Otherwise you need to meet earnings criteria.  I'm not sure how you would do this with your own business but others could advise.   Again, having a $100k lump sump (62500 GBP) in a savings account may be simpler.

Hi, thanks for the reply. We have already sent off for our daughter's passport. We do not have that much in savings. We likely will by the time we apply for the visa but won't have had it in the bank for 6 months. I've done some more research and it seems with the offer of a job that qualifies and proof of the previous two year's earnings and self employment earnings, we can more than adequately prove we qualify financially. The business is moving with us so it effectively shows that income will still exist. Between the job offer, savings and previous income I have  more confidence about that part of it now.

You can only apply under one financial requirement category (unless the UK job offer doesn’t meet the minimum income requirement and then you can use savings to top it up), so you likely would be using either:

-   Guaranteed UK job offer paying at least £18,600, plus last 12 months of income in the US showing at least £18,600 made by the UK citizen in the US (Category B)

OR

-   Last 1 or 2 years of self-employment income (average of £18,600 per year) plus evidence that that self-employment income is guaranteed to continue at a level of £18,600 or more per year in the UK (Category F or G – tricky category as it’s difficult to meet all the requirements and provide all the required documentation for self-employment income and it’s hard to prove that you will have guaranteed self-employment work in the UK right away after you move)

OR

-   £62,500 in savings, which have been held in your account for a minimum of 6 months (Category D)


If when you apply, your savings have not been in the account for at least 6 months, they will not be considered for the visa and will not count for anything, so you wouldn’t be able to use any of your savings to meet the requirement (i.e. there’s no point including any evidence of them).

If they have been in the account in full for 6 months, then you can use savings as your sole evidence if you have £62,500 or more, or they can be used as evidence to top up the other categories if you cannot meet the £18,600 UK salary for Category B or F/G. However, the first £16,000 of savings do not count and then you need on top of that first £16,000, 2.5 times the difference between his UK salary and £18,600.

For example, if he has earned £18,600 in the US in the last 12 months, but his UK job offer pays only £15,000, then you won’t be able to qualify for the visa unless you also have at least £25,000 in savings (£16,000 + (2.5 x £3,600)).

But if you can meet Category B or Category F/G on their own, then you do not need to show any evidence of savings anyway.

You can read more about each financial requirement category and what evidence you need to meet each one here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/371437/AnnexFM_Section_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement.pdf

Thank you for your reply, I have done more reading since my prior post and definitely category B. easier than I thought. I initially thought that the US income wouldn't count at all and he had to have a job for 6 months in the UK.
Thank you, again.