New Visa Laws for Spouses - Need help

Hi, Everyone. I don't know if anyone can help me or not? But I sure hope so.

My husband is Welsh, and we've been married for four years. Two of those years, he lived with me in the States. He had to move back to the UK to take care of his mother, which required that he live with her (and she lived in government funded housing). That coupled with the fact that it took him a year and a half to find permanent work (he worked as a temp), I couldn't get approved for a visa.

Well, he's finally got permanent work and just bought a house. We were all excited to make preparations for my move to the UK, when we discovered that the visa laws changed.

The new law is requiring that he make a ridiculous amount of money. He doesn't earn near that much, nor does he need to...as the cost of living in South Wales is so much cheaper. It's nowhere near the cost of living in London or the like.

Anybody else been through this ordeal? What are our options? It took us two years of hard work to get to the point where we could get approved for a visa under the old law, and now we're subjected to this. FOUR YEARS OF MARRIAGE, and I can't be with my husband, because of his wages? Doesn't this violate human rights?!

Advice needed please!

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Who can I write in the UK about this? I'm fully prepared to make noise and lots of it.

I fought the US department of Homeland Security for two years to get him approved for a visa here, where he lived for two years. I'd think it's obvious, we didn't go through all of that, so that I could manipulate my way into UK citizenship four years later! (sorry for the harsh tone, I'm upset.)

I think this is ridiculous! The visa rules don't account for cheaper cost-of-living areas that don't pay as high of a wage (it's not needed). My husband works 11 hours a day, and more overtime on the weekends. He's busted his butt to get us to this point, and still doesn't earn a wage near what's mandated by these laws.

I think, if anything, this is discriminatory. It's as if only the wealthy are allowed to fall in love and be married. I earn a good wage in the States, but of course that doesn't count. I would think my ability to prove that I've worked every day of my life, since I was 15-years-old (I'm 36 now), would prove that I'm not one to milk the system for benefits.

My husband can't just move back to the US. He's got to be with his mom. He bought the house, so that I could get a visa, and so that she could live with us.

My husband called the immigrations office, and asked if it was against human rights...their first question was to ask if I was already there? He said, "No." They responded that it wasn't against human rights, then.

Would it be considered a human rights violation, if I were already there?

Who do I write to about this? I'll write anyone and everyone. This is just absurd.

How far short of the minimum does he fall? Unfortunately the only way for you to qualify for the spousal visa is to meet the financial requirements.

If he would like to write to someone to complain, it's probably best if he starts by writing to his MP. As you aren't a citizen or a resident who can vote, it won't do much good for you to write. It isn't a violation of any human rights because you are free to live in another country together, as you have been doing in the US.

He earns about 1100 GBS per month or 13,200 GBS per year. That's the total with tons overtime. Without the O/T, he'd earn much less. But he works all the time he can get. So, he doesn't even have time to work a second job with all of the hours he puts in.

Welcome to the forum and so sorry to hear about your situation .

Anybody else been through this ordeal? What are our options? It took us two years of hard work to get to the point where we could get approved for a visa under the old law, and now we're subjected to this. FOUR YEARS OF MARRIAGE, and I can't be with my husband, because of his wages? Doesn't this violate human rights?!

Your options are either:

a) Wait until you meet the visa requirements

b) See if you can qualify for a Tier 2 sponsored work visa or a Tier 4 student visa to move here, then when you are in the UK and earning money, you can combine your income to meet the requirements (your income can count if you are already living in the UK with permission to work).

b) He moves back to the US to be with you

c) You both move to another country to live together there.

Unfortunately, this does not violate human rights because human rights would only come into play if there was no legal way for you to be together in any other country than the UK. They will argue that you have 4 possible options available to you, and only one of those involves you having to get a spousal visa for the UK. Plus, the fact that he has already lived with you for 2 years in the US will only suggest that it is not vital that you move to the UK to be with him and that if you want to be together, he can always go back to the US instead.

Who can I write in the UK about this? I'm fully prepared to make noise and lots of it.

You can make all the noise you want, but it won't make a difference. If you don't meet the visa requirements, you cannot qualify for the spousal visa to move to the UK. End of story.

The new laws have been put in place specifically for the purpose of limiting the number of people who can qualify for the spousal visa - so as horrible as the situation is for you, it's actually the whole point of the new rules.

I think this is ridiculous! The visa rules don't account for cheaper cost-of-living areas that don't pay as high of a wage (it's not needed). My husband works 11 hours a day, and more overtime on the weekends. He's busted his butt to get us to this point, and still doesn't earn a wage near what's mandated by these laws.

While it is cheaper to live in other areas of the country, £18,600 is the figure the government have decided on, and that's that (it's better than it could have been - they were originally talking about making it £25,700). It's not going to change any time soon, and there are no exceptions allowed, so unfortunately it's something that you're going to have to accept .

I think, if anything, this is discriminatory. It's as if only the wealthy are allowed to fall in love and be married.

