# Hi, me and my wife want to move to the UK i am a UK citizen she isnt



## wilky (May 13, 2012)

Hi 
fist a little about me and my wife we met 4 years ago and fell in love spent a fortune in phone bills and we got married 15 months ago, i am a British citizen and got a fiancee visa to the U.S and we got married and i applied and was granted my 2 year probationary greencard. we have been trying really hard to get on our feet but with no real support here as her family hates me because i am not American we find it hard and lonely we recently found out that we are going to be parents and it statred me thinking is the best place to raise my child in the slums here where there is many gangs and crime and shootings are daily occuances, or should we move back to Scotland where i grew up and lived before moving here. 
my questions are
1: an i apply we dont have much in savings we would have about $5-6k if i sold my truck and items i couldnt take, My parents said we are welcome to live there with them rent free and help us out ( they dont earn much but they have no debt). i could find work and have a farm who said they will employ me and i have trade as a carpet installer

2:would my wife be allowed to use the NHS if she had a visa to stay and work. 

3; would our child be treated by the NHS as he would be my son

4; how long would it take for the visa to be granted

i have no intentions of leaving my wife here to come back and find work i cant leave her i spent a year waiting on my U.S visa and being apart it was a hurt like no other now i have my child also i want to be able to raise my family to have the best possibe life and sadly i cant do it here in the states as the economy is bad and not many people will employ foreigners with the exeption of illeagal mexicans

please advise me on what i should do, i did consider me and my wife coming back then applying from within the UK as we only have a honary consulate here

i welcome your suggestions and advise 

many thanks wilky


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## wilky (May 13, 2012)

I also forgot to ask if i really need to save uo the £27k per year ( i read i had have this amount in my bank somewhere )


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## mehemlynn (Nov 16, 2011)

Hi,

I can help out with some of the info.

Unless you are British by decent, you child will be British by decent (if born in the US), you will be able to apply for a British passport.

Your wife will need a spouse visa, of you both are moving over together, you would need to have enough in saving for approx. 6 months living expenses, under the current rules. There is expectation of a rules change, at which point the amount of needed money is expected to go way up (that is where you saw the 25700 quid). The rules haven't been announced yet, so the exact ruling is unknown.

Your wife will have use of the NHS, but there where some caviots, see the no recourse to public funds thread.

There are at least several who are families trying to move home.

If I'm wrong one of the moderators or senior expats will correct me.

Sorry so short, I'm typing on my phone.

M


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## wilky (May 13, 2012)

how much would i need to have in savings approxmatly need in savings at current 
also how long are waiting times for the visa to be issued 
i want to come home soon


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

wilky said:


> how much would i need to have in savings approxmatly need in savings at current
> also how long are waiting times for the visa to be issued
> i want to come home soon


£111.45 plus £64.99 for your child per week in cash after paying for rent/mortgage and council tax. It will roughly translate as annual pre-tax income of around £20,000. So for 6 months you'll need around £10,000, but the more, the better.

Current processing time is 12 busines days, so the total turnaround time is around 3 weeks+. If you application attracts particular scrutiny, it can take longer.


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## wilky (May 13, 2012)

thank you, can my parents sponsor me they dont have much in savings or income but have propety etc. 

many thanks


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

wilky said:


> thank you, can my parents sponsor me they dont have much in savings or income but have propety etc.


Yes. They need to write a letter formally offering you free accommodation, and enclose proof of occupation such as council tax or utility bills.

You may need to hurry, as new rules may be introduced soon (as early as next month) and maintenance requirement may nearly double, plus external sponsor may not be admissible.


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## wilky (May 13, 2012)

Hi

may i ask how do we go about filing for my wife a visa we are just waiting for her to get her passport updated to her married name and have expidited it to get it here sooner we have pretty much decded we want to head back to the UK for the sake of our family and our prospects are a little brighter in the UK


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## AnAmericanInScotland (Feb 8, 2012)

wilky said:


> Hi
> 
> may i ask how do we go about filing for my wife a visa we are just waiting for her to get her passport updated to her married name and have expidited it to get it here sooner we have pretty much decded we want to head back to the UK for the sake of our family and our prospects are a little brighter in the UK


You start here:

UK Border Agency | Partners and families

Be warned you and your wife will need to click through a lot of pages to get all the information you need to put together a good application. Taking notes, printing pages out and using a highlighter to make note of important paragraphs, and lol, sometimes reading the confusing parts out loud slowly is a real help as you make your way through the process


