Alabamian moving to Cambridge

Hello, all!  I am an Alabamian (currently living in Atlanta) who is going to be applying for a fiancee visa in the next couple of months to (hopefully, fingers crossed) join my love in Cambridge.  I was in the UK for 6 months last year and absolutely loved it, but I am slightly worried about not having any fellow Americans to talk to/hang out with over the long term.  So if any of you are in or around the Cambridge area and would like to meet up for a drink or something after I arrive, give me a shout!

(BTW, this is probably a stupid question, but how do you change your profile pic??  I've been trying to figure it out for the last 5 minutes but have not been successful  )

EDIT:  I have just figured it out!  I swear the option to change my avatar was not there before haha

Hello, all!  I am an Alabamian (currently living in Atlanta) who is going to be applying for a fiancee visa in the next couple of months to (hopefully, fingers crossed) join my love in Cambridge.  I was in the UK for 6 months last year and absolutely loved it, but I am slightly worried about not having any fellow Americans to talk to/hang out with over the long term.  So if any of you are in or around the Cambridge area and would like to meet up for a drink or something after I arrive, give me a shout!

(BTW, this is probably a stupid question, but how do you change your profile pic??  I've been trying to figure it out for the last 5 minutes but have not been successful  )

EDIT:  I have just figured it out!  I swear the option to change my avatar was not there before haha

Welcome to the forum! 

Are you absolutely sold on having your wedding in the UK? It's a ton of hassle, more expensive and there is another whole visa application involved.
We always try to persuade everyone to change their plans and marry in the US instead!

Thanks!  And yes, we're pretty set on this route despite the additional hoops we have to jump through.  We are both gluttons for punishment I suppose 
A bit further down the line it would be awesome to maybe renew our vows stateside though.  But I guess we'll just take things one ceremony at a time.

Welcome!
The good news is that Lynryd Skynrd are playing London over the summer.  So is ZZ Top.

Welcome to the forum! 

Are you absolutely sold on having your wedding in the UK? It's a ton of hassle, more expensive and there is another whole visa application involved.
We always try to persuade everyone to change their plans and marry in the US instead!

We changed our plans, got married in the USA and saved a mint and a load of hassle thanks to the advice here. Been here in the UK for almost 2 years now and I’m sooooo glad we made the decision to marry in Denver.


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Thanks!  And yes, we're pretty set on this route despite the additional hoops we have to jump through.  We are both gluttons for punishment I suppose 
A bit further down the line it would be awesome to maybe renew our vows stateside though.  But I guess we'll just take things one ceremony at a time.

You could have courthouse wedding in the US, then have your "real" wedding in the UK but it would actually be a blessing. Your guests wouldn't even need to know.
We've a few members who have done it that way. 

We will do our best to talk you out of marrying in the UK.   

You will save a couple of thousand pounds, be able to use the NHS without paying, work, and volunteer as a spouse.  None of that while a fiancé.

Plus there is so much unknown.  You can’t have a firm date until the visa is issued, then you are the mercy of notice periods with your local area, THEN you can know what date is available.  The romance is sucked right out of it.

And on the “don’t want to think about” side, we had a member who we were unsuccessful in talking out of the fiancé visa unexpectedly lose her mother this past weekend.  Due to her visa application to change to a spouse visa inside the UK, she is unable to travel back home.   

But we will support you if it’s what you want to do.   . Welcome!

Hello, all!  I am an Alabamian (currently living in Atlanta) who is going to be applying for a fiancee visa in the next couple of months to (hopefully, fingers crossed) join my love in Cambridge.  I was in the UK for 6 months last year and absolutely loved it, but I am slightly worried about not having any fellow Americans to talk to/hang out with over the long term.  So if any of you are in or around the Cambridge area and would like to meet up for a drink or something after I arrive, give me a shout!

(BTW, this is probably a stupid question, but how do you change your profile pic??  I've been trying to figure it out for the last 5 minutes but have not been successful  )

EDIT:  I have just figured it out!  I swear the option to change my avatar was not there before haha

Welcome.. back in 88/89 I lived in Kennesaw for a while.. absolutely loved it there, so beautiful..
Best of luck

We will do our best to talk you out of marrying in the UK.   

You will save a couple of thousand pounds, be able to use the NHS without paying, work, and volunteer as a spouse.  None of that while a fiancé.

Plus there is so much unknown.  You can’t have a firm date until the visa is issued, then you are the mercy of notice periods with your local area, THEN you can know what date is available.  The romance is sucked right out of it.

And on the “don’t want to think about” side, we had a member who we were unsuccessful in talking out of the fiancé visa unexpectedly lose her mother this past weekend.  Due to her visa application to change to a spouse visa inside the UK, she is unable to travel back home.   

