A daunted newbie in need of an action plan..!

First of all, hello to everyone in the forum, and many thanks in advance for taking the trouble to read this post. I know that most of you are knee-deep in the technicalities of the UK immigration process, so most of the acronym-heavy topics I've been reading seem like a foreign language to me at the moment; please bear with me until I get up to speed on the nomenclature!

I guess the best thing I can do is just describe our situation, and hopefully some of you will have some thoughts on where we should go from here. I am a 47-year-old Scottish man, and my fiancee (49) is a US citizen living in Kennewick, WA. We've been together since we met on an online dating site in September 2017 and got engaged on Christmas Eve while I was visiting her for the holidays. Over the last year or so, we've talked long and hard about one of us moving to the other's country to set up home together, and she has decided that moving to Scotland offers her the best prospects in terms of employment (she has two degrees in social work & a masters in counselling, and currently works as a childrens' counsellor with the Tri-Cities school district).

We have been looking into possible routes to a visa for her, and her current plan is to secure a job in social work over here first and apply for a Tier 2 work visa, although neither of us is entirely sure if this is feasible. We then plan to marry and set up home together after she moves over. We looked into the possibility of applying for a fiancee / spouse visa, but the big problem there is that my income is significantly less than the £18,600 minumim threshold (I am on ESA due to a chronic health condition, and only work 16 hours per week in a restaurant as per the DWP rules). That said, I do have several family members who earn well over that threshold and have offered to sponsor her, but we're not sure whether that's permitted by the Home Office.

Anyway, she has tentatively set herself a deadline of the end of this year to sell her house and make the move to Scotland, but we both appreciate that there are innumerable potential pitfalls and a mountain of bureaucracy to negociate, and this could impact her planned timetable significantly. I guess my question is: Where should we start in order to get this process moving?

Thank you, one and all, for your time!

First of all, hello to everyone in the forum, and many thanks in advance for taking the trouble to read this post. I know that most of you are knee-deep in the technicalities of the UK immigration process, so most of the acronym-heavy topics I've been reading seem like a foreign language to me at the moment; please bear with me until I get up to speed on the nomenclature!

I guess the best thing I can do is just describe our situation, and hopefully some of you will have some thoughts on where we should go from here. I am a 47-year-old Scottish man, and my fiancee (49) is a US citizen living in Kennewick, WA. We've been together since we met on an online dating site in September 2017 and got engaged on Christmas Eve while I was visiting her for the holidays. Over the last year or so, we've talked long and hard about one of us moving to the other's country to set up home together, and she has decided that moving to Scotland offers her the best prospects in terms of employment (she has two degrees in social work & a masters in counselling, and currently works as a childrens' counsellor with the Tri-Cities school district).

We have been looking into possible routes to a visa for her, and her current plan is to secure a job in social work over here first and apply for a Tier 2 work visa, although neither of us is entirely sure if this is feasible. We then plan to marry and set up home together after she moves over. We looked into the possibility of applying for a fiancee / spouse visa, but the big problem there is that my income is significantly less than the £18,600 minumim threshold (I am on ESA due to a chronic health condition, and only work 16 hours per week in a restaurant as per the DWP rules). That said, I do have several family members who earn well over that threshold and have offered to sponsor her, but we're not sure whether that's permitted by the Home Office.

Anyway, she has tentatively set herself a deadline of the end of this year to sell her house and make the move to Scotland, but we both appreciate that there are innumerable potential pitfalls and a mountain of bureaucracy to negociate, and this could impact her planned timetable significantly. I guess my question is: Where should we start in order to get this process moving?

Thank you, one and all, for your time!

I don't know much about benefits but would you qualify for PIP or any of the others listed below?

If you did, you would be eligible to apply for a parter visa using adequate maintenance instead of having to meet the £18.6k requirement.

Where the applicant’s partner is in receipt of any of the following benefits or allowances in the UK, the applicant will be able to meet the financial requirement at that application stage by providing evidence of “adequate maintenance” rather than meeting an income threshold:
• Carer’s Allowance.
• Disability Living Allowance.
• Severe Disablement Allowance.
• Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.
• Attendance Allowance.
• Personal Independence Payment.
• Armed Forces Independence Payment or Guaranteed Income Payment under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.
• Constant Attendance Allowance, Mobility Supplement or War Disablement Pension under the War Pensions Scheme.
• Police Injury Pension.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/826340/Appendix-FM-1-7-Financial-Requirement-ext_1.pdf

Maintenance requirement. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/452967/IDI_Adequate_Maintenance_and_Accommodation_Appendix_FM_Annex_1_7A.pdf

If not, your family cannot sponsor your partner but they could gift you the amount required to meet the savings requirement, which is £62,500. It would have to be a genuine gift though as loans do not count.

