British Citizen married to US Citizen with child-moving to UK

Hi there! I'm new here, so please bear with me. 

I'm a British citizen, currently living with my American husband here in the states. We have a 6 month old baby and we want to move to the UK. My husband has a very well paid job here and is hopefully getting a job in England soon. We are coming over for Christmas and he is having an interview with them then, but it seems promising already that he will get it.
So I have started looking into the visa process, as this was something they asked him as to how long it would take. Right now it looks like the processing time shows, 100% are done in 2 months. So here are my questions...

I have been reading about a spousal visa, but I can't find anything with that name. Is it in fact a settlement visa we will need to apply for for him?

It says that he needs to have £18,600 income (Am I reading that right, its the US citizen and not the British one?). Right now in the states he has more than that, but until he gets offered this job he won't have it there.
Would a statement from his earnings in the US be enough? Or would he need a letter from the new employer too?

It also says about a sponsoring child. When we come over at Christmas, I was planning on getting her her british passport anyway, before this job opportunity came up.
So would we A: Need to put her on his visa application like it states, and B: Need to have the extra £2,400 to show for her?
I'm confused about that whole child thing. If one parent is a citizen, then surely, getting her a passport and giving her citizenship, is easier than adding them to your visa and getting the child a visa too?

Please tell me if I am wrong about this. This all seems so complicated, and I had to go through the whole US immigration to get here! Maybe its just the way its laid out and my brain can't get around it!

Thanks for your help 

I have been reading about a spousal visa, but I can't find anything with that name. Is it in fact a settlement visa we will need to apply for for him?

Yes, from outside the UK, he would need to apply for a settlement visa.

It says that he needs to have £18,600 income (Am I reading that right, its the US citizen and not the British one?). Right now in the states he has more than that, but until he gets offered this job he won't have it there.
Would a statement from his earnings in the US be enough? Or would he need a letter from the new employer too?

Unfortunately, the US citizen income does NOT count, unless in certain circumstances (like income from rental properties, and so on). 

The UK citizen must earn the income.  As you've been abroad, you must have earned the minimum income in the US for 6 months (if salaried contract with the same employer - other employment scenarios have different requirements) AND have a job offer in the UK that will pay the minimum income AND start within 3 months of you moving over.

It also says about a sponsoring child. When we come over at Christmas, I was planning on getting her her british passport anyway, before this job opportunity came up.
So would we A: Need to put her on his visa application like it states, and B: Need to have the extra £2,400 to show for her?
I'm confused about that whole child thing. If one parent is a citizen, then surely, getting her a passport and giving her citizenship, is easier than adding them to your visa and getting the child a visa too?

She's a UKC, so she's not included in the income requirement.  Get her a UK passport, and that's that.

Thank you!
So right now I'm a stay at home mum, but I have earned that much here the past year. I am also interviewing when I come over, but its for a part time job and won't be any where near that salary. So we are kind of screwed then, as he is the one that will be making all the money? 

If you will have a shortfall in meeting the minimum, you can use savings to contribute, but it must be a large amount, and I believe it must be held for at least the most recent 6 months before application.

The formula is: £16,000 plus 2.5 times the shortfall.

For example, if you will be making £17,600, your shortfall of the minimum is £1,000.

You could use savings if you had £16,000 plus 2.5 times £1,000 - so you would need £18,500 in savings.

ETA - Do you or your husband have any other sources of income?  Income from the applicant can count in certain circumstances, like rental property income or pension.  I don't have the link right now, but there is a PDF document on the UKBA site with more information on what is and isn't allowed, and various ways of potentially meeting the requirement.

Thank you so much for your quick response!
I have had a look at the site and you are right about savings, we don't have that much saved up. This is what confuses me about the financial requirements:

(from the UKBA website)
You can meet the financial requirement through:

    the income from employment or self employment of your sponsor;
    the income from your employment or self employment if you are in the UK;
    certain income from sources other than employment, such as rent from property;
    state or private pensions of you and your sponsor;
    maternity allowances or bereavement benefits received in the UK; or
    cash savings over a certain level (the amount of savings that you need to have will depend the level of other income that you and your sponsor have . If you are applying to enter the UK, you will need to have a higher level of savings than if you are applying to extend your stay).

