Marriage Visa Dilemma

I posted before but found out additional information.

I came to the UK from NY on a 6 month fiance visiting visa which expires on April 24th. My husband is a UK citizen and receives Income-related ESA and therefore does not meet the income requirements. However, he could apply for carer's allowance which would exempt him from said income requirements. The carer's allowance website states that there are currently delays with applications, which is also going to be a problem.

We are very much pressed for time due my pregnancy advancing. I'm currently 15 1/2 weeks and won't be able to travel back and forth starting about June.

My husband can't leave the country for so long and has to be here on April 28th for an appointment which can't be postponed or pushed back.

I can stay here until April 24th, but given the timescale the sooner I go the better. However, I won't be able to apply for a visa until my husband's application gets approved- assuming it does. And then once I apply for the marriage visa- I have to wait to see if that gets approved as well. If it doesn't, I guess I'll have to stay in NY, give birth without my husband and figure out the next steps then. (He has to stay in the UK; his medication will be too expensive anywhere else.)

I have a few questions about the situation. Hopefully someone will be able to help:

- Should I bother applying for the marriage visa or should I just go back to NY and try coming back 2 months later to visit my husband (and give birth here) without a visa for now?
- Will giving birth here make things easier in terms of getting a visa?
- What are the processing times for getting a marriage visa from NY?
Is there any way to expedite that process and what are the processing times for that?

How would you give birth in the UK on a visitor visa? Are you planning to pay for it all out of pocket?

And then you would fly back to the US with a newborn to apply for your visa? You cannot switch while in the UK on a visitor visa.

Giving birth in the UK would not make it easier at all to get a visa. If anything, the IO might not let you in if he or she thought you planned to give birth in the UK and simply remain there.

Hi

Sorry to hear of the problems you're encountering due to the new rules!

I assume you're in the UK on a visit (marriage) visa? If so, you cannot apply to extend that in the UK even if you met the financial requirement.

You would have to leave and apply to re-enter.

If you're here as a fiancee then things are different but reading your other posts it seems it's a visit (marriage) visa.

Processing times in NY can vary but there is a priority service which is usually much quicker.

Having a child born in the UK where one parent is British will mean that the child is automatically British and can improve your immigration position. However, if you don't meet the requirements of the Rules then it is a human rights application which has become even more complicated since the new rules came into force.

If a child is born outside the UK to a British parent then they can apply to register as British.


To clarify, is your husband applying for Carer's Allowance (because he is caring for someone) or Disability Living Allowance (because he has a disability himself)? It doesn't make a great deal of difference but DLA is more than CA.

Just want to say good luck.  Someone will be along with a more complete answer too but I'd say the only real way would be to return to the US with a view to getting a spousal VISA ASAP.

I doubt they'll give you a visit visa when heavily pregnant (you did get married?)

- Should I bother applying for the marriage visa or should I just go back to NY and try coming back 2 months later to visit my husband (and give birth here) without a visa for now?

Well, you will need to go back to NY anyway, as you can't apply for a spousal visa from inside the UK... you must apply for it in the US.

If you meet the requirements for the spousal visa (a 'marriage visa' is a fiance visa), then it would probably be best for you to apply for it.

It's going to be risky to try to visit again so soon after visiting the UK already this year... especially as you are married to a UK citizen. Also, you are not supposed to spend more than 6 months out of any 12-month period as a visitor in the UK, so you shouldn't attempt to come back to the UK as a visitor until November 2013.

- Will giving birth here make things easier in terms of getting a visa?

As a visitor, you are not eligible for any free NHS treatment (except emergency ER treatment), so you will have to pay for all of your medical care and after-birth care yourself... which could be very expensive.

And if you don't pay for the treatment and you have any unpaid NHS bills of over £1,000, your visa will be refused.

- What are the processing times for getting a marriage visa from NY?

Currently about 4 weeks or so if you pay for priority processing, or about 6-8 weeks if you don't pay for the priority processing service

Is there any way to expedite that process and what are the processing times for that?

As I said just above, you can pay an extra $300 for settlement priority processing, which is supposed to get your visa processed within 15 working days.

It's taking a little bit longer than this at the moment (about 4 weeks or so) due to visa backlogs and the settlement visa applications now being transferred to Sheffield for processing.

The Visa I have is called a fiance visitor visa which is basically a visitor's visa allowing you to legally get married in the UK. I've since heard that you can get married here legally on most visas, but I didn't know that before. I came here as a fiance, but we've gotten married since then.

My husband is applying for Carer's Allowance. He isn't eligible for DLA. To clarify, you are exempt from meeting the income requirements for the marriage visa if you are a legal carer of someone in the UK. The basis isn't how much money you get, but that the person you are caring for needs you to stay here. It doesn't make sense, I know; but it's actually a rule!

I know I have to go back to NY in order to apply for the visa, but I was wondering if maybe I shouldn't apply for a marriage visa and just get a ticket and come as a regular visitor, thinking that giving birth here will make it easier to get a visa. That option is out now.