If you go the partner route best by far to marry in the US and apply directly for a spouse visa. Easier, cheaper, less stressful.

I don't know much about benefits but would you qualify for PIP?

Sadly no.. I don't require any assistance with day to day tasks; I am not in a wheelchair or severely physically disabled, so I don't meet the requirements for PIP.  Unfortunately, the odds of any of my family having £60,000 lying around in their bank account gathering dust are, well, zero, but it was a constructive suggestion, thank you!

Given that's what my financial situation is, do you reckon her best bet would be to go down the work visa route?

Work visas are extraordinarily difficult to get.  She won’t have UK qualifications which will likely rule out meeting the requirements of any posting she may come across in her field.

When she sells her house, will she have £62,500 in the bank? Or does she now?

Alternatively, it would be very easy for you to relocate to the USA.  Sounds like she already has employment and a home sorted, but the USA *does* allow third party support.

Regardless of route, it’s *always* easier to marry in the USA.

Also keep in mind the costs of the visas. Over the next 5 years if you marry first, visa fees will be between £10,000 and £12,000.  If you go another route first, those costs will add a few extra thousand pounds to the costs.

Alternatively, if you marry in the USA and then return here to apply for a US green card, you are looking at $1,000 to $1,500.

Work visas are extraordinarily difficult to get.  She won’t have UK qualifications which will likely rule out meeting the requirements of any posting she may come across in her field.

Well, she has already been in contact with a friend of mine who is a senior social worker here in Scotland, and she believes that most of her qualifications will be transferrable, although my fiancee still requires confirmation of that via the appropriate office of the Scottish government.. She's sending in an application for information as soon as possible. Of course, that's a separate issue from the visa application, so that's something else to bear in mind.

When she sells her house, will she have £62,500 in the bank? Or does she now?

Somewhere around that figure, yes, but a lot of that will have to be spent on the costs of relocating over here, so it's questionable if she would have enough left to store in my bank account.

Also keep in mind the costs of the visas. Over the next 5 years if you marry first, visa fees will be between £10,000 and £12,000.  If you go another route first, those costs will add a few extra thousand pounds to the costs.

Alternatively, if you marry in the USA and then return here to apply for a US green card, you are looking at $1,000 to $1,500.

Dear god.  I knew a UK visa for her would be expensive, but not THAT expensive. 

Thing is, one of the main reasons we opted for Scotland rather than the US to set up home is the colossal cost of the US health care system, and its limitations when it comes to people like myself who have a chronic health condition. Just to put you in the picture, six years ago my liver almost failed. Fortunately, it has recovered sufficiently to allow me to live a comparatively normal life (with a few limitations in terms of physical stamina, diet, etc), although there is no guarantee how long that will last. I have to have liver function tests every six months, and I've been warned that I could suddenly find myself in urgent need of a transplant, although that could be decades away yet. My consultant assures me that I will be covered by the NHS here in Scotland in the event of that happening, but I'm sure you can understand my reservations about relocating to the USA under these circumstances.

Well, she has already been in contact with a friend of mine who is a senior social worker here in Scotland, and she believes that most of her qualifications will be transferrable, although my fiancee still requires confirmation of that via the appropriate office of the Scottish government.. She's sending in an application for information as soon as possible. Of course, that's a separate issue from the visa application, so that's something else to bear in mind.

Somewhere around that figure, yes, but a lot of that will have to be spent on the costs of relocating over here, so it's questionable if she would have enough left to store in my bank account.

Dear god.  I knew a UK visa for her would be expensive, but not THAT expensive. 

Thing is, one of the main reasons we opted for Scotland rather than the US to set up home is the colossal cost of the US health care system, and its limitations when it comes to people like myself who have a chronic health condition. Just to put you in the picture, six years ago my liver almost failed. Fortunately, it has recovered sufficiently to allow me to live a comparatively normal life (with a few limitations in terms of physical stamina, diet, etc), although there is no guarantee how long that will last. I have to have liver function tests every six months, and I've been warned that I could suddenly find myself in urgent need of a transplant, although that could be decades away yet. My consultant assures me that I will be covered by the NHS here in Scotland in the event of that happening, but I'm sure you can understand my reservations about relocating to the USA under these circumstances.

I get it.  I really do.  But if she has insurance through her job, I personally wouldn’t rule it out.

The real crux of the matter is finding a way to get her here.  There is NO way around the financial requirements.  It’s pants.

Given your condition, I strongly support your determination to stay in the UK, and I applaud your fiance's willingness to do what it takes to make her credentials viable over here.

