getting married and visa requirements

thanks for your responses, y'all. okay, so: questions:

she has irish and scottish ancestry, but it's at least a generation removed, so i'm not sure how that would help.... why do y'all ask? what options are there regarding that?

about the spousal visa: if we were both to go back to the US for a bit, get married, and amass over the amount needed for "support", would that matter, or would they need to see me currently employed at a job that makes that much? we don't have 401ks or property or anything. but you mentioned selling property, so is there simply a dollar amount of savings that they'd need to see that would work to tick the box?

because if i went back to the us briefly, i would immediately be making over twice what i've been able to earn here at any time, despite my best efforts. so it's entirely possible in four or so months to have that sort of money on reserve.

the relationship and housing bits are not a problem, it's pretty much the money.

also, do y'all know anything about funeral cost assistance? my dad fought in the RAF in WW2, and i'm wondering if there are any subsidies for burial/funeral costs associated with that. we have that in the US, but i don't know if y'all do that here.

The savings requirement with no other income is £62,500. It needs to have been held for at least 6 months.

You can combine employment income with savings but the minimum amount of savings you need to have before they start counting it is £16,000.

The amount you would need is 16k plus (2.5x the deficit), that being the amount you are short from the 18.6k.

another question:

if she does manage to get sponsored for a work visa, can we get married here on that visa?

another question:

if she does manage to get sponsored for a work visa, can we get married here on that visa?

Yes.

The savings requirement with no other income is £62,500. It needs to have been held for at least 6 months.

You can combine employment income with savings but the minimum amount of savings you need to have before they start counting it is £16,000.

The amount you would need is 16k plus (2.5x the deficit), that being the amount you are short from the 18.6k.

hahaaaahhahaha! yes, £62500, sure, right, totally!   i've never had that much money in my life.  but yeah, i see what you're saying about using savings to supplement, and that we might be able to do. it would probably require spending more time in the US (to make them moneys) than i'm really comfortable with, as it's the damn wild west out there at the moment, but needs must. the thing that's so frustrating is that i'm a very valuable and well-paid employee in the US, and here i'm nothing. but enough whinging.

the thing we're thinking at the moment is that she might be able to charm her way into getting hired and sponsored by one of the immigration-focused law offices, as her law credentials and ability are not in question to anyone in that field that watches her work for a couple of hours, and that her status as an immigrant might actually be an advantage in that field, as opposed to almost anywhere else, where it's a disadvantage. also, clearly they would be familiar with what's required to take care of all that.

being that my dad's ailing and mum can't leave the country while that's going on, and that if i am to have a wedding one way or another, my mum's damn well gonna be at it, it would be better if we could get married here. also both of us want to get married in scotland if at all possible. the expense of getting mum and i and my missus to the US is pretty astronomical, to say nothing of the government shutdown possibly causing planes to crash into each other at this point.....

can i get asylum because my country's lost its mind? 

the thing we're thinking at the moment is that she might be able to charm her way into getting hired and sponsored by one of the immigration-focused law offices, as her law credentials and ability are not in question to anyone in that field that watches her work for a couple of hours, and that her status as an immigrant might actually be an advantage in that field, as opposed to almost anywhere else, where it's a disadvantage. also, clearly they would be familiar with what's required to take care of all that.


can i get asylum because my country's lost its mind? 

Keep in mind that the employer has to prove she passed the Labour Resident Market Test” showing that no one in the UK/EU is qualified for the role they hire her to do.  They don’t make it easy!

Funny, I’m hoping my husband will be able to claim economic asylum in the USA after Brexit (I tease). 

thanks for your responses, y'all. okay, so: questions:

she has irish and scottish ancestry, but it's at least a generation removed, so i'm not sure how that would help.... why do y'all ask? what options are there regarding that?

If she has a mother/father or grandmother/grandfather who was Irish, she is eligible for Irish Citizenship by descent. She can apply to be listed in the book of foreign births, and then, as an Irish citizen, obtain an Irish passport. Which is both EU and allows her to live/work in Ireland and/or the UK without restriction.

I did it. It's been a godsend.

http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/citizenship-gparents-born-ireland

https://www.dfa.ie/passports-citizenship/citizenship/born-abroad/registering-a-foreign-birth/

They say it's taking about six months to process now. When I filed it was less than three. But there are tons of UK people of Irish ancestry who are applying so as to get that EU passport. 

It's also a way cheaper route than going via UK immigration hoops.

hey y'all, so the tourist visa is only six months - how long does it take for that to reset? as in, if she were to stay for six months then go away, how long would she need to be away before she was allowed to have another tourist visa?

hey y'all, so the tourist visa is only six months - how long does it take for that to reset? as in, if she were to stay for six months then go away, how long would she need to be away before she was allowed to have another tourist visa?

It doesn't reset as such, each visit is considered on it's own merits but the general rule of thumb is to be out of the country for at least as long as you were in it.

hey y'all, so the tourist visa is only six months - how long does it take for that to reset? as in, if she were to stay for six months then go away, how long would she need to be away before she was allowed to have another tourist visa?

