Hiya Everyone,
My name's Rachel, and I'm a US citizen who happens to be engaged to an absolutely wonderful Englishman. While I've lurked about these forums for a while, seeking supplemental advice, I finally decided to take the plunge and become a poster. The following is my story, in a nutshell:
My fiance Ross and I first met in a chatroom on 8th December 2013. Amused by a public comment I made concerning his profile picture ("Look! It's an English toff!"), Ross decided to send me a private message. We conversed through the night, and resumed conversation the next day. Within a week, we were engaging in Skype chats on a near-daily basis. We confessed our love for one another in the early days of 2014, and I was given a standing invitation to visit Mr. Ross in his homeland, as I extended a similar offer to him.
In April 2014, I made my first visit to the UK. Ross and I spent 12 wonderful days together, and we ended the visit with no doubt concerning the validity of our love. We were aware that in order to share a future, as we were fairly certain we wished to do, sacrifices and compromises would have to be made. With my family's blessing, I withdrew from full-time employment to pursue this international courtship. I visited Ross for a second time for the month of September 2014. He visited me in November 2014, joining my family for an All-American Thanksgiving.
I visited his family in late December 2014 and early January 2015, enjoying British Christmas and New Year's festivities. After a visit from Ross for my birthday in late February/early March 2015, I visited him between late March and early May 2015.
In mid-July 2015 I returned for what was to be a three-week visit, but 4 days into my visit something amazing and wonderful transpired -- Ross proposed. Having decided in the past that if we chose to marry I would join him in the UK, we immediately began researching marriage options. We found out there was no way to convert my visitor's status into any other sort of visa status -- and furthermore, we discovered that Ross did not, at the time, earn enough to meet the financial requirement for sponsorship. Thus, after consulting with a solicitor to verify such things were alright, we decided I would visit for as long as the stamp in my passport would allow -- for 5 months and 30 days. I'd entered on 10th July 2015, and I left on 9th January 2016.
In February 2016, Ross was able to procure a position which paid enough for my eventual sponsorship. Sadly, it was a 6-month contract rather than a permanent position, so we knew he would have to procure another contract or find a permanent position at that contract's end, and that we would most likely have to wait a year before we could apply for a fiancee visa. Sure enough, after this contract ended, he was offered another contract, and then another, at the same employer.
Ross visited me in early-mid July 2016, and I flew back with him, visiting from mid-July through August 2016 (since enough time had elapsed since the 5 month, 30 day visit to allow me to visit once more). I visited again in late-November 2016 through early January 2017. Ross visited me from early through mid-January, and during that visit we hosted a "Pre-Wedding Reception" for all our friends and family members who would not be able to make it to the UK for our wedding.
In early February of this year, Ross was finally offered a permanent position with his employer of the past year, and decided to accept. Alas, it pays only 18,412 pounds per year for the first 6 months -- 188 pounds below the income requirement threshold for sponsorship. Thankfully, he was able to obtain a supplementary year-long contract paying an extra 975 pounds per year, pushing him over the threshold.
After gathering loads of evidence at the behest of our lawyers (despite advice offered on these forums, I felt we had to hire one due to a single dismissed/"CA Expunged", 6.5 year-old misdemeanor (non-custodial sentence) on my record as well as several minor traffic offences (the most recent of which was over 3.5 years ago)), we were told we'd built a rock-solid case and meet all the requirements to apply as of last week. Yesterday, our application packet was shipped off to Sheffield.
We chose to pursue priority service, as our wedding is set for August 19th of this year. Our family and friends on both continents, as well as our attorneys, seem to be of the opinion that our application will be successful. I do hope they are correct...
It probably won't come as much surprise that this situation has resulted in a great deal of stress for both myself and my dear Mr. Ross. I know that what's done is done -- our application has been sent in, and all we can do now is wait and keep our fingers crossed. However, it's common knowledge that interacting with a supportive community is helpful. Might anyone here care to share any words of wisdom or advice?
Thank you so much for reading,
Rachel Roth
