What If You Didn't get married? could u move?

Ok Ok ....

  I need to know if you decided NOT to marry
would you still beable to make the move over to the UK & take the kids & work? ( Just live as boyfriend & girlfriend) it's just a Question I have , I mean if you don't want to marry just to get there is it doable? ( am I makeing any sense ?)
 


Going crazy here [smiley=uhoh2.gif]
        Wild....

In order for you to have a job in England you need to have some kind of visa (student, spousal) or a work permit. You can't apply for a work permit, a company has to find you, want you, and get it for you. So you can't work if you go to live in England as boyfriend/girlfriend.

You can get into England to live as boyfriend/girlfriend without a visa or anything, but it's really, REALLY iffy, I I would strongly suggest not doing it. That's what I did, and I nearly got kicked out, and it was horrible. THey didn't believe my story - it looked like I was going to England to move there, not to visit. And that's not cool with Immigration. Peedal went over with her kids and got turned away and sent back to the states, and gad to have a whole different plan of attack. It's a really, really risky way of doing things.

I don't know what your situation is, so it's hard to offer any advice or suggestions... but basically in order to move to England you have to have a Student Visa, Work Permit, Spousal Visa, Fiancee Visa, Ancenstry Visa, some other kind of Visa... and I think that's all. They don't like people just coming over to live unless they know they will be supported and won't take up public funds... and that's where the Visa's come in play.

It's a sticky and horrible thing to be in love with someone overseas sometimes, cause there's the whole "we need to live together, but can't unless we get married".... and a lot of us can relate to that. - Again, I'm not sure what your situation is so I hope I've been at least a little helpful...

This is as Marlespo says "a very sticky situation".  Basically there's a number of ways to get here and stay (at least for a while); most of which end with you going back to the states.

A work visa will let you stay in the UK and work for 6 months.  After this time has elapsed you have to go back to the states.  As Marlespo also said, you do have to get the company who you have a job with in the UK to apply for your work visa.  Bearing in mind that there's a number of different work permits.

An ancestory visa (right to abode); If you have relatives who used to be UK residents - grandparents, parents - then you could get into the country and stay because of this.  If this is the case, you can stay as long as you like.

Fiancé/Fianceé visa; If you are engaged to an English person, but this only gives you 6 months (or a year, I can't remember:() in the country before you have to marry your fiancé/Fianceé.  If you don't you have to live when your time is up.  Also with this visa you can't work.

Marriage Visa; With this you can live for a year in the UK and work as you want to.  But you can't claim any public funds (Social security, Job seekers allowance, invalidity benifit or housing benefit).  After a year you can claim for unlimited stay.  This is the only option which will mean that you can stay as long as you want to, unless you have relatives who were UK citizens.

Student visa; This lasts as long as you are a student in the UK.  You must show proof of courses etc and must leave after your course has finished; usually two to three years.  But I don't think you can work with this visa either.

Best place to look if you to find out exactly what catagory you can fit into is this site:  http://194.203.40.90/   hopefully it can help you with your problem.

The Fiancee' Visa is only good for 6 months (and I'm counting down the time left on mine... ).

You can work on a student visa - but only 20 hours a week.  And you'd have to pay non-resident tuition, which is extortionate.

Marlespo is right - I had a heck of a time.  And I think most of the reason I got sent back was because of the boys - because for some reason I would have been a more credible person if I had left my kids behind for 6 months to try out living with Phil - which wouldn't have been rational or realistic at all, since I KNEW the two of us could live together.  It was the FOUR of us I was concerned about...

You have 6 months on the Fiancee Visa.  I've "heard" that you can get an extension of up to 3 months, but don't know what criteria you would have to show the Home Office for such an extension - it's completely up to their discretion to grant it or not.

You have no idea how much I wish we could have just come over - even without my being able to get work - and do all this engagement/marriage stuff on our own timetable - not the Home Office's.  

A work visa will let you stay in the UK and work for 6 months.  After this time has elapsed you have to go back to the states.

A work permit (technically not a visa) may be valid for up to five years; the employer chooses what expiration date to choose on the application. And an expiring work permit can be renewed. There is no "six months, go home" limit.

It's worth mentioning that there are some sorts of work that don't require a work permit at all. Artists and writers, for example, will be given permission to move here provided they can prove they've been able to support themselves solely by means of their art or writing for at least a year. Similarly, ministers, foreign press, airline staff and government employees can be based in the UK without a work permit.

So let me get this straight. I applied with a company there, if they hire me, the pick how long they want me to work there. IF by chance they let me work for them say 5 years, in that time can I apply for naturalization? And I do not get thrown out of the country every six months?

So let me get this straight. I applied with a company there, if they hire me, the pick how long they want me to work there. IF by chance they let me work for them say 5 years, in that time can I apply for naturalization? And I do not get thrown out of the country every six months?

Pretty much.  Bret applied for his job, they got a 5-year work permit for him.  We have another friend from the US working here and his work permit is 5 years as well.  From what I can gather, after 4 years resident in the UK, you can apply for something called Further Remain to Leave (FLR), which lets you stay indefinitely.  I don't know how that affects access to social services, etc.  With Bret's work permit we are permitted to use NHS and the public schools, but have "no recourse to public funds".  I am allowed to work with no restrictions as a Dependent of someone with a valid Work Permit.

Getting the work permit is the hard part.  Basically, unless you are doing an intra-company job changeor transfer, or are in a high-demand highly skilled category, any company who wants to hire you has to prove that no UK or EU citizen was qualified or applied for the job.  

Stephanie

Also where is it that Brett works LOL sounds like a great place to get a work permit !~wink wink~ j/k. Thanks for the advice so far

Sighs. Thank you for the information. It seems I will never get to England. I have dreamed of this a long time and I hate to be disappointed. Is there any other way for a single woman with no fiancee to get in? I am a Domestic Violence Victim Advocate, Certified through a course as well as accredited through a national organization. If anyone has any clue, please let me know. If I do get hired by the people I applied with, is there any other paperwork I need to fill out before I go over?