Spousal Visa App: Sponsor's (Husband's) UK Passport Expired. Use US Passport?

Greetings,

My husband was just offered a job in the UK and I am in the process of applying for a spousal visa online from the US. (We've been living in the US together for over a decade). My husband is a UK citizen, as well as a recent US citizen. I am a US citizen.

I don't mean to take advantage of the forum by joining and immediately asking for info, however if anyone has the time to reply I'd be very grateful. I have searched online and the forum for the answers to my 2 questions, but I'm still not certain I have the correct info.

1. Is it possible to travel to the UK on a 6 mos visitor visa and apply for a spousal visa from the UK? I believe the answer is no, that I must apply from the US, however my husband finds this hard to believe. 

2. I am in the process of filling out the spousal visa application online, and in the 'Sponsor' section, it asks for my husband's passport number. The problem is my husband's UK passport expired last month, so I am unable to enter past dates (the online form prevents me from doing so). My husband does have a US passport that is current, however can we enter his US passport info if we are claiming he is a British citizen? In other words, since he is my sponsor/husband, if I enter a US passport, will that seem confusing/contradictory or raise a red flag or cause the application to be denied, or should we enter his US passport?

We just now applied to renew my husband's British passport, however they are asking him to send in his US passport as well and he will need that to travel in a couple weeks. He is planning to fly to the UK first and get our housing and so forth arranged. The position starts early September, so waiting for the UK passport to arrive before travelling to the UK isn't really an option.

Thank you in advance to anyone who has the time to answer either/both of these questions. The assistance is much appreciated.

Welcome to the forum .

1) No, it's not possible to do that... you cannot switch from a visitor visa to any other kind of visa from inside the UK. You must apply for and receive the visa before you travel to the UK.

2) No, he must have a valid passport and you must enter his UK passport details on the application. His UK passport is your evidence that he is a British citizen and is therefore eligible to be your sponsor. You must also send a copy of his current, valid UK passport photo page as evidence of his UK citizenship for the visa.

Your husband will need a valid UK passport to fly to the UK anyway, otherwise he will only be stamped in as a US citizen visitor and will not be allowed to rent housing or anything (it's illegal for a landlord to rent to a visitor in the UK and they are legally required to see his UK passport before they can rent to him)..

So, the order you MUST do things is:

- apply for his new UK passport, sending off the US passport
- wait for his new UK passport to be received
- get a copy of the photo page (preferably certified) for your visa evidence
- he flies to the UK to sort out accommodation etc. using his UK passport
- he returns to the US with the accommodation evidence, or sends you the accommodation evidence from the UK
- when you have all your evidence sorted (his UK passport copy, your accommodation evidence, your financial requirement evidence, your relationship evidence), you can apply for your spousal visa in the US.


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Have you figured out which financial category you will apply under?

Thank you for the welcome and the detailed reply, ksand24! 

I thought I read somewhere a while back that if a person is a United States citizen s/he must fly out of the U.S. on his/her U.S. Passport. I believe I read that online once when reading up on pros/cons of getting U.S. citizenship if you're a UK citizen with permanent residency status. We have a child who has both a US and a UK passport, so when we fly out of the U.S. do we use his U.S. passport, but show UK passport upon arriving in the UK? Or do we fly out of the U.S. on the UK passport?

My husband does have his UK passport that expired last month, his NHS card/number, a UK bank account, etc. so would he actually need to 'prove' he's a UK citizen to anyone in the UK using his passport?(I can hear him now when I tell him! "But I'm a UK citizen, I was born there!) But of course for the purposes of the UK spousal visa application that makes perfect sense that he needs a valid UK passport, which is why I mentioned to him well over a month ago that he should renew the passport.   

I think my son and I will have to stay in the US a bit longer then. My husband needs to fly to the UK to start the job in a month, so will have to fly over and fly back I guess. He only started the UK passport renewal last night, so he might need to apply once he's in the UK since he'll need his U.S. passport, unless he can expedite the renewal from the U.S.

Thank you very much for your time and expertise, ksand24. It's much appreciated!

Welcome to the forum .

1) No, it's not possible to do that... you cannot switch from a visitor visa to any other kind of visa from inside the UK. You must apply for and receive the visa before you travel to the UK.

2) No, he must have a valid passport and you must enter his UK passport details on the application. His UK passport is your evidence that he is a British citizen and is therefore eligible to be your sponsor. You must also send a copy of his current, valid UK passport photo page as evidence of his UK citizenship for the visa.

Your husband will need a valid UK passport to fly to the UK anyway, otherwise he will only be stamped in as a US citizen visitor and will not be allowed to rent housing or anything (it's illegal for a landlord to rent to a visitor in the UK and they are legally required to see his UK passport before they can rent to him)..

So, the order you MUST do things is:

- apply for his new UK passport, sending off the US passport
- wait for his new UK passport to be received
- get a copy of the photo page (preferably certified) for your visa evidence
- he flies to the UK to sort out accommodation etc. using his UK passport
- he returns to the US with the accommodation evidence, or sends you the accommodation evidence from the UK
- when you have all your evidence sorted (his UK passport copy, your accommodation evidence, your financial requirement evidence, your relationship evidence), you can apply for your spousal visa in the US.


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As a USC you have to enter and leave the US on a US passport.

As a dual it looks like this.

Leave US-- US passport
Enter UK --UK passport
Leave UK--US passport
Enter US--US passport.

Thank you for the reply KFdancer. 

We don't have over 64k GBP in savings, so we will apply just using my husband's salary that exceeds the minimum requirement, which I believe is just under 19k GBP.

Have you figured out which financial category you will apply under?

Thank you for the reply KFdancer. 