Maybe so, but the government have had to restrict immigration to the UK - they have already tightened the rules for work visas and for student visas, and now they've moved on to spousal visas.

They cannot do anything about EEA/EU immigrants in the UK because they are legally allowed to move here if they want, so their only other option was to reduce the number of spouses and partners who could move here.

My husband called the immigrations office, and asked if it was against human rights...their first question was to ask if I was already there? He said, "No." They responded that it wasn't against human rights, then.

Would it be considered a human rights violation, if I were already there?

No, because there are 26 other EU countries that you could legally live together in and you could in theory move back to the US together (or immigrate to another non-EU country altogether). Or alternatively, you could see if you can qualify for a UK visa in your own right (work/student visa).

Human rights would only really come into play if you were in a refugee or asylum seeker situation and it was too dangerous for you to return to your home country (i.e. you feared for your life and there was a real possibility of you being shot or killed upon arrival), and the UK was literally the only country in the world that you could possibly live in together.

He earns about 1100 GBS per month or 13,200 GBS per year. That's the total with tons overtime. Without the O/T, he'd earn much less. But he works all the time he can get. So, he doesn't even have time to work a second job with all of the hours he puts in.

Is that before or after National Insurance and taxes have been taken out? They care about the income before taxes and National Insurance, so if his income for the year is above the minimum he'd be ok.

It sounds like he is barely making minimum wage if he is working "all the time" and only earning £13k.

Two questions:
A) Is this figure before or after tax?   He needs to make £18600 gross, which is £15180 after tax.
B) Is he definitely being paid at least the minimum wage, or less than what he is entitled to?

If he's working minimum wage for 38 hours a week (full time is a bit shorter here than the US) for 52 weeks a year, then you will have a gross salary of just over £12,231. 

If he's working minimum wage for 38 hours a week (full time is a bit shorter here than the US) for 52 weeks a year, then you will have a gross salary of just over £12,231. 

Yes, but the OP says he works considerable overtime and that his income is still only £13k.

Laura, I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet but there is one other option.

He could find work in another EU country and you could live there with him as his wife (without any visas).  Sometime later (some say at least six months but that's not set in stone) you could decide to move to the UK with him, without a visa, you'd simply apply for a EEA family permit, details here:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/eucitizens/eea-family-permit/

Obviously this may be hard if his mother needs medical care, but if it's simply just care she needs, she could maybe get it in the sun (Spain) for a few months whilst he works in a bar (for example) and you look after his mother.

That's tricky, because the moment her husband moves back to the UK he ceases to exercise the treaty rights under which the permit is granted as he's a citizen. That's why there's at least one member here debating giving up UK nationality in favor of an EU citizenship that would mean living in the UK would mean exercising treaty rights.

That's tricky, because the moment her husband moves back to the UK he ceases to exercise the treaty rights under which the permit is granted as he's a citizen. That's why there's at least one member here debating giving up UK nationality in favor of an EU citizenship that would mean living in the UK would mean exercising treaty rights.

That's not true..  If he's financially active elsewhere in the EU, he can exercise his treaty rights and his wife can join him if entering at the same time as him, no visa required.

More info here:

http://webdb.lse.ac.uk/gender/Casefinaldetail.asp?id=118&pageno=7

Except where Surinder Singh doesn't apply -- Ireland, for example.

Surinder Singh does apply to Ireland if the UK citizen actually lives in the republic, it only doesn't count if they are a dual citizen and have only ever lived in the UK.

That's tricky, because the moment her husband moves back to the UK he ceases to exercise the treaty rights under which the permit is granted as he's a citizen. That's why there's at least one member here debating giving up UK nationality in favor of an EU citizenship that would mean living in the UK would mean exercising treaty rights.

As others have said, this only applies to dual Irish/UK citizens who were born and raised in the UK and have never lived in Ireland or any other EU country....they cannot be said to be exercising treaty rights in the UK as they have been living and working in the UK based on their UK citizenship.

Surinder Singh is a concession for people who only hold UK citizenship and who have been living and working in another EU country with their non-EEA spouse for at least 6 months before moving back to the UK.

From the UKBA website:

Family Members of a British national (Surinder Singh)

The ECJ case of SURINDER SINGH ruled that where a national of a Member State goes with his/her non-EEA national spouse to another Member State to exercise an economic Treaty right, on return to his/her own Member State the non-EEA national spouse is entitled to join the EEA national under EC law.

Under regulation 9 of the 2006 Regulations, the family members of a British national returning to the UK will be treated as if they were the family members of an EEA national under the following conditions:

• After leaving the United Kingdom, the British national resided in an EEA state and
-  Was employed there (other than on a transient or casual basis); or
- Established him/herself there as a self-employed person; and

• If the family member is his/her spouse, the marriage took place, and the parties lived together in an EEA state, before the British national returned to the United Kingdom.

See section 3.2 of this chapter for information on issuing a residence card in SURINDER SINGH cases.
See Chapter 3 for more information on evidence required by Entry Clearance Officers in order to issue an EEA family permit in these circumstances.