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Topic: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???  (Read 2380 times)

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Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« on: July 31, 2018, 05:28:51 PM »
I'm just trying to wrap my head around something. We are hoping to move back to the UK via the "Savings" route, and in order to meet the requirement we will have to sell our house. So I'll have to apply for my visa AFTER our house is sold, meaning we will be "homeless" Stateside while we are waiting for it to process which, apparently, can either be quick or take months??  ???

We have two kids in school and no family anywhere nearby. It sounds very stressful and scary. How have others managed this?
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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2018, 05:33:38 PM »
I'm just trying to wrap my head around something. We are hoping to move back to the UK via the "Savings" route, and in order to meet the requirement we will have to sell our house. So I'll have to apply for my visa AFTER our house is sold, meaning we will be "homeless" Stateside while we are waiting for it to process which, apparently, can either be quick or take months??  ???

We have two kids in school and no family anywhere nearby. It sounds very stressful and scary. How have others managed this?

I think your only options would be friends/family or temporary accommodation. Will you have a place to stay in the UK?


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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2018, 05:36:34 PM »
I think your only options would be friends/family or temporary accommodation. Will you have a place to stay in the UK?

Yes, we will stay with family in the UK temporarily until we buy a house. So we will have a place to stay over there.
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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2018, 05:46:16 PM »
I just worry about the gap in schooling. It's not like you can put your kids in a random school for a few weeks in a town in another state (where my family lives), can you?  :-[ 
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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2018, 05:48:36 PM »
I just worry about the gap in schooling. It's not like you can put your kids in a random school for a few weeks in a town in another state (where my family lives), can you?  :-[

I'm sorry, I know nothing about children but perhaps homeschool for a short while might be one solution?


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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2018, 07:06:27 PM »
A lot of people home school during the transition year, for those fortunate to only need one income to survive.

Most apartment complexes in the US will allow you to rent on a month to month basis, though often at a higher premium than a traditional lease.  This could allow you to keep your children at their current school.

Any chance you have the income requirement in a fully vested 401k?  That would enable you to not sell first.


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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #6 on: July 31, 2018, 10:32:17 PM »
Definitely something to look into. The problem is we have no way of knowing (obviously) how fast the house will sell or what the turnaround time is for the visa (even with priority) so it's almost impossible to plan ahead for this gap between houses.

Does whatever is in your 401K actually count toward the savings requirement? (Am I misreading?)
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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #7 on: July 31, 2018, 10:46:02 PM »
Definitely something to look into. The problem is we have no way of knowing (obviously) how fast the house will sell or what the turnaround time is for the visa (even with priority) so it's almost impossible to plan ahead for this gap between houses.

Does whatever is in your 401K actually count toward the savings requirement? (Am I misreading?)

If it is instantly accessible and meets the other criteria.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/636618/Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement_Final.pdf


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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #8 on: August 01, 2018, 09:50:12 AM »
Definitely something to look into. The problem is we have no way of knowing (obviously) how fast the house will sell or what the turnaround time is for the visa (even with priority) so it's almost impossible to plan ahead for this gap between houses.

Does whatever is in your 401K actually count toward the savings requirement? (Am I misreading?)

If it's fully vested and instantly accessible (you can withdraw at anytime even with a penalty), then yes. 

But the timing is always going to be impossible.  It just is.  UKVI doesn't commit to timelines and then you get a whole 30 days to enter the UK and collect your BRP (the visa).  So a lot of people have to fly over to collect that and then return to the USA to tie up loose ends.  Not to mention not everyone wants to sell their home until they know they have their visa!

I hate UKVI.


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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #9 on: August 01, 2018, 09:56:41 AM »
UKVI make it so difficult.

I think we have also seen a few cases where the British spouse returns to the UK with the children so they are able to get settled into schools (if the children are British and don't also need visas).

Planning temporary accommodation on a month to month lease is probably your safest plan. You may be able to find some in the same school district you're already in? It's not at all easy, but know you're not alone!

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk



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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #10 on: August 01, 2018, 12:02:20 PM »
If it's fully vested and instantly accessible (you can withdraw at anytime even with a penalty), then yes. 

But the timing is always going to be impossible.  It just is.  UKVI doesn't commit to timelines and then you get a whole 30 days to enter the UK and collect your BRP (the visa).  So a lot of people have to fly over to collect that and then return to the USA to tie up loose ends.  Not to mention not everyone wants to sell their home until they know they have their visa!

I hate UKVI.

Yeah, I already hate them and I haven't even dealt with them yet.   ::)  The 30 day thing is ridiculous too. You can't even buy your tickets ahead of time because you don't know the timeframe, yet they want your intended travel date?

Surely the fact we've been married well over a decade is proof in and of itself that we are "legit", but guess that's not good enough. We have to rip apart our entire settled lives first before we even know if they'll even approve my application.  ::)
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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #11 on: August 01, 2018, 12:06:47 PM »

Surely the fact we've been married well over a decade is proof in and of itself that we are "legit", but guess that's not good enough. We have to rip apart our entire settled lives first before we even know if they'll even approve my application.  ::)

Yup.  I would actually venture to say we see more refusals for couples that have been married for years than any other category.  As people think "We've been married for donkey's years, surely they don't need communication between us for the entire duration of our marriage."  It's all very odd.  And then they just want mail to prove your relationship.  LOL! 


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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #12 on: August 01, 2018, 12:12:25 PM »
UKVI make it so difficult.

I think we have also seen a few cases where the British spouse returns to the UK with the children so they are able to get settled into schools (if the children are British and don't also need visas).

Planning temporary accommodation on a month to month lease is probably your safest plan. You may be able to find some in the same school district you're already in? It's not at all easy, but know you're not alone!

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

My British spouse is willing to bring them over ahead of time, but we will start out living with his family briefly and not sure if the school in that neighborhood would have a "place" for our kids anyway. (We definitely don't want to stay there.) So it's the same problem, in a way.

Does "Priority" really speed things up significantly? How fast is the turnaround, generally? (I know it varies by time of year.) Even if they did go ahead of me, I wouldn't want to be away from them for too long. I can't imagine being thousands of miles away from my young kids and husband for weeks on end, or longer? I would be freaking out I would get denied, and what then? Terrifying.   ???
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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #13 on: August 01, 2018, 12:15:21 PM »
Yup.  I would actually venture to say we see more refusals for couples that have been married for years than any other category.  As people think "We've been married for donkey's years, surely they don't need communication between us for the entire duration of our marriage."  It's all very odd.  And then they just want mail to prove your relationship.  LOL!

Ack, really?!! Do you just mean long-term couples who don't give enough proof, or in general??  ???
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Re: Homeless while you're waiting on your visa???
« Reply #14 on: August 01, 2018, 12:18:45 PM »
My British spouse is willing to bring them over ahead of time, but we will start out living with his family briefly and not sure if the school in that neighborhood would have a "place" for our kids anyway. (We definitely don't want to stay there.) So it's the same problem, in a way.

Does "Priority" really speed things up significantly? How fast is the turnaround, generally? (I know it varies by time of year.) Even if they did go ahead of me, I wouldn't want to be away from them for too long. I can't imagine being thousands of miles away from my young kids and husband for weeks on end, or longer? I would be freaking out I would get denied, and what then? Terrifying.   ???
Priority has been about 30 working days this year, sometimes more or less.

The good news is that if you're using savings instead of a job offer you definitely don't need to be separated during the process even if it takes slightly longer. Do you know when you will be applying? I think some families intentionally do it in the spring to avoid the challenge of changing schools in the middle of the year, or as KFdancer mentioned they home school for the transition year.


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