New here! I have zero idea where to begin.

Hello!

I'm so glad I found this forum. I have no idea where to even start and I know I need to move forward but I don't know how.

My husband is a British Citizen living on a green card with me in the United States. We originally wanted to be in England but didn't meet the income requirements at the time. I'm pretty? sure we meet them now, but I don't know anything.

We have been married since 2015 (coming up on our 3rd anniversary) and have one child and in three weeks we will have another! Our ultimate goal is to move to the UK, and the only thing stopping us is affording the process and the plane tickets. I think.

I don't even know what visa to apply for. I would assume the spousal visa ILR ... is that even a thing.

Also, I know our children are citizens by descent but idk how to prove that. Do they just need a UK passport? They will both have US passports, so is it really as simple as sending off the US passports with the UK passport application? I believe I would be the only one to need a visa.

Another thing, how long does the process usually take? If we meet the income requirements, are there a lot of other hurdles that we will need to address living outside of the UK? More than likely we would live with his parents for a month or so while we get settled. We have played around with the idea of my husband going ahead to secure a job and housing, but I don't know if that would make a difference.

Honestly, I'm just so stressed and a little frazzled. The current US administration is volatile towards immigrants, and my husband's green card renewal is coming up in March 2019. I'm terrified that he will get denied for stupid reasons and that we will need to figure out a UK visa ASAP. I don't think we would make the jump between now and then, even if we could afford it. We still have a lease on a car and there would be four plane tickets to pay for as well as passports. It just doesn't feel like enough time, but again, I can't figure out much about the process.

Any information would be so helpful. Thank you in advance. This is too stressful for a pregnant woman lol.

**edited to add that I have a master's degree from Columbia University in Clinical Psychology. Does this help my chances at all of securing a visa? **

- Kira

Welcome! 

The UK visa process in itself is very expensive. Over the next 5 years you would want to budget in the neighbourhood of £10,000-12,000.

If your children are British then it would just be you applying for a visa and the spouse visa would be the one you need. (ILR doesn't happen for 5 years)

You have to meet the financial, relationship and accommodation requirements. Staying with family is allowed but your husband must meet the financial requirement by himself if you are relying on employment income. He would also need a job offer starting within 3 months of your move (combined with earning over the threshold already in the US) or he would need to work 6 months in the UK before you can apply.

You would need to obtain passports for your children before you apply.

So they wouldn't count my income at all? Ugh. That might pose a problem.

What are relationship and accommodation requirements?

Welcome to the forum, Kira .

I don't even know what visa to apply for. I would assume the spousal visa ILR ... is that even a thing.

A spousal visa and ILR are actually two different visas.

ILR is permanent residence in the U.K. and you must spend 5 years living in the U.K. on spousal visas before you can qualify for it.

So your visa path would be:
- 2.5-year spousal visa applied for in the US
- 2.5-year FLR(M) extension visa applied for in the U.K.
- ILR applied for after 5 years in the U.K. on the spousal visa and FLR(M)
- UK citizenship after you have ILR.

Currently, you’re looking at the entire process from spousal visa to citizenship costing you about £10,000-12,000 in total over the 5 years... at approximately £3,000-3,500 per visa.

Also, I know our children are citizens by descent but idk how to prove that. Do they just need a UK passport? They will both have US passports, so is it really as simple as sending off the US passports with the UK passport application? I believe I would be the only one to need a visa.

Yes, that’s correct. You will need a visa, while you just apply for the childrens’ UK Passports in the US.

Another thing, how long does the process usually take? If we meet the income requirements, are there a lot of other hurdles that we will need to address living outside of the UK?

The process from submitting the application to getting the visa usually takes about 2-3 months depending on how busy they are. You can pay an extra £573 for priority processing to get your application picked up a bit faster... current priority timings are about 25-30 working days. Non-priority are more like 3-4 months or so.