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## wilky (May 13, 2012)

Would it be easier to apply from within the UK or from here 
we are starting to compile our documentation but due to our financial situation we dont have much at all in savings i hve started selling off my possesions i dont need and ant bring with us but our biggest investmant is our truck around $6-7k we dont have any debts and only have about $1500 in our account at the moment get paid next week around $650 and i can sell my stuff for a total of around $2300 (low balling better to count on the worst ) and get paid every 2 weeks we have cut our spending down to the bear essentials 
We are sending in my wifes passport renewel and expiditing it should be here in about 2 1/2 weeks 
i am unable to sell my truck until we know we are leaving as i need it to get to work and that If needed i could use public transport but adds over 2 hrs to my daily commute that would put me up to around $8k but i fear this is no where near enough.
My parents have said they will sponsor my wife and we can stay there rent and board free for as long as needed and will help us find employment 
My parents said the Farm Contractors would be more than happy to give me a job laboring as a Farm Tech and they would give me a letter stating i would have a job when i arrive ( i have worked for them before but left when i moved stateside)
i am just afraid that our account wont have enough in unless i sell my transportation and then it may not be enough 
would it be better to come home then apply when i have a job etc
Sorry for all the questions i just want to come home and raise my family


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## mehemlynn (Nov 16, 2011)

She will have to apply from the US, if she goes to the UK on a visitor visa, she would need to come back to the US to apply, because of the no switching rules.

If I'm not right, someone will correct me, but I'm almost positive of this one.

M


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## JollyCynic (May 1, 2012)

wilky said:


> Would it be easier to apply from within the UK or from here


The problem with applying from the UK is that you can either enter the UK for tourism under the Visa Waiver Program, or you can enter the UK with the intent to settle, for which you'll need prior Entry Clearance. If you enter on the Visa Waiver Program, then apply for settlement, they're going to think you entered by misrepresenting your intent, and it's a very bad thing. (If you tell them at the border that you're planning to stay and don't have Entry Clearance, they'll simply turn you away, and then you'll have an entry denial on your file, too, which is also a very bad thing, but not anywhere near as bad as misrepresenting intent to immigrate.)

You'll need to apply from the US. I can't speak to the specifics of finances (the UK process is much more vague than the US process, and you can tell to the penny what would be allowed for US immigration), but that offer of employment might is extremely valuable.


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## wilky (May 13, 2012)

JollyCynic said:


> You'll need to apply from the US. I can't speak to the specifics of finances (the UK process is much more vague than the US process, and you can tell to the penny what would be allowed for US immigration), but that offer of employment might is extremely valuable.


Thanks we sent her U.S passport to get renewed and her name updated on it we paid the extra to have it Expidited (should arrive in 2 weeks ) i get paid tommorow then again every 2 weeks thinking we will apply in a month at the latest.
We are gathering all the neded paperwork and trying to add as many funds to our account as possible. i am contemplating selling my truck and using the public transport will save me about $300 a month between gas and insurance while a month pass for public transport is $80 only issue is it adds 1/12 hrs on to my comute and limits our mobility. 
my parents are sending me letters stating they will support us both and we can stay rent and board free as long as needed along with a letter from 1 employer offering me employment and are trying to see if anywhere else would be willing to give me and my wife work when we arrive back.
My wife is a certified dental assistant and was working as a teachers aid before being laid of. 
as i have said before we dont have much in savings any suggestions on how much we should try and get in our acount before applying would $5-6k be enough from experiance everyday is hard to get by here 

many thanks wilky


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## gjal76 (Oct 1, 2012)

