# Can't move home to the UK!! Spouse visa fInancial requirement!!



## rpsharman (Nov 3, 2013)

Hello,

Hoping to get some advice or support here.

I am a British citizen who has been living in the US since I was 13. I am now 44.

My wife and I decided to move to the UK to be closer to my family. We have 2 children, both British passport holders.

We are now faced, however, with not being able to get my wife a spouse visa. I do not have a "job" to go to in the UK. I work in the movie/TV business, and am technically self employed, although I do get some payroll income. I intend to work in the same industry in the UK. My typical income is significantly above the minimum requirements, but since I do not have a "guarantee of employment", and no such thing exists in this business, I can't meet the financial requirement in the UK. An I don't have £65k sitting in the bank to meet the saving requirement. Even if I were to try to save that, it needs to be sitting in my account for 6 months. We plan to move in June.

How is it that if I were French or German, I could easily relocate to the UK and bring my non-EU wife in under a EEA permit for FREE. But as UK citizen, I can't move to the UK and bring in my wife of 17 years! Even if I were allowed, the visa is £851!! 

Anyway - what do you suggest? I have thought of having her travel in as a visitor, which gives her 6 months (can't work - which is ok for now), but if we all show up together with one way plane tickets, she could be denied entrance if they don't believe she will go back. It'll be clear we are moving there. And even if I do get a job and accumulate enough savings, she'll have to fly back to the US to apply for a spouse visa, and stay here until the application is complete and then buy a ticket to return.

This all seems pretty crazy.

Robert


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## djbutler (Jan 7, 2012)

If you are as you say both British Passport holders you should not be stopped entering the UK so no one will ever ask you questions about work or visa's. You enter the UK on your British Passports and If you wish to enter the US then you use your US Passports, do not show the the US one to the British or the British one to the US Border Control. (Assuming you have also got US Citizenship).


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## rpsharman (Nov 3, 2013)

My children and I are the only ones with both passports. I know the way it reads is a bit confusing.

The issue here is my wife, who only holds a US passport.


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

rpsharman said:


> Hello,
> 
> Hoping to get some advice or support here.
> 
> ...


If you were French or German and wished to live in the UK then you could move under *EU rules* which allow for non restrictive movement of EU citizens between countries. 

However if you were a French or German citizen and wished to move to France or Germany with your US wife you would come under those countries' Immigration policies i.e your wife would need a visa plus fulfill any financial requirements to move there.

Such is the case with the UK - you, as a British citizen, needs to comply with UK immigration rules to enter with your US wife.

All countries have visa charges for spouse visas.

You have options:

a) you can go the Surinder Singh route which means moving to another EU country with your family and then applying from there as an EU citizen moving between countries. Plenty of info regarding this course on this forum.

b) You enter the UK, get a job with the requisite financial requirements and then apply for the spouse visa for your wife. Yes, you will be apart for 6 months (she can visit of course) but that is not the end of the world in the big scheme of things.

c) Do you own your own home? If so, sell your current home and use those assets to meet the financial requirements.


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## rpsharman (Nov 3, 2013)

Proceeds from the sale of our home would allow us to meet the requirements, but the money needs to be in cash and available for 6 months prior to the application. If I sell the home today, apply in 6 months, where do I live for the next 6 months? I could rent, I suppose.

I have stumbled on what I see as a possible solution. Section 5.2 (page 19) Immigration Directorate Instructions.

I meet all the employment and salary requirements of a UK citizen living outside the UK. As a "returning" citizen, all I require is an "offer of employment" for the required salary amount. If I have a family member in the UK, with a legitimate business, write me an offer of employment starting September 1st, I can for the sake of argument apply for my wife's visa in April, move in July, find employment elsewhere, and not ACTUALLY start the job I was offered. Even if I were to start the job, I could technically give the money to my relative to pay myself. Given the actually salary required along side my savings, the tax obligation for paying myself would cost less than plane tickets and lawyers.

Is the UKBA really following up on every spouse visa applicant to ensure their sponsor is working the job they were offered or some other job? Do they really care? As long as I continue to meet the obligation prior to applying for the next visa in 30 months, and my family requires no government assistance, etc., how is this ever going to be an issue?


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

rpsharman said:


> Proceeds from the sale of our home would allow us to meet the requirements, but the money needs to be in cash and available for 6 months prior to the application. If I sell the home today, apply in 6 months, where do I live for the next 6 months? I could rent, I suppose.
> 
> I have stumbled on what I see as a possible solution. Section 5.2 (page 19) Immigration Directorate Instructions.
> 
> ...



Well it certainly sounds like a plan - I can't comment on whether it is going to be an issue or not. Some other posters have also appeared to have gone the route of a "job offer from family" with no intention of staying in said job.

You do need to have that legitimate job offer though during time of application since this will be verified by the authorities.

Presume you are going for Cat B.


..... and yes, you could rent until the assets from your house have been invested for 6 months.


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## djbutler (Jan 7, 2012)

My apologies, I should read more carefully. I will never understand the "logic ?" of the US/UK special relationship, I guess it means we screw one another to the max. My father was a G.I. in WW2, my mother later moved to the US and became a citizen, both my sisters have citizenship but due to adoption I do not. Maybe we could do a one for one swap. I have heard of so many cases that make my blood boil, an ex US Military woman living on her pension and in the UK looking after her seriously ill mother is forced out and her mother put in care as an example, I have long since come to realise that the law and justice are uneasy bedfellows. I wish you every success but secretly wonder if I would try to get into the UK if I lived in the US.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

"Borrow from Peter to pay Paul" sounds great but is probably a well known route to circumvent financial requirements; a gamble with UK immigration.

Putting a house on the market does not mean it sells immediately. People do rent. There is always the option of equity line for home owners given there is enough equity liquid to satisfy the UK requirements.


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## Davis1 (Feb 20, 2009)

the US/UK special relationship was stated in 1946 in a speech by Winston Churchill
about the wars year ...it means nothing 60 odd years on


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

I wouldn't say "nothing." The NSA and GCHQ have a special relationship, for example.


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## Davis1 (Feb 20, 2009)

i worked for one of those 
no special relationship then


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