# moving back to The UK with US wife and 2 children



## macca30 (Aug 10, 2012)

Hi All,
I'm a British citizen teaching in The USA and have lived here for 9 years. I have been married 7 years and have 2 children both born in The USA. I want to move back to The UK with my family. My wife and I both currently have jobs in The USA.
How difficult is it to receive a spouse visa for my wife when I don't have a teaching position lined up in The UK yet?
Any help on the financial requirements and likelihood of acquiring a visa would be greatly appreciated.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

macca30 said:


> Hi All,
> I'm a British citizen teaching in The USA and have lived here for 9 years. I have been married 7 years and have 2 children both born in The USA. I want to move back to The UK with my family. My wife and I both currently have jobs in The USA.
> How difficult is it to receive a spouse visa for my wife when I don't have a teaching position lined up in The UK yet?
> Any help on the financial requirements and likelihood of acquiring a visa would be greatly appreciated.


In that case you need £62,500 in savings held for at least 6 months (assuming your children are dual nationals). If you manage to get a job offer in UK starting within 3 months of arrival paying at least £18,600, provided you have been paid at least that much in US during the past year, she can apply for her spouse visa. Or you can have a combination of the two. Plus you need suitable family accommodation in UK (at least two bedrooms; can share a property with relatives etc).

It may be possible for you wife to arrive as visitor for up to 6 months. While she cannot work, you can try to get a job and start working. When her 6 months is up, she returns to US to wait until you can meet the financial requirement (earning at least £18,600 for 6 months), and then applies for her spouse visa to rejoin you in UK. She will be able to work. Your children can accompany her.


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## macca30 (Aug 10, 2012)

Joppa said:


> In that case you need £62,500 in savings held for at least 6 months (assuming your children are dual nationals). If you manage to get a job offer in UK starting within 3 months of arrival paying at least £18,600, provided you have been paid at least that much in US during the past year, she can apply for her spouse visa. Or you can have a combination of the two. Plus you need suitable family accommodation in UK (at least two bedrooms; can share a property with relatives etc).
> 
> It may be possible for you wife to arrive as visitor for up to 6 months. While she cannot work, you can try to get a job and start working. When her 6 months is up, she returns to US to wait until you can meet the financial requirement (earning at least £18,600 for 6 months), and then applies for her spouse visa to rejoin you in UK. She will be able to work. Your children can accompany her.


 Thanks for the response Joppa. 62,500 pounds is an tremendous amount of money to have lying around in savings and many Brits with families abroad will never be able to return.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

macca30 said:


> Thanks for the response Joppa. 62,500 pounds is an tremendous amount of money to have lying around in savings and many Brits with families abroad will never be able to return.


I can sympathise, but this is what the government has decided in the latest change to immigration rules introduced a month ago.
It will affect many international families with non-EU members. The biggest impact is on families with the Third World spouse/partner, especially the Indian subcontinent, that comprise the majority on family migration route. Perhaps that was the intended target of visa restriction, but a lot of others are affected as well.

So other than building up substantial savings, you have no choice but to try to get a job back in UK, and the sooner you can achieve it, the sooner your family can relocate to UK.


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## macca30 (Aug 10, 2012)

Joppa said:


> In that case you need £62,500 in savings held for at least 6 months (assuming your children are dual nationals). If you manage to get a job offer in UK starting within 3 months of arrival paying at least £18,600, provided you have been paid at least that much in US during the past year, she can apply for her spouse visa. Or you can have a combination of the two. Plus you need suitable family accommodation in UK (at least two bedrooms; can share a property with relatives etc).
> 
> It may be possible for you wife to arrive as visitor for up to 6 months. While she cannot work, you can try to get a job and start working. When her 6 months is up, she returns to US to wait until you can meet the financial requirement (earning at least £18,600 for 6 months), and then applies for her spouse visa to rejoin you in UK. She will be able to work. Your children can accompany her.


I'm looking at the scenario you suggested of my arriving and finding a job within 3 months 18,600 + pa. I have been teaching in The USA continually and I'm paid $40,000 so I think I would qualify for the past year's earnings. Could I bring my children with me, provided they had Brit passports, and could they stay? Then I'm assuming my wife would have to remain and apply for the spouse visa in The USA. Could she apply as soon as I found the job within 3 months? or would she always need to wait for me to earn 6 month's salary in The UK?

I look forward to your response.
Thank you.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

macca30 said:


> I'm looking at the scenario you suggested of my arriving and finding a job within 3 months 18,600 + pa. I have been teaching in The USA continually and I'm paid $40,000 so I think I would qualify for the past year's earnings. Could I bring my children with me, provided they had Brit passports, and could they stay?


Yes, of course. But they will miss their mum (or mom!), though she can stay as a visitor for 6 months, without working of course.



> Then I'm assuming my wife would have to remain and apply for the spouse visa in The USA. Could she apply as soon as I found the job within 3 months? or would she always need to wait for me to earn 6 month's salary in The UK?


You have to be in job earning at least the minimum for 6 months before she can apply. But if you manage to find work before permanently relocating, say while you are on a short visit back in UK, then all you need to show is a confirmed job offer starting within 3 months of your intended travel to UK with your family.