*Need help also !*

HI there sorry for jumping on your thread but I could not figure out how to start my own . I am a British citizen and still hold a valid passport I was born in Scotland in 1976 and my eldest son was born in Scotland in 1998 ( he too holds a British passport) We have been living in Canada now for 8 years and I have since had 2 more children 5 and 3 now. My husband and I have been together for 10 years and married for 4, he is Canadian and spent 6 years in the UK with the Canadian/British submarine program. My son and I have been living here with permanent residence visas which expire in 2014. I have recently had a few health scares and want to go back to the UK where as a family we would have the support of my family. My husband has since retired from the Canadian Forces and receives 2 pensions which are the equivalent of 2,646.00 pounds ( roughly), I have called the Border Agency without much help and cannot for the life of me figure out what we need to do regarding whether my 2 youngest children are entitled to passports or need a special visa and which type of visa my husband will require. We also still have property in Saskatchewan that we rent out and will continue to do so we have around $30,000.00 equity in that home and we have a home in Nova Scotia we are selling and hoping to make about 20,000, by the time we sell vehicles and the such like may have another 10,000.
ANY help and advise would be greatly appreciated I also wanted advise on shipping companies, I have absolutely no intention of bringing any furniture but around a dozen x large packing boxes would do it as i have a lot of personal possessions for us all that i cannot leave. I looked into purolator and it was $9,000  which is a little more than i was thinking maybe around 2,000 or 3,000 is what i was hoping.
Thank you for any comments
Gayle xxx


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## mehemlynn (Nov 16, 2011)

As you may have seen the rules to bring a spouse to the UK have tightened up a lot recently. So that might be the challenge. I believe the simplified version about the children is if you are British, not by descent, then your children should be British by decent- so they would pass on the citizenship (there are some caviots, but that is the gist). If they haven't been registered as British, you will need your birth certificate, their birth certificates, passport photos and apply for their British passports.

Now the support for spouse visas is on the British spouse, but I'm not sure if his pension will count, the non-British spouses income doesn't normally. If you have to go the normal spouse visa route, you would need to show that you've earned the equvilent to £18600 for the past year and have a confirmed job offer or have £62000 free and clear in a bank account for 6 months (if you don't have the current job or offer - that amount is made us of 18600x 2.5). For the savings bit it could be either or both of you.

M

Does someone else know about how the pensions work in the current rules?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

gjal76 said:


> HI there sorry for jumping on your thread but I could not figure out how to start my own . I am a British citizen and still hold a valid passport I was born in Scotland in 1976 and my eldest son was born in Scotland in 1998 ( he too holds a British passport) We have been living in Canada now for 8 years and I have since had 2 more children 5 and 3 now. My husband and I have been together for 10 years and married for 4, he is Canadian and spent 6 years in the UK with the Canadian/British submarine program. My son and I have been living here with permanent residence visas which expire in 2014. I have recently had a few health scares and want to go back to the UK where as a family we would have the support of my family. My husband has since retired from the Canadian Forces and receives 2 pensions which are the equivalent of 2,646.00 pounds ( roughly), I have called the Border Agency without much help and cannot for the life of me figure out what we need to do regarding whether my 2 youngest children are entitled to passports or need a special visa and which type of visa my husband will require. We also still have property in Saskatchewan that we rent out and will continue to do so we have around $30,000.00 equity in that home and we have a home in Nova Scotia we are selling and hoping to make about 20,000, by the time we sell vehicles and the such like may have another 10,000.
> ANY help and advise would be greatly appreciated I also wanted advise on shipping companies, I have absolutely no intention of bringing any furniture but around a dozen x large packing boxes would do it as i have a lot of personal possessions for us all that i cannot leave. I looked into purolator and it was $9,000  which is a little more than i was thinking maybe around 2,000 or 3,000 is what i was hoping.


As you are British otherwise than by descent, any children you have born anywhere in the world since 1983 are automatically British by descent (if born outside UK, so your first child has transmissible citizenship), so are entitled to a British passport. 
Your Canadian husband needs a spouse settlement visa. As you aren't in work, the only way is to build up savings of £62,500 (a shade under Cdn$100,000) left untouched for 6 months. Put the proceeds of any property and car sale into a savings account, plus any money you can spare. Your relatives can also give you cash gift (but not loan).


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## kalaiyohn (Sep 24, 2013)

*need help*

hello.. i was born in India and moved to uk in 92 and got my British citizenship. i lived in uk for 13 years and i got married to a Canadian. so i moved to Canada and now hold Canadian citizenship too. i have 2 kids (who are 6 and 3 ) who were born in Canada.. 
now i want to move to uk with the family. i don't know how i could go about this.
any suggestions would be very helpful.. thank you


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## Hertsfem (Jun 19, 2013)

Joppa said:


> Yes. They need to write a letter formally offering you free accommodation, and enclose proof of occupation such as council tax or utility bills.
> 
> You may need to hurry, as new rules may be introduced soon (as early as next month) and maintenance requirement may nearly double, plus external sponsor may not be admissible.


Joppa please elaborate on this??


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