There are 3 main requirements you must meet:
1. The financial requirement, usually either met by:
- having £62,500 or more in cash savings
Or
- your husband having secured a guaranteed job offer in the UK, paying at least £18,600 and starting within 3 months AND he has earned at least £18,600 in the US in the last 12 months
Or
- your husband moves to the U.K. ahead of you, secures a job paying at least £18,600 and works for up to 6 months before you can apply for the visa

2. Accommodation requirement:
- you have somewhere suitable to live in the UK. If this will be with his parents, you will need to supply their Land Registry document and a letter from them giving you permission to live there and stating the home will not be overcrowded

3. Relationship evidence:
- marriage certificate
- couple of photos of you and your husband
- evidence of living together in the US for the last 3 years
- any evidence of communication while apart

edited to add that I have a master's degree from Columbia University in Clinical Psychology. Does this help my chances at all of securing a visa? **

No, it doesn’t. They aren’t allowed to consider your income or career prospects for the visa. It’s all on your British spouse to prove he can support you using his U.K. income.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This was very helpful thank you.

I didn't realize that my husband would have to meet the income requirements by himself. That puts us a couple thousand short per year

I think that would be our only real problem, we could manage everything else in the time span of five or so years. Guess he better get to job searching. The job market in our area is just absolute poop. It's so hard to find good work that pays well, and we do fine on both our income.

Our only route might be for him to go ahead for six months but that would leave me in the US with two young kids. Not ideal. Who knew international marriages were such a mess.

With Brexit looming you’ll likely find the U.K. is more hostile towards immigrants than the USA.  And I fear our economy could be in for a huge hit.  Hopefully you’ve been following the Brexit talks.  I’d wait to see how the dust settles here before moving - just my 2p.

Keep in mind if your husband moves ahead for six months, it’s six months of paperwork you need.  So the reality is by the time he secures a job, gets six full months of paperwork, and then you have the processing times, it’ll be a minimum of 9 months apart and likely closer to a year.

It sucks!

Yes, we are definitely curious how Brexit is going to impact things. Guess we better reconcile ourselves to a longer stay in the US than we imagined. I don't want to spend that kind of time apart. He would miss his kids too much.

Do you and your husband have any significant savings?

Or any property you have owned for at least 6 months that you might consider selling, which could give you the cash savings?

What about money in a 401K that you can either access immediately or cash out?

All of those can be used to meet the savings requirement of £62,500.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you and your husband have any significant savings?

Or any property you have owned for at least 6 months that you might consider selling, which could give you the cash savings?

What about money in a 401K that you can either access immediately or cash out?

All of those can be used to meet the savings requirement of £62,500.

You are also permitted to accept gifts of money towards the savings requirement but they must be genuine gifts with no intent to repay.

Nope I'm just a broke millennial with student loans lol. I wish. We purposefully haven't bought property to save money for moving to England. We'd have to hit the lottery to get that kind of savings. I'm just sad. This will break his heart. My husband loves his family and will stay in the US as long as he needs to but he misses the UK and his family. More than likely he will start the job search to work at higher pay for a year. And then we will revisit it.

Or I could start a gofundme but I doubt we would get 60,000 lol

Hi, welcome to UKY!

I'm pretty? sure we meet them now, but I don't know anything.

As your husband has been living with you in the US, if you wanted to rely on income, he would need to show:

- he made the income requirement in the US for the past year; AND
- he has a job confirmed in the UK to start within 3 months of moving over that also meets the income requirement

Or, if you have £62,500 savings held for 6 months he wouldn't need confirmed UK employment.  Are you selling a property?  If so, you can use £62,500 from that sale, and it doesn't have to be held in a bank account for 6 months.

Otherwise, he may have to return to the UK before you to secure a job so you could apply for the visa.  This would unfortunately mean though that you would have a lengthy separation, which probably isn't ideal.

...and in three weeks we will have another!

Congratulations!

I don't even know what visa to apply for. I would assume the spousal visa ILR ... is that even a thing.

ILR - indefinite leave to remain, essentially permanent residency.  You can apply for this after being resident in the UK with your spouse for 5 consecutive years.

The path is:

Spouse visa for 2.5 years.
Further leave to remain for 2.5 years.
Infinite leave to remain
UK citizenship

Overall, we recommend to budget at least £10-12k for the multiple visa fees over 5 years.  It's ridiculously expensive.