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## macca30 (Aug 10, 2012)

Joppa said:


> Yes, of course. But they will miss their mum (or mom!), though she can stay as a visitor for 6 months, without working of course.
> 
> 
> 
> You have to be in job earning at least the minimum for 6 months before she can apply. But if you manage to find work before permanently relocating, say while you are on a short visit back in UK, then all you need to show is a confirmed job offer starting within 3 months of your intended travel to UK with your family.


If my wife returned to The USA to apply for the spouse visa after being on a visitor visa in The UK for six months, how long would it approximately take for the process to complete before she would be allowed to travel on her new visa back to The UK.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

macca30 said:


> If my wife returned to The USA to apply for the spouse visa after being on a visitor visa in The UK for six months, how long would it approximately take for the process to complete before she would be allowed to travel on her new visa back to The UK.


Processing time at the moment is terribly long, around a month, because all visa offices are overwhelmed with applications following the recent change to immigration rules. One would expect it to get shorter as the backlog is cleared. So hopefully by the time your wife applies for her visa, the waiting may only be a couple of weeks in total from the day she applies online until she gets her passport back with a visa.


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## Sydney12 (Aug 12, 2012)

Hi there,

I have a similar situation that I was looking for some advice on...

I'm British and hoping to return to the UK from Sydney with my Australian wife. We both have good jobs, earning 60k+ GBP each though were planning to quit our jobs, travel for 4 months before arriving in the UK to find jobs.

This would mean than we would arrive unemployed and technically require the 62.5k GBP savings before we apply (which we won't have).

Is it possible for my wife to arrive on a tourist visa, me find a job, then us leave the country briefly to apply? The govt website suggests that a job offer alone is sufficient in our position, though i've seen various forum posts refer to income in overseas country - can't see this on govt website though.

If so, we have met the financial requirement comfortably (even if we take 4 months off), but do I have to have been employed for the full 6 months prior to applying?

Any advice gratefully received!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Sydney12 said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I have a similar situation that I was looking for some advice on...
> 
> ...


That is certainly possible. You return, your wife comes as a visitor, and you try to get a job. Provided you can secure a job offer starting within 3 months, your wife (only) needs to return home and apply for her spouse visa. As you have been earning more than the minimum during the last 12 months in Australia, you fully meet the financial requirement.


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## lusi26 (Aug 12, 2012)

Hi,
i have similar situation, i just don't quite understand.
if my husband - a uk citizen, going to uk and work there for 3 month with a yearly sallary of 25,000 a year, will it be enough for me to apply for spouse visa, or we have to wait for 6 month?? and also, how much does it cost to apply for spuse visa ??? and do i need to do the 'Life" test before?

thanks


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

lusi26 said:


> Hi,
> i have similar situation, i just don't quite understand.
> if my husband - a uk citizen, going to uk and work there for 3 month with a yearly sallary of 25,000 a year, will it be enough for me to apply for spouse visa, or we have to wait for 6 month?? and also, how much does it cost to apply for spuse visa ??? and do i need to do the 'Life" test before?


No, your husband needs to work for 6 months before you can apply, or alternatively, if he manages to get a job offer starting within 3 months of return paying the minimum ssalary, and provided he has been in a job paying the same for a year prior to returning, you can apply to return with your husband straightaway.
You pay in the currency of the country you apply in (but you pay in US$ for Canada), and it's the equivalent of £826.
No. You should pass it before you apply for settlement, and the test can only be done in UK.


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## lusi26 (Aug 12, 2012)

thanks, what is the best and quicken way of getting a spouse visa, we also have 2 children. if i will come to UK on visitor visa and after 6 month that my husband work, can i go out to France and apply from there??

and last , does my kids gets citizenship automatically or there is a procedure for them also. 

thanks so much for your help


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

lusi26 said:


> thanks, what is the best and quicken way of getting a spouse visa, we also have 2 children. if i will come to UK on visitor visa and after 6 month that my husband work, can i go out to France and apply from there??


No, you have to return to the US to apply.



> and last , does my kids gets citizenship automatically or there is a procedure for them also.


Are they his children too? And is he a British citizen otherwise than by descent, i.e. born, adopted, registered or naturalised in UK? Then they are automatically British and you should get their British passports before travelling to UK. If they are British, they don't add to minimum income requirement.


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## lusi26 (Aug 12, 2012)

Joppa said:


> No, you have to return to the US to apply.
> 
> 
> 
> Are they his children too? And is he a British citizen otherwise than by descent, i.e. born, adopted, registered or naturalised in UK? Then they are automatically British and you should get their British passports before travelling to UK. If they are British, they don't add to minimum income requirement.


yes,it's his children, can he apply for them in the uk without them?

if i have an Israeli passport can i apply for spouse visa from the US (i am currently living in the US)
what is the minimum income that we need to show?

thanks


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

lusi26 said:


> yes,it's his children, can he apply for them in the uk without them?


Well, the children must be in UK when you apply for their passports (not that they can check up on). What other passports do they have? Those who are automatically British should enter UK on British passport to avoid any possible hassle at the border.



> if i have an Israeli passport can i apply for spouse visa from the US (i am currently living in the US)?


Yes, or in Israel.



> what is the minimum income that we need to show?


Your husband needs to be earning £18,600 a year for 6 months.


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## lusi26 (Aug 12, 2012)

Joppa said:


> Well, the children must be in UK when you apply for their passports (not that they can check up on). What other passports do they have? Those who are automatically British should enter UK on British passport to avoid any possible hassle at the border.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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