As Larabee said, if she’s here for the full six months, she should wait six months before trying to renter.  If she tries to re-enter before then, theres the risk she could be refused entry which would complicate future visa applications.

she applied for the artist visa, as she is an excellent musician, but then they told her that she needs a grammy or something such to qualify for that. (would have been nice if they'd mentioned that, but moving on).

That's the Exceptional Talent visa, like the US Einstein visa, except that UKVI give a decision onthat visa within about 3 weeks, instead of over a year that the US takes. That visa does say that the applicant needs to be a "leader or an emerging leader in your particular field."

I know you said you have come to the UK to be with your aging father, but if you don't want to marry, another option is to return to the US at some point and live with your partner for two years. If you can prove you have lived with each for two years, akin to marriage, you could sponsor her as a partner,  but would still need to show you can afford to sponsor her.

Or would she consider being a student and seeing if she can get a university to sponsor her for aTier 4 visa? Not a cheap option and the hours she is allowed to work during term time are limited, but after two years of living together, you could use both of your salaries to sponsor her.

If she has a mother/father or grandmother/grandfather who was Irish, she is eligible for Irish Citizenship by descent. She can apply to be listed in the book of foreign births, and then, as an Irish citizen, obtain an Irish passport. Which is both EU and allows her to live/work in Ireland and/or the UK without restriction.

Interestingly, about  an hour after the UK Parliament voted to not accept the trade deal with the EU, the Republic of Ireland asked if the UK would put the above into legislation as they said there is nothing in UK law. They accepted this could take time. It could only go in as a Statutory Instrument though, to allow all future UK governments to decide on that too.

Interestingly, about  an hour after the UK Parliament voted to not accept the trade deal with the EU, the Republic of Ireland asked if the UK would put that into legislation as they said there is nothing in UK law to say that. They accepted this could take time. It could only go in as a Statutory Instrument though, to allow all future UK governments to decide on that too.

Yeah, it's not a law, per se. It's the CTA agreement that covers it. Mushy stuff.  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/citizens-rights-uk-and-irish-nationals-in-the-common-travel-area/citizens-rights-uk-and-irish-nationals-in-the-common-travel-area 

But back to your post prior. On the student issue. If the musician/artist wasn't qualified for the equivalent of a US "O-1" petition (may I never, never have to see the paperwork for one of those again in the rest of my life! omg it was awful!), which I believe you called the "Einstein" petition, school might still be an option.

Getting into a state school in the USA isn't all that tough, and many of them do participate in the Education Abroad program. My own daughter did that - and the school charged the same tuition as if she had been a home student, while she attended over here in the UK. The tuition and fees were covered by Pell Grants and other financial aid. They even ponied up enough scholarship money so that she actually only had to pay her airfare here and home again. That was her total out-of-pocket expense for it all. She was able to take advantage of that program twice, once for a full year and once for a half year. I believe she also had to pay for the Tier 4 visa, for the full year, but it wasn't a hideously expensive charge. The half-year did not require a Tier 4. She could have worked 20 hours a week on the Tier 4, but no hours on the other entry, if memory serves. https://www.internationalstudents.cam.ac.uk/tier-4-responsibilities/working-tier-4-visa  (Note the bit about not working as an entertainer.)

So, if the person in question has quite a bit of musical talent, perhaps they could wrangle scholarships to Uni? And then use Ed Abroad to spend some time over here?  If they have no Uni credits at all, it's unlikely they'd get sent here as a freshman (1st year), but the Daughter went in as a transfer student (she'd gotten a 2 year degree several years earlier) and so had "Junior" standing and was able to hop the pond relatively quickly.

Just a thought (or two!).

Yeah, it's not a law, per se. It's the CTA agreement that covers it.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney said a new bilateral arrangement between the UK and Ireland to protect the Common Travel Area (CTA), in existence since the 1920s, is “ready to go”.

“With joint EU membership, a lot of the formalities in the CTA were no longer required, such as free movement of people, so we, both Britain and Ireland and the EU all accept that there will be a new bilateral arrangement between Britain and Ireland to ensure that the same CTA benefits that we enjoy every day will be maintained through and out the other side of the Brexit process, deal or no deal,” Mr Coveney said at a briefing for journalist after the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

“That will be in the form of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries but also a legally binding international treaty on social security. There has been a lot of work in that area. There will also be a [memorandum of understanding] on education and there will be a high level principles agreement in relation to healthcare.

“That is where we are on the CTA which is really ready to go, to be honest but there are obviously timelines required in terms of the legislation that may be linked to that.”
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/rights-of-irish-in-britain-and-british-in-ireland-protected-from-no-deal-brexit-1.3759216

Yeah, I'm not holding my breath. At least there's this

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/travelling-in-the-common-travel-area-if-theres-no-brexit-deal/travelling-within-the-common-travel-area-and-the-associated-rights-of-british-and-irish-citizens-if-there-is-no-brexit-deal