The second line down shows your employment in the UK. If he gets a job, would this not be able to factor in? Or is this just purely if he is already living there and has a job?

    the income from your employment or self employment if you are in the UK;

That means that if he were already in the UK on another visa and wanted to switch, his income would be counted.  It also means that when he applies for his second FLR, his income will be counted.  But you can't count prospective income for applicants, unfortunately. 

Is there any chance the company he works for would be able to sponsor him for a work permit type visa?  I think it is called a tier 2 or tier 1 visa.  Then you and your child could come over on British passports, he's on the work visa and 6-12 months you could switch him to a spouse visa, as his in country income would count.  If he is in the right industry/job role and it's a large multi-national company it might not be too hard.

I wish we could do this, as it seems this would be easier. It is a big company he is going to work for, but he got his foot in the door through my brother and one of the conditions was that they wouldn't have to sponsor him because they don't want to. Especially seeing as he is married to a british citizen 

When I applied for my visa to the US, he could use other people as sponsors, if he didn't have enough money (which wasn't the case).
I can't see anything like this in this situation. I can only use my income or savings, which I have none, we have ours over here. I don't have any other income, from rent or pensions. So there is no way around this? It seems crazy when WE as a married couple, have enough money.

I can't see anything like this in this situation. I can only use my income or savings, which I have none, we have ours over here. I don't have any other income, from rent or pensions. So there is no way around this? It seems crazy when WE as a married couple, have enough money.

No, unfortunately they changed the visa rules on July 9th 2012 and stopped people from being allowed to use third party financial sponsors.

Before July 9th, you just had to show that between you, you had at least £111.45 left over each week after paying rent and council tax, and that money could come from your UK income, his future income in the UK, your savings and/or money from relatives who were willing to support you.

Since July 9th, only the UK citizen's income counts and if currently living outside the UK, they must have earned at least £18,600 in the 12 months before applying AND have a guaranteed job offer in the UK paying at least £18,600 per year, starting within 3 months of arrival in the UK. The US citizen's income (or future UK income) does not count at all, third party support from family is no longer allowed, and in order to use savings you need to have at least £16,000(they don't count the first £16,000 and then you need 2.5 times the difference between the UK citizen's income and £18,600 (so if the UK citizen is not working, you need £62,500 in savings to qualify for the visa).

ksand24

Thank you SO much for this informative answer. It totally sucks what you said, but I appreciate your reply! I didn't realised that it had changed, I remember reading what you had said earlier this year and thought we would be ok. (We have been waiting on this potential job since the start of the year)
So basically, the best way to go about this is for him to get a work visa and adjust the status when he is there?
I don't think the company is willing to do it, but if they really want him, this seems like the only option. 

Ok, so I just added up all our savings together. We have around $27,000 in savings. He has a pension with around $55,000 in it. Does this count?

So in total we have around $80,000 in savings and pensions, this still doensn't sound enough if I'm not working right? If I do get this job, its part time and would only be around £6,000 a year if I am lucky.

No, you will not meet the requirements with what you have listed.

No, you will not meet the requirements with what you have listed.

So, does his 401k count towards the total savings needed though? I see that it is in the list of financial requirements. If that is the case, we would need another $20,000 to make it up to $100,000 (£65,500)

Thanks!

Where is it listed as part of the requirements?  I don't see it.

from the UKBA website)
You can meet the financial requirement through:

    the income from employment or self employment of your sponsor;
    the income from your employment or self employment if you are in the UK;
    certain income from sources other than employment, such as rent from property;
    state or private pensions of you and your sponsor;
    maternity allowances or bereavement benefits received in the UK; or
    cash savings over a certain level (the amount of savings that you need to have will depend the level of other income that you and your sponsor have . If you are applying to enter the UK, you will need to have a higher level of savings than if you are applying to extend your stay).