Detroit to Chicago to London

Hi everyone,

My name is Liz. I moved to London in June from Chicago (what a terrible month to move in, I hope everyone remembers the 30 days of rain...I came at the very beginning of THAT!).
I moved here to be with my British boyfriend, and we are now looking into the steps for getting me a Fiance visa (and would appreciate any advice on that process). This is my first big move post-college, which is an unfortunately lonely experience compared to a solid group of Spartan friends going out and partying every Thursday/Friday/Saturday.

I would love to hear about other's experiences integrating into the city, any American style restaurants that are found (that actually taste American and not a bland, dry version) PLEASE send them my way. In DESPERATE need of some delicious mozzarella sticks with ranch and marinara, FLAMING HOT CHEETOS, sour patch kids (American style), and a good brand of Tortilla chips (like Tostitos style).

Peace.
-Liz

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your plans .

As you mentioned talking about the steps for getting a fiance visa, I'm assuming you are just a visitor in the UK at the moment, and have a 6-month visitor stamp in your passport?

If so, then the most important thing is to make sure you leave the UK and go back to the US before your 6 months is up (presumably this will be in December sometime, if you entered in June?). You can't switch to any other type of visa from inside the UK while you are just a visitor, and if you don't leave the UK before your 6 months is up, you will become an illegal overstayer.

If you will be getting a fiance visa, you will need to apply for it from the US and then move to the UK after you have it.

Alternatively, if you have time before you have to leave in December, you could technically get married while you are in the UK now as a visitor (in theory there is nothing preventing you from marrying here as a visitor) and then you would apply for a spousal visa in the US instead of a fiance visa (which would allow you to work immediately in the UK, while you cannot work on a fiance visa). To marry here, you would need to give notice to marry, and then wait a minimum of 15 days before you could have the ceremony.

In DESPERATE need of some delicious mozzarella sticks with ranch and marinara, FLAMING HOT CHEETOS, sour patch kids (American style)

Speaking of Sour Patch Kids, I just noticed that Maynards are now producing them in the UK - anyone tried them? I was wondering how they compared to the US version.

That's why I made the specification for the American version of sour patch kids! The Maynard's sour patch are okay, but some of the flavors taste like medicine and they do NOT taste like the American sweets.

Thank you for all the advice! We will definitely be taking that into consideration. And I will be leaving within 5 months of my visitor visa, but thank you for the additional heads up! It would be awful if staying here was the thing that prevented me from staying here...