Introduction. Newish, excited, nervous, stressed!

Hi all.

Have been lurking on the site for several months now and I must say thank you so much for being here. There is a wealth of information. Beyond that, the incredible community of support is really inspiring. I'm hoping we can get some advice as we head down this path from those who've "been there, done that".

I met my partner over 2 years ago. I am a US Citizen and he is a UK Citizen. We decided to pursue dating and somehow ended up never being apart for more than 6ish weeks at a time. This amounts to about 4 international flights each year for each of us (yeah its hit the bank hard!).

I'm a big city boy, and he (we're a same sex couple) likes the quiet life in SW England. I've adjusted and fallen in love with the him, and the UK. (Heck, I've even started taking up bird feeding and gardening).

On Valentines Day this year, he proposed! 

Since then we've had some serious conversation on how to make this work and it seems I am going to be making the move over to England.

This board has been sooo helpful. We've spent the last 2 weeks getting our paperwork together, have found a fantastic expediter who has helped with questions. We have a stack of stuff for our proposed civil partnership visa (including letters from friends, family, pictures, travel tickets, documentation of our relationship, financial docs, all that good stuff).

The good news is I'm happy and excited about all of this.

The bad news is I've never been so stressed out my entire life. We both find it difficult to sleep. I sorta freak out each day thinking it won't be approved. I'm finding it stressful (during tax season no less) to think about what a big deal this is going to be.

I don't have many friends in the UK (minus those I've met through him), and certainly no American ones- so that makes it a bit more difficult.

So this is just partially to introduce ourselves, partially to thank everyone for contributing to this site, and partially to say, I'm stressed and freaking out about getting this all together and making the move. I hope this is a normal thing!

I'm now rambling, I hope I haven't turned anyone off from saying hi!

Thanks again everyone!

Hi and Welcome--- I am so glad you came out of hiding!!!  It is normal to be stressed and overwhelmed-- unfortunately you are handing life changing decisions to someone else, never easy! The good news is it almost always turns out well in the end and we all wonder why we were so stressed .
I hope we hear more from you now that you have dipped your toe in the water!

Welcome and congrats! It is such a stressful time but its all worth it in the end.

Hi!
Yup, the "Visa Stress Syndrome" is well recognized here.  Congratulations on already sending it in! Now you just have the wait.    Welcome to UK-Y! Where in the UK are you moving? How romantic to get a proposal on Valentine's Day! (We got engaged over the phone; it  went like this: So, you want to move to the UK? I should stay here for work for a little while. Me: Um, I don't think I can just move there. Him: Well, do you want to get married first? Me: Uh, sure.  )

Good luck!

Hello and welcome! 

Visas can be so stressful and some people really feel it.  I know I did.  Good luck with your civil partnership plans and your move!!

Amigad! Replies so fast! /happyface

Actually, we have not submitted the proposed civil partnership visa yet. We are going through the dotting of the Is and crossing of the Ts. We expect to get that in within the next 10-14 days. Am prepared for biometrics ecetera.

I have to tell you that this experience had been (before finding this board) incredibly lonely for us. Most of our friends reside together in the US or the UK. Being same sex coupled and people "trying" to understand where we were coming from was always hard. When we found this board, we immediately felt at ease.

So we are in the pre-submit visa stress period. Once it is submitted, I'm sure you'll see us again freaking out LOL.

Needless to say, I love America, but when he first met me, he said I was an Anglophile. Who knew?

@Jennie The proposal was sweet, in person, and to the point. There was no gushing of wind, just a sense that we wanted to be together forever and cement our relationship. We don't even have rings yet.

We never though in a million years, growing up gay that is, that we would ever get to be married, or be civil partners. In the US, there is still so much negativity towards gays entering partnerships. In the UK, I feel like we've been given an opportunity to be equal contributing citizens, and that in itself makes me very proud to apply for the Visa.

I'm getting all stressed and sappy again!

Welcome and congrats! Where will you be in the southwest?

We'll be living just outside of Bath in Wiltshire (thats where we live when I'm in the UK). So basically on weekends, we sometimes go to Bristol. Been trying to get into the whole antique thing but not sure if that will stick. We've been trying to find a cool couple (UK/US couple, or gay couple would be great) our age (we're in our mid 30s) to go to social events with, dinners, movies, but no luck.

Ultimately, we will probably move to London once I am able to legally work as I have more options there (my career is in Media).

Usually when I land, I get a loaf of best of both worlds bread and Walkers Thai chili crisps. LOL! That way I can have my tea/toast while recovering from jetlag.

Welcome, welcome! Congrats on your engagement!

Welcome

First off, i heart the amigad. Thats excellent.

I'm so happy for you! (My brother is gay so i feel a kinship, lol) Yes, it is a stressful time but its all worth it in the end.

You are lucky to be living in a nice area of the UK as well.

Welcome to UKY and if you need anything let me know.

best of luck!

First off, i heart the amigad. Thats excellent.

I'm so happy for you! (My brother is gay so i feel a kinship, lol) Yes, it is a stressful time but its all worth it in the end.

You are lucky to be living in a nice area of the UK as well.

Welcome to UKY and if you need anything let me know.

best of luck!

Thanks so much. Amigad is how I feel most of the time I'm happy. That's the inner voice word, so that's the only way I know how to type it out.

Right now, we're dealing with assembling everything, telling friends and family (which has been really stressful, the whole "I'm moving out of the country thing"), and trying not to strangle each other via Skype lol.

Although I've spent so much time in the UK over the past couple years, I'm now fretting about not having good mexican food, in-n-out hamburgers, ranch dressing with my fries, and authentic korean food. I suppose food is so much a part of what I love in America, will have to really dig in my heals and either 1) be a better cook or 2) find some new places I love to eat

in-n-out hamburgers

yummmmm!

Welcome and wishing you a painless visa process! 

And best wishes with your civil partnership plans! 

Welcome to UKY, dandr!!!! I'm really happy for you that you have found someone special and get to start such an exciting phase of your life. It is stressful just before making the move, but once you get here, I'm sure you will settle in just fine. If you ever have a silly question you would be too embarrassed to ask a local, then you can ask it here, which has always been such a relief to me!  Good luck with all of your plans. I'd love to hang out with you, but I live near the Scottish border, so quite a distance from Bath. But you can always look for meet-ups on here or organise one yourself and see who you hit it off with. I've met quite a few people from this forum in my local area, and it has really helped to have some American friends nearby, as well as having all these lovely online friends to offer me support.