Everybody,
I'll throw in my 2 cents' worth here.
I'm a US citizen who entered the UK in December 2002 on a 5-year work permit. I'm still in the same job here and plan to be through the time period of the work permit. I'm a bog-standard UK employee -- have my National Insurance number, pay UK taxes, etc. etc.
My finance is a UK citizen.
We have decided (after some good advice from an immigration attorney in Oxford) to go back to the US to get married in early-January. It'll just be easier -- especially since we're marrying in New Mexico, where we will literally get our marriage license at the courthouse just before the judge marries us. John will enter the US just as a normal tourist, and I'm just "going home for a visit". When we return to the UK, John comes in normally; I'll come in under my Work Permit BUT have been advised that it wouldn't be a bad idea to tell Immigration that I married a UK citizen while in the US.
Once back in the UK in mid-January, I'll just continue to live & work here on my Work Permit until I'm eligible to file for ILR after I've been here 4 years. Then I'll likely apply for British citizenship after another year -- assuming that we'll probably live in the UK from that point on.
IF we ever decide to live in the US, eventually, then we'll just do whatever we need to do to get John into the US legally.
It seems a bit easier to do it this way, and I continue to independently maintain my ability to stay in the UK after we marry. (It's not that I think something might happen to our relationship during the first 2 years of marriage -- but my attorney has had a client whose UK husband died during the first few months of their marriage, compromising her ability to stay in Britain.) Also, the Home Office stays out of our business for the time being.
Janet
(lordcelery.blogspot.com)
