Work visa Q for DH

[BabCNesbitt]

DH is an American citizen, I'm British, and we currently live in the US with our DD. He's just been offered a job in the UK (academia) and the uni are going to sponsor his application for a Tier 2 visa to start September (he'll put the application in at the beginning of June).

The only thing is that we've already arranged to visit family in the UK at the end of July. Hopefully by that time he'll have his work visa in his passport, but the July visit is just that - a visit, and then we'll be coming home to pack up before moving for the new job. What I want to know is whether he might have any difficulties entering as a visitor in July if he already has a work visa in his passport (one that isn't due to start until September)?

Thanks for any advice!

I don't see an issue. Even without the visa and his status of being married to a UK citizen, any American is entitled to visit the UK for 90 days on a tourist visa.

But does that still apply if he has a pending visa? They won't accuse him of trying to get into the country early?

I think you are worrying unnecessarily here. DH is fully entitled to visit the UK on your family trip for any one of the following three reasons:

1. He's US citizen. Any US citizen can visit for 90 days as a tourist or on a family visit. The fact he has a work visa for later in the year is totally irrelevant.
2. He's married to you. He can come here any time (with you as a UK citizen) and say he wants to settle here and could do so by pushing some paper when he is here. (right of abode in the UK when married to an EU citizen)
3. He has a work visa from September. So he could make a trip in July and state that the purpose of the visit is to make preparations for his upcoming move later in the year. Again, perfectly reasonable & logical.

I don't see the UK border agency spending more than 15 seconds on him when he arrives.

Given that any one of these reasons is valid and credible, and there are three of them, I think you should worry about something else :-) like, avoiding media coverage of Jeremy Clarkson when you hit UK shores.

he might not have his passport

We're hoping that he'll have his passport in time - if he applies at the beginning of June, the average processing time for Tier 2 visas in the US is about two or three weeks, so he should have it back in time for July.

I know that he's entitled to visit as a tourist, but we can't apply for him to settle in the UK as my spouse right now because of the financial restrictions that were brought in in July 2012. I'd have to move back with DD and earn around 22,400 for six months before I was able to act as a sponsor for him. The UKBA can't take into account his current earnings abroad or future earnings in the UK, even though he has a UK job offer. Getting the work visa is the only way he can get to stay in the UK. (Once we're living there, it'll be different, but from here, there's no other route back home for us all.)

But reason number 3 sounds plausible. And don't worry, we'll all be working hard to avoid Clarkson in all his forms!

Why doesn't he move to the UK on a spouse visa?

Sorry, the advise from LancashireMan is pretty rubbish.

A US national can come for a holiday as a 'non visa national' so you don't have to request one in advance, but can apply at the border in the UK.

You could, if you want piece of mind, approach the British Embassy in the US and request a tourist visa before you come. I would do this once his work permit has been granted. You should explain that he wants to come for a holiday only and that he will be returning before he comes back to the UK on his work visa. Be clear that he will not be doing anything connected with his new job whilst he is here, either paid or unpaid. If you are house hunting, it would be better for him to present it as he will be accompanying you whilst you house hunt. Having your return flight already paid for is a good idea too.

There is no such thing as a right of abode as an EU national if you are British and have been living outside of the EU.

You are also right about the difficulties in brining him over as your spouse. There are so many British people now who are unable to return to the UK with their spouses and families because of the ridiculous requirements.

Thanks, Thistledew, that's helpful. We do already have our return flights paid for, but we'll try contacting the Embassy and see if we can get that tourist visa for the summer, just to be certain.

You might have to be a bit persistent re applying for the visa before you leave as anything out of the ordinary tends to frizzle the minds of your average entry clearance officers, but I have seen it done in a similar situation (albeit not America).

The so-called advice re EU right of abode (note the spelling Thistledew) from Thistledew is totally incorrect. As an EU citizen, your non-spouse is entitled to live/work in the UK. I think after 20 years of working for European subsidiaries of US corporations, I have seen enough people movements to confirm that.
The last place on this planet you should contact on this matter is the British Embassy in the USA.

No it's not. Whatever your name is. The right of residence (not abode) for the spouse of a British national only applies if that British national has worked elsewhere in the EU and is moving back to the UK.

LancashireMan is thinking of what is known as the Surinder- Singh route for the non- EU national spouses of British nationals to gain a right of residence in the UK when their British spouses return to the UK after working elsewhere in the EU. It doesn't apply to the OP's situation at all.

A right of abode is something else all together, and applies mostly to people who hold one of the forms of British Passport.

Yeah, I'd heard of the Surinder Singh route, and we'd even considered trying to go that route somehow, but then this job came up!

LancashireMan, why do you say that "the last place on this planet you should contact on this matter is the British Embassy in the USA"?

Without wishing to speak for LancashireMan, I would also not always rely on advice you are given by the entry clearance officers at Embassies. There are many that aren't very good at all at knowing the law, and I have known many to give quite rotten advice. It is a good idea to go along well prepared, in terms of knowing what you want to achieve and what you need to achieve it.

In some ways, just presenting yourself for entry clearance in the UK is good advice and may turn out to be completely hassle free, but you only need one jobs worth with a quota to fill and your DH could be refused entry, for the reasons you fear. Applying before you leave will at least give you some certainty.