We don't have over 64k GBP in savings, so we will apply just using my husband's salary that exceeds the minimum requirement, which I believe is just under 19k GBP.

Has he also earned at least £18,600 in the US in the last 12 months?

I think my son and I will have to stay in the US a bit longer then. My husband needs to fly to the UK to start the job in a month, so will have to fly over and fly back I guess. He only started the UK passport renewal last night, so he might need to apply once he's in the UK since he'll need his U.S. passport, unless he can expedite the renewal from the U.S.

You need to apply for the visa from the US and remain there until it is granted. Your husband doesn't need to fly back if he doesn't want to, you can fly to join him in the UK. He just needs to be already there or traveling with you. 

Thank you, larabee. Yes, I thought I had read that somewhere.

So I guess that makes filling out the UK spousal visa application online from the US a bit confusing then because it's asking if my spouse/sponsor will be travelling with me and what is his passport number on his travel documents. If a person is a dual US/UK citizen and must leave US on US passport, the travel document he must use is the US passport. I didn't finish the spousal application (I saved and exited the application), so maybe later on in the application it will ask for evidence that my husband is a UK citizen?

But it does make perfect sense that a valid UK British passport is required of the sponsor, though I wonder what happens if the sponsor is in the UK and doesn't have a British passport? Must all UK sponsors have a British passport?

Well, it sounds like there's no way around getting my husband's UK passport renewed before I can join him in the UK. sigh.

As a USC you have to enter and leave the US on a US passport.

As a dual it looks like this.

Leave US-- US passport
Enter UK --UK passport
Leave UK--US passport
Enter US--US passport.

If he just need to travel urgently to start work, he could get an emergency travel document sooner than the stated 4 week timeline for a normal out of country renewal.

https://www.gov.uk/emergency-travel-document

At least that gets him back to the UK so he can start work. He'd still want to get the UK passport renewed properly before you submit your application. But it would save flying back and forth and what not, plus it would enable him to prove to HR at his new job that he can legally work in the UK.

Yes, he has. I believe we will need to show proof of that? I was planning on using his bank statements that show the automatic deposits of salary and/or a tax forms or pay stub. Since the salary was always auto deposit not sure if we have an actual pay stub though. But I think we can maybe print something out. Thank you!

Has he also earned at least £18,600 in the US in the last 12 months?

Thank you, larabee. Yes, I thought I had read that somewhere.

So I guess that makes filling out the UK spousal visa application online from the US a bit confusing then because it's asking if my spouse/sponsor will be travelling with me and what is his passport number on his travel documents. If a person is a dual US/UK citizen and must leave US on US passport, the travel document he must use is the US passport. I didn't finish the spousal application (I saved and exited the application), so maybe later on in the application it will ask for evidence that my husband is a UK citizen?

But it does make perfect sense that a valid UK British passport is required of the sponsor, though I wonder what happens if the sponsor is in the UK and doesn't have a British passport? Must all UK sponsors have a British passport?

Well, it sounds like there's no way around getting my husband's UK passport renewed before I can join him in the UK. sigh.

They have to provide documentation proving they are a UKC if they don't have a passport.  Which I've never heard of.  Probably because those who are in international relationships have a passport to travel.   

Yes, he has. I believe we will need to show proof of that? I was planning on using his bank statements that show the automatic deposits of salary and/or a tax forms or pay stub. Since the salary was always auto deposit not sure if we have an actual pay stub though. But I think we can maybe print something out. Thank you!

He will need to print out the last 12 months of payslips and get a letter from his employer stating they are true and correct copies.  Become friendly with this list.  It states what must be included and the format they will accept: 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-fm-se-family-members-specified-evidence

Thank you, larabee. Yes, I thought I had read that somewhere.

So I guess that makes filling out the UK spousal visa application online from the US a bit confusing then because it's asking if my spouse/sponsor will be travelling with me and what is his passport number on his travel documents. If a person is a dual US/UK citizen and must leave US on US passport, the travel document he must use is the US passport. I didn't finish the spousal application (I saved and exited the application), so maybe later on in the application it will ask for evidence that my husband is a UK citizen?

But it does make perfect sense that a valid UK British passport is required of the sponsor, though I wonder what happens if the sponsor is in the UK and doesn't have a British passport? Must all UK sponsors have a British passport?

Well, it sounds like there's no way around getting my husband's UK passport renewed before I can join him in the UK. sigh.

Warning, it's fine to practice filling out the online application and save it as you go but DO NOT submit it until you are completely ready with all your documents in hand.

My husband does have his UK passport that expired last month, his NHS card/number, a UK bank account, etc. so would he actually need to 'prove' he's a UK citizen to anyone in the UK using his passport?(I can hear him now when I tell him! "But I'm a UK citizen, I was born there!) But of course for the purposes of the UK spousal visa application that makes perfect sense that he needs a valid UK passport, which is why I mentioned to him well over a month ago that he should renew the passport.   

He needs to have a new, valid passport to enter the UK.

Otherwise he will only be allowed in for 6 months on a visitor visa as a US citizen and will not allowed to:
- work (the employer will need either a copy of his valid passport or a valid visa to work in the UK)
- rent accommodation (the landlord will need to check he either has a UK passport or a valid UK visa to live in the UK)
- use the NHS (they will need to check he is either a UK citizen or has a valid visa and has paid the NHS surcharge of £200 per year)

You don't have to be a UK citizen to have an NHS number or a bank account...  you will get both of those once you have a visa... so it doesn't prove anything in regards to citizenship.

It's not an issue for your husband to enter on a US passport if he was just coming to the UK for a vacation, but he MUST have it before he moves back in order to re-establish a life in the U.K.


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