I also didn't think of how I would pay for treatment if I came back as a visitor. That is a very good point!

I hope I clarified enough. Thanks so much for the help. Any additional advice/help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm familiar with the Rules. In fact, when it's based on Carer's Allowance (or DLA) it is based on the amount of income. CA provides exemption from the new rules but you have to show sufficient maintenance. For example, if the only income is CA, that won't be enough as it's only £58.45 per week.

That's strange. We were advised to get CA on that basis, but he gets more from ESA. This whole thing is confusing and complicated! So, just getting the Carer's Allowance does not exempt you from the income requirements?

Also, I did get care while I was here. We were advised to do that as well but at the time, I had no idea idea that I wasn't eligible for an NHS or Hospital number. Do you still owe them money if they issued you a number? I showed them my visiting visa and everything, so I didn't misinform them...

You still owe them money, but they might not have a way to bill you or collect the fees. It's tough because despite getting an NHS number, you are not eligible for free treatment on a visitor visa.

Also, I did get care while I was here. We were advised to do that as well but at the time, I had no idea idea that I wasn't eligible for an NHS or Hospital number. Do you still owe them money if they issued you a number? I showed them my visiting visa and everything, so I didn't misinform them...

It's up to the visitor, visa holder or resident to know if they'll need to pay for NHS treatment.  

On future applications, you'll be asked if you've used NHS and you'll have to answer honestly.  If you've gotten treatment and you didn't pay for it, you should pay for it now before it becomes an issue with future visas.

NHS staff don't need to know if someone is entitled to free NHS care.... that's not their job.  If someone needs care, they'll give it to them, but it is up to the patient to know what they're entitled to and pay for it correctly (if they're not covered).

That's strange. We were advised to get CA on that basis, but he gets more from ESA. This whole thing is confusing and complicated! So, just getting the Carer's Allowance does not exempt you from the income requirements?

Kind of? Receiving Carrer's Allowance means that you are exempt from the new income requirement of £18,600. You still have to be able to show that you meet the previous income requirements which were being able to pay for housing and council tax and have £112 left over each week. That amount goes up when you have the baby although I can't remember how much it increases.

That's strange. We were advised to get CA on that basis, but he gets more from ESA. This whole thing is confusing and complicated! So, just getting the Carer's Allowance does not exempt you from the income requirements?

As missjoules said above, what you would be exempt from is meeting the NEW income requirements that were introduced on July 9th 2012. However, there is still an income requirement for people on certain benefits, it's just not as strict as the new requirement.

- If you don't receive the certain benefits listed (i.e. DLA, Carer's Allowance etc), then you must meet the new income requirements - for which the sponsor must earn a minimum of £18,600 per year and they either have to have been earning that salary for a minimum of 6 months, or have recently started a job paying £18,600 AND have earned at least £18,600 in the last 12 months as well. The US citizen's income/future income will not count and only savings above £16,000 can count.

- If you do receive the certain benefits listed, then you must meet the old income requirements - for which you have to show that you can support yourselves without accessing UK public funds... so between you, you will have at least £111.45 left over each week after paying your UK rent and council tax, but before paying any other bills or expenses (this is what a UK couple on income support receives from the government each week and is considered the minimum you would need to live off). You can use both his income and your future UK income if you have a UK job offer, and you can use any savings you have.

Ksand, do you know how much more money they will need to show once the baby is born?

Ksand, do you know how much more money they will need to show once the baby is born?

Under the new requirements, nothing extra is needed as the baby will be a British citizen.

But if they are claiming as exempt from the requirements, it's currently an extra £64.99 per week on top of the £111.45.

These amounts will be increasing from April though, so assuming they are applying after April, they will need to show £112.55 per week for the couple, plus £65.62 per week for the child.

As missjoules said above, what you would be exempt from is meeting the NEW income requirements that were introduced on July 9th 2012. However, there is still an income requirement for people on certain benefits, it's just not as strict as the new requirement.

- If you don't receive the certain benefits listed (i.e. DLA, Carer's Allowance etc), then you must meet the new income requirements - for which the sponsor must earn a minimum of £18,600 per year and they either have to have been earning that salary for a minimum of 6 months, or have recently started a job paying £18,600 AND have earned at least £18,600 in the last 12 months as well. The US citizen's income/future income will not count and only savings above £16,000 can count.

- If you do receive the certain benefits listed, then you must meet the old income requirements - for which you have to show that you can support yourselves without accessing UK public funds... so between you, you will have at least £111.45 left over each week after paying your UK rent and council tax, but before paying any other bills or expenses (this is what a UK couple on income support receives from the government each week and is considered the minimum you would need to live off). You can use both his income and your future UK income if you have a UK job offer, and you can use any savings you have.

Does what he receives on ESA and housing benefits count towards the old income requirement? or are his ESA and housing benefits counted as "accessing UK public funds"?