Also, I know our children are citizens by descent but idk how to prove that. Do they just need a UK passport? They will both have US passports, so is it really as simple as sending off the US passports with the UK passport application? I believe I would be the only one to need a visa.

Yes, assuming your husband is British otherwise than by descent, your children together are British by descent. 

In this case, you would be the only one to need a visa, and the income requirement would be one applicant and no dependents.

Another thing, how long does the process usually take?

Once you submit the application, I would allow a a few months for it to be processed if you purchase optional priority processing, which puts your application at the front of the queue.  Without priority processing, plan on double the time.  Summer is usually the slowest time for processing, so if you can, I would avoid that period to submit an application. 

If we meet the income requirements, are there a lot of other hurdles that we will need to address living outside of the UK?

Credit will likely be problematic if he's been away for a while.  And as a newly arrived expat, you will have to build up your credit score from scratch.  Getting a job might be difficult, as previous UK job experience is important for employers nowadays.  If he doesn't have established previous UK work experience, he might find it changing to find a UK job, even as a UK citizen.  I can't speak personally on this, but look into potential differences in schooling; being able to transition your child from the US to UK system.

More than likely we would live with his parents for a month or so while we get settled. We have played around with the idea of my husband going ahead to secure a job and housing, but I don't know if that would make a difference.

Living with parents is absolutely fine.  There isn't a requirement to have your own place.

He may need to go ahead to secure a job to meet the income requirement, but that depends on if you can meet the requirement another way (e.g. savings).

The current US administration is volatile towards immigrants

Unfortunately, I don't think you'll find the UK is any better.    The UK is quite anti-immigration, and has been for some while.

**edited to add that I have a master's degree from Columbia University in Clinical Psychology. Does this help my chances at all of securing a visa? **

In regards to a spouse visa, no.  With few exceptions, like holding significant savings, only the UK sponsor's finances can be considered.  The applicant's potential earning can't be taken into account. 

If you were looking to use your skills and career, you would need to look into a work visa for yourself.

It is a lot of info, but breathe and take your time. 

ETA - totally beaten by speedier typists!

More than likely he will start the job search to work at higher pay for a year. And then we will revisit it.

It doesn’t have to be for a year.

His options would be:

1.
- is employed in the US on the date you apply for the visa
AND
- has been earning a salary of at least £18,600 in the US for a minimum of 6 months
AND
- has a U.K. job offer paying at least £18,600 and starting within 3 months

2.
- is not employed in the US on the date you apply for the visa, or has not been earning a salary of £18,600 for 6 months yet
AND
- has earned a total of £18,600 before tax in the last 12 months, from any and all jobs (it can have been earned in any of the 12 months)
AND
- has a U.K. job offer paying at least £18,600 and starting within 3 months

3.
- he is working in the U.K. and has been with his employer for at least 6 months and earning at least £18,600 for all that time

4.
- he is working in the U.K., earning a salary of £18,600, but has been with his employer for less than 6 months
AND
- he has earned a total of £18,600 before tax in the last 12 months, from both U.K. and US jobs combined

So, depending on how much he has been earning in the US and how much a new job pays, he may only need to wait a couple/few months to be able to show £18,600 earned in the last 12 months. I.e. say he earns £17,000 a year, he would only need to make another £1,600 extra to meet the last 12 months of income requirement.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OH I see. That is very helpful thankyou.

I would never have known this information. I've tried sifting through the UK gov websites and it's so confusing. So as long as we explore some better paying options sooner than later, it might not take as long.

I'm definitely glad we have this information now rather than later.

And I'm over here thinking the green card process is complicated. My goodness.

OH I see. That is very helpful thankyou.

I would never have known this information. I've tried sifting through the UK gov websites and it's so confusing. So as long as we explore some better paying options sooner than later, it might not take as long.

I'm definitely glad we have this information now rather than later.

And I'm over here thinking the green card process is complicated. My goodness.

It’s MUCH easier to get a green card. 

Another thing to consider is if he should get US citizenship before you move to the UK.  Something to think about.

It’s MUCH easier to get a green card. 

Another thing to consider is if he should get US citizenship before you move to the UK.  Something to think about.

He would rather not attempt US citizenship lol so that's not something we need to worry about. Once we immigrate to England we plan on staying.