Getting that work visa is really difficult.  But spouse visas are just tickbox visas.  If you demonstrate that you meet the requirements, you get the visa.

If she has at least £62,500 in equity in her home, she can sell her house and use that equity to satisfy the savings route for a spouse visa.  I understand she'll need those funds to cover her moving expenses, but not 'til she's moving.

What if you flew over and you got married.  She sells her home and puts the proceeds into her bank acvount and applies for the visa.  (She'll need to be able to stay temporarily with friends/relatives, or rent a place, and she'll need to pay for storage of her household goods, but she'll still be in WA working, so her salary should cover these expenses without touching her savings).  After the visa is approved, she flies over for a visit and to collect her BRP.  At the time of this first spouse visa entry to the UK, she will still have the savings, so the circumstances of her application will still be correct.  She collects her BRP, flies back to the US and actually arranges the big move, spending the savings as needed.

For the next visa application, 2.5 years after the first one, her income from work will count.  So as long as she's able to find a job that, combined with your income, pays at least £18.6k for the two of you, you're all set.  (For her first spouse visa now, her income doesn't count but her savings do.  For the further leave to remain (FLR(M)) visa, and then the Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) visa she will apply for from within the UK, her income will count.)

I am sure your contact with Scottish social care will definitely be beneficial, but I thought I'd also pop in my husband's experience as he is a social worker in England. Not the same, but he reckons there are other things your fiancee would have to consider if she were to go the Tier 2 route.

He asked his friend in Scotland who is a social worker for a couple job listings and basically explained the main requirements to me. Lots of social worker jobs require:
• Relevant qualification in Social Work e.g. DipSW, CCETSW, Degree or Masters in Social Work. Newly Qualified Social Workers will also be considered for many jobs, but this means you have an undergraduate degree and would have to go through an ASYE course with the council or organisation. This is usually a year, and it's a lower rate of pay than your standard social worker.
• Current registration with the Scottish Social Services Council or HCPC with the agreement to register with the SSSC. This costs money, and you will have to be present/living in the UK most of the time to register with these bodies. Also they still ask for your qualifications above.
• PVG Scheme Record through Disclosure Scotland, this can be applied for the council or agency.

I am sure a lot of the US education/training does transfer over to the UK quite well, but I still would be hesitant to hedge a bet on getting a Tier 2 visa. I agree with Ksand and jfkimberly that it's easier to go the spouse route.

Given your condition, I strongly support your determination to stay in the UK, and I applaud your fiance's willingness to do what it takes to make her credentials viable over here.

Getting that work visa is really difficult.  But spouse visas are just tickbox visas.  If you demonstrate that you meet the requirements, you get the visa.

If she has at least £62,500 in equity in her home, she can sell her house and use that equity to satisfy the savings route for a spouse visa.  I understand she'll need those funds to cover her moving expenses, but not 'til she's moving.

What if you flew over and you got married.  She sells her home and puts the proceeds into her bank acvount and applies for the visa.  (She'll need to be able to stay temporarily with friends/relatives, or rent a place, and she'll need to pay for storage of her household goods, but she'll still be in WA working, so her salary should cover these expenses without touching her savings).  After the visa is approved, she flies over for a visit and to collect her BRP.  At the time of this first spouse visa entry to the UK, she will still have the savings, so the circumstances of her application will still be correct.  She collects her BRP, flies back to the US and actually arranges the big move, spending the savings as needed.

For the next visa application, 2.5 years after the first one, her income from work will count.  So as long as she's able to find a job that, combined with your income, pays at least £18.6k for the two of you, you're all set.  (For her first spouse visa now, her income doesn't count but her savings do.  For the further leave to remain (FLR(M)) visa, and then the Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) visa she will apply for from within the UK, her income will count.)

Thank you for that suggestion; I'll discuss that with her tonight. That's definitely the most practical approach I've heard so far. I've also just discovered that the Trump government introduced new legislation in October of last year which will almost certainly result in my application for a Green Card being denied, so we may have no choice other than to go down this route. At least this gives us something to work on, so thank you again.

I am sure your contact with Scottish social care will definitely be beneficial, but I thought I'd also pop in my husband's experience as he is a social worker in England. Not the same, but he reckons there are other things your fiancee would have to consider if she were to go the Tier 2 route.

