We were advised that we should apply for the unmarried partner visa, but were hoping to get some advice from anyone who is kind enough to offer up any guidance on this process.
Unfortunately, you were advised incorrectly. You cannot qualify for an Unmarried Partner visa because that visa requires that you have been living together in the same home for a minimum of 24 consecutive months, with proof that you have been living together for that whole time (both names on bills, bank accounts, rental agreements etc.).
The only way to qualify for an Unmarried Partner is if you both legally live in the same country and happen to have been living together for at least 2 years - for example, if you were currently living in the UK on a work or student visa, or if he was living in in the US on a work or student visa, or if you were both living together in a third country.
Unfortunately, there is no 'shacking up' visa, as we call it here on the forum - there's no visa that allows you to just move to the UK to try out living together. This means that the only way for you to move to the UK to live with him for a year is either:
- apply for a fiance visa to marry in the UK within 6 months, then switch to a spousal visa to stay (
https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk/overview)
- get married in the US and apply for a spousal visa to move to the UK (
https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk/overview)
- study for a degree in the UK on a student visa (
https://www.gov.uk/tier-4-general-visa/overview)
- qualify for a sponsored work visa to work in the UK (
https://www.gov.uk/tier-2-general/overview)
We have tons of questions, like do I still have to pay US taxes when living in the UK, is hiring an immigration lawyer wise, how will my money transfer without getting foreign transfer fees, how does credit history transfer (I have maintained a great credit score), what do I have to do to keep my US citizenship, how to find a job, what restrictions would I have with my visa, could I be able to travel freely from the UK to US & other countries, and could I at some point apply for dual citizenship?
Yes, you will need to at least file US taxes while in the UK - you may not need to pay any money though, as you will be taxed on UK earnings by the UK, rather than by the US. It depends what, if anything, you are earning in the UK and whether it meets the thresholds for filing. I don't think you would need a lawyer, but it would depend how complicated your personal tax situation is.
I don't think there's a way to transfer money without getting some kind of transfer fees. Many people here use either Paypal or websites like xe.com to transfer money.
Credit history does not transfer, so you would be starting from scratch to build up a UK credit history.
You don't do anything to keep US citizenship, because you basically can't lose it. pretty much the only way you can lose it is to formally renounce it in front of a US government official and it costs about $2,500 to do so. Plus, you can't renounce it unless you already have another citizenship, and it takes 5 years of living in the UK, plus several visas, in order to qualify for UK citizenship.
It depends what visa you have as to whether you can work on that visa. A fiance visa does not allow work of any kind. A spousal visa allows unrestricted work. A work visa only allows you to work in the job role specified on the work visa, a student visa only allows you to work up to 20 hours a week in term-time (full-time in vacations).
If your visa allows you to work (i.e. spousal or student visa), then you just start applying for jobs when you arrive.
Again, it depends on the visa, but in general, you can leave and re-enter the UK as much as you like with the visa.
As mentioned, dual citizenship takes 5 years of living in the UK to get permanent residence, then you can apply after that (it's generally at least 3 visas and several thousand dollars in visa fees to citizenship). Not all visas allow you to qualify for permanent residence though - time on student visas or intra-company transfer work visas doesn't count towards the 5 years. It's something you would only be able to qualify for if you made a more permanent move to the UK and stayed for a full 5 years.