But we will support you if it’s what you want to do.   . Welcome!

Thanks, all!  One of the reasons we decided to go this route despite the additional cost and extra hassle is that I really don't want to spend our honeymoon period apart while we are waiting on the spouse visa to process.  I know it's kind of silly and time apart is time apart whether we are engaged or married, but something about it just breaks my heart. 

So terrible about her situation with her mother though!  Bless her.  That would be beyond difficult.  We're just going to hope the process goes as smoothly as can be expected and to try to be as adaptable as possible.

Welcome!
The good news is that Lynryd Skynrd are playing London over the summer.  So is ZZ Top.

Might have to force my partner to go along with me 

Welcome to the site all the best with your wedding plans

I went the fiancee > FLR(M)1 > FLR(M)2 > ILR route, and I hated the extra cost, the extra time I had to wait before qualifying for ILR, and the fact that I had to immediately apply for my second visa in my honeymoon period.  We got married on June 4th, and I was applying for a visa to beg to be allowed to stay in the country with my new husband the very next day.  Very stressful.  Not so much magical.

I get what you're hoping for.  I'm just wondering if you couldn't just go "file some paperwork at the courthouse" as part of your first application, instead of thinking of it as getting married.  Then you can plan your magical UK ceremony and have a honeymoon period that you can enjoy without having to worry about whether you have enough correspondence in both names, and payslips and bank statements, and, and...

Anyway.  I had real barriers to doing the US courthouse thing, so if that's more than just a personal preference for you, I get it.  But if you have a choice, I strongly urge you to do yourself a favour.   Because a magical UK wedfing followed immediately by a visa application won't be the honeymoon you're hoping for.

Meanwhile, welcome to the forum!  I promise I'm not as curt as this post sounds!

Oohhh another one of me?! I'm from Alabama (Walker County specifically please don't judge  )

I don't live near Cambridge but just wanted to pop in and say hi and good luck on everything!

I went the fiancee > FLR(M)1 > FLR(M)2 > ILR route, and I hated the extra cost, the extra time I had to wait before qualifying for ILR, and the fact that I had to immediately apply for my second visa in my honeymoon period.  We got married on June 4th, and I was applying for a visa to beg to be allowed to stay in the country with my new husband the very next day.  Very stressful.  Not so much magical.

I get what you're hoping for.  I'm just wondering if you couldn't just go "file some paperwork at the courthouse" as part of your first application, instead of thinking of it as getting married.  Then you can plan your magical UK ceremony and have a honeymoon period that you can enjoy without having to worry about whether you have enough correspondence in both names, and payslips and bank statements, and, and...

Anyway.  I had real barriers to doing the US courthouse thing, so if that's more than just a personal preference for you, I get it.  But if you have a choice, I strongly urge you to do yourself a favour.   Because a magical UK wedfing followed immediately by a visa application won't be the honeymoon you're hoping for.

Meanwhile, welcome to the forum!  I promise I'm not as curt as this post sounds!

Thank you for the welcome and your experience with the fiancée visa!  It’s definitely good to get as many different viewpoints from people who have been through the process.  I promise, I am actually taking in what you all are saying, and my partner and I have discussed all of the options available to us quite a lot.  For a few different reasons, we still think marrying in the UK is the right decision for us as a couple.  One reason is the timeline of things.  Due to my partner’s work, the earliest that we would be able to get married here in the US (even just a quickie courthouse wedding) would be late May.  We would then have to apply for the spouse visa and wait for that to process before I am finally able to go to the UK.  With the fiancée visa, we should be able to apply in early March.  Since we have already been apart for almost a year, any additional waiting time that we can shave off of things is a huge plus.  We would also avoid having to pay for a round-trip flight this way (although I do know that the overall cost of things with the fiancée visa will still be higher).  My partner will have 6 weeks off work during the summer, so we are going to have a private ceremony somewhere with just the two of us.  We will most likely opt for an elopement package with a hotel somewhere, and since we are quite flexible with the date and place, we’re hoping that we’ll find something good.  We’re really not all that fussed with having a big, expensive wedding or the “perfect day”; we just want something simple and low-key that will be special to us. 

I really do appreciate all of the advice here, and if circumstances were different, we might indeed get married here and skip this additional step.  But the way things are right now, I still think the fiancée visa route will be the right choice for us.  Hopefully this decision won't come back to haunt us, but we shall see!

Oohhh another one of me?! I'm from Alabama (Walker County specifically please don't judge  )

I don't live near Cambridge but just wanted to pop in and say hi and good luck on everything!

Thanks!  And yep, maybe this will become a trend.  The Alabama and England flags do like quite similar after all!