He asked his friend in Scotland who is a social worker for a couple job listings and basically explained the main requirements to me. Lots of social worker jobs require:
• Relevant qualification in Social Work e.g. DipSW, CCETSW, Degree or Masters in Social Work. Newly Qualified Social Workers will also be considered for many jobs, but this means you have an undergraduate degree and would have to go through an ASYE course with the council or organisation. This is usually a year, and it's a lower rate of pay than your standard social worker.
• Current registration with the Scottish Social Services Council or HCPC with the agreement to register with the SSSC. This costs money, and you will have to be present/living in the UK most of the time to register with these bodies. Also they still ask for your qualifications above.
• PVG Scheme Record through Disclosure Scotland, this can be applied for the council or agency.

I am sure a lot of the US education/training does transfer over to the UK quite well, but I still would be hesitant to hedge a bet on getting a Tier 2 visa. I agree with Ksand and jfkimberly that it's easier to go the spouse route.

That's a useful insight, thank you. Fortunately, Tana already has a Masters in Social Work from a university in Washington, and my friend in Fife has already warned us about the requirement for registration with the SSSC.. One thing I wasn't aware of was that she would have to be already living here before registering.. That could be a problem, but I guess she could always take a retail job or something temporarily until the paperwork is dealt with. Disclosure Scotland I'm already familiar with; I've had to go through the disclosure process myself for jobs I've had in the past, so that should be comparatively straightforward. Thank you once again for the input, though, that's really helpful.

One way or another, it's looking very much as though we're going to HAVE to go down the UK spouse route, due to my chances of obtaining residency in the USA being extremely slim. I'll have a long talk with her about everything tonight and may be back with some more questions later. Thank you all for your help so far.

If she has at least £62,500 in equity in her home, she can sell her house and use that equity to satisfy the savings route for a spouse visa.  I understand she'll need those funds to cover her moving expenses, but not 'til she's moving.

What if you flew over and you got married.  She sells her home and puts the proceeds into her bank acvount and applies for the visa.  (She'll need to be able to stay temporarily with friends/relatives, or rent a place, and she'll need to pay for storage of her household goods, but she'll still be in WA working, so her salary should cover these expenses without touching her savings).  After the visa is approved, she flies over for a visit and to collect her BRP.  At the time of this first spouse visa entry to the UK, she will still have the savings, so the circumstances of her application will still be correct.  She collects her BRP, flies back to the US and actually arranges the big move, spending the savings as needed.

Somewhere around that figure, yes, but a lot of that will have to be spent on the costs of relocating over here, so it's questionable if she would have enough left to store in my bank account.

Just be sure to do the calculations beforehand. The £62.5k is a minimum amount, you don't want to find out after she's sold her house that you don't quite have enough money to apply.

They use the closing spot rate on Onada.com on the day you submit and pay for the online application, to work it out.

Just be sure to do the calculations beforehand. The £62.5k is a minimum amount, you don't want to find out after she's sold her house that you don't quite have enough money to apply.

They use the closing spot rate on Onada.com on the day you submit and pay for the online application, to work it out.

DamianB has some income, as well... we'd need to know how much to calculate how much savings his fiancee definitely needs, but there's some wiggle room there, yes?

DamianB has some income, as well... we'd need to know how much to calculate how much savings his fiancee definitely needs, but there's some wiggle room there, yes?

Yes! I should have made mention of that, thanks.   I think the point I was trying to make was that the amount required is exact and an amount in the region of the correct amount, is not good enough.

Just be sure to do the calculations beforehand. The £62.5k is a minimum amount, you don't want to find out after she's sold her house that you don't quite have enough money to apply.

OK, I've had a very quick chat with her (she's at work at the moment), but she thinks that she can raise the dollar equivalent of £62.5k from the house sale. Just to be clear: The requirement is for HER to have that sum as a cash asset, not me, as her sponsor..? If she has to transfer that money into my bank account, that could create some problems for me over here regarding the DWP..

OK, I've had a very quick chat with her (she's at work at the moment), but she thinks that she can raise the dollar equivalent of £62.5k from the house sale. Just to be clear: The requirement is for HER to have that sum as a cash asset, not me, as her sponsor..? If she has to transfer that money into my bank account, that could create some problems for me over here regarding the DWP..

The requirement is for either you, or she, or both of you jointly, to hold the cash in an account in the respective name(s).
(The name of a third party must not be on the account.) So it could be her money, in a US account, yes.
And of course, as JFkimberly pointed out, the amount can be reduced a bit if you are going to use your earnings too.

I am not sure but you may find that her money is counted as if it were yours when you marry which is something else to look into if your benefit is means tested.

I am not sure but you may find that her money is counted as if it were yours when you marry which is something else to look into if your benefit is means tested.

That's a good point, but I believe that only applies one we are living together as a couple under the same roof. As long as she's still technically resident in Washington, it shouldn't affect my ESA entitlement. Just for the sake of calculations, my total annual income as it stands is around £12,000 after tax.