Excited and scared... moving by end of '09

I am from the Uk and DH is from the states.  This week we have decided that we will have to move back to the states, as we want more children and I want to go part time or be a SAHM (he has found that he can't earn a lot out here).

He doesn't get his ILR until Feb 09, and we don't want to have to start the process over again... So we will be in the UK until then, but we wanted to get the ball rolling for our move...

Can anyone help with these questions:

[1] How long would it take to get a spousal visa for me?

[2] Can you start the spousal process before ILR or should we wait until then?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Porsha

He doesn't get his ILR until Feb 09, and we don't want to have to start the process over again... So we will be in the UK until then, but we wanted to get the ball rolling for our move...

Sorry, do you mean you want to stay here long enough to ensure that he doesn't have to go through the UK immigration process at any point in the future, should you decide to return?  In that case, he'll need to stay here long enough to obtain citizenship (as leaving the UK for two or more years may result in the loss of ILR), which would be Feb 2010 if he'll have been here three years at that point (assuming he was not settled here before Feb 07).

Sorry, do you mean you want to stay here long enough to ensure that he doesn't have to go through the UK immigration process at any point in the future, should you decide to return?  In that case, he'll need to stay here long enough to obtain citizenship (as leaving the UK for two or more years may result in the loss of ILR), which would be Feb 2010 if he'll have been here three years at that point (assuming he was not settled here before Feb 07).

He only settled here earlier this year... in Feb.  I didn't realise that the IRL wasn't indefinante.  If we came back to the UK on holiday would that count?  Or would he still loose his IRL in 2 years?

Gosh, it seems a lot more complicated than I first thought.  So he can go for nationalisation in Feb10?

ILR is indefinite if you stay settled in the UK.  If he moves to the US for more than two years, he can lose his right to ILR.

It's perfectly fine to leave the UK whilst he's on FLR -- he just can't settle elsewhere.  If he's planning on spending a substantial amount of time out of the UK whilst on FLR, that may affect his ILR application, but that won't be a problem if you're just planning to go on family holidays, etc.

The process to get the American visa for you will take around 4-5 months if you file DCF with the US embassy in London. You have 6 months from getting the visa to use it to move to the US, that can be extended from what I understand further for another 6 months if you don't move over right away. You can also delay the whole process yourself by not responding quickly when they send you paperwork etc... stretching out the process to suit your timeline.

As for staying here get citizenship, that's up to you. 3 yrs is a long time to wait if you have already agreed to move to the US. DH(british) and I (American) are moving to the US in the beginning of 2008 despite me only having FLR and residency here for over 2yrs. This is because we don't see us settling in the UK again, at least not for at least a couple of decades. Besides, we're getting good at filling out immigration forms!

Good luck!