Moving from the USA to the UK

[Turquoiseraindrops]

Can anyone offer any advice?

My friend has asked me to post this for her:

Me and my partner would like to both live together in the UK. My partner is in the USA. We have looked into visa options and the family visa looks like the best option (my income can support us both so a work visa doesn’t seem necessary). We haven’t been together for the two years it says you need though. How do they verify this?

If partner comes over on a visitor visa, how long do they have to wait before coming back after their 6 months is up?

@Shelddd

I don't know maybe you can extend it but probably will get a bit of a hard time.

Anyway I am still pretty upset about the spouse visa thing. Paid a very large amount of money for my partner to come to the UK and if I was EU citizen and not UK citizen I would have paid basically nothing. It made me very angry if I'm being honest. Sorry I know off topic but everytime I talk about immigration it upsets me.

I have to admit that I am a bit miffed by the whole UK immigration thing too.

I was on a fiancée visa back in 1995, I married my UKC husband in 1996 and had two kids in the UK together. I also brought my US-born son from my first marriage. I wanted to get UK citizenship for me and my son when we were allowed, in 2000, but I couldn't get permission for my son because my ex-husband refused and wouldn't sign the permissions because he's that much of an asshole. I chose to wait until my son turned 18 and we would do it together in 2010. I had no intention of returning to the US but in 2002, my husband lost his job and he struggled to find work. Since my son and I weren't UK citizens, we couldn't get financial help during that time because it was a violation of the visa. We lost everything and the five of us ended up leaving the UK in 2004 and starting over in the US.

Our kids are all grown up and my husband and I want to return to England because my husband's parents are getting older and he wants to be closer to them (both my parents have been deceased for many years). We are having to start from scratch on the applications.

My husband is self-employed and his business would have to be closed and restarted in England but he would have to have two years of business financial records. This means we would have to be apart for two years minimum before the application, so that's out. We decided that he could find employment but his actual field is telecoms (the business is photography) and he was last in that field over five years ago. His skills are no longer relevant. He looked into jobs in photography and so many of them do not even pay the minimum needed for the application! Our last option is the cash option. We need to have £62,500 in an account for six months prior to application. I don't know many people who have that in an account that can't be used for five years. That's not even counting the money for the visas. I believe that right now, they are getting close to £10,000 in total. Those are the rules so we are saving money.

My husband is deeply bothered about it all because his mother is currently experiencing ill health. It's especially hard on him when he knows my cousin, who is a US citizen married an EU citizen and they happily moved to London. The whole process for them took a few weeks and very little money.

I came in on a fiancé visa. We had to submit about 3 years’ worth of emails and Facebook chats to prove our relationship was real. Talk about embarrassing.

Personally, if the couple is dead serious about each other, I would recommend that when it's possible, the UK resident goes to the US and they marry. As soon as they get their marriage certificate, they apply for a spousal visa. That way, they only pay for one 30 month visa (the process for "Indefinite Leave to Remain" is 5 years), when they're approved, they live together and don't have to worry about things for another 30 months and they can work, as soon as they get their NI number and they have the ability to access the NHS if they need to.

Moving to the UK is not for the faint-hearted or those who are cash strapped. It's a hell of an investment but hopefully, it's worth it. They could also apply to marry and move to the US, it's faster and cheaper.

The US fiance visa (K-1) process is not always quick and easy.
Some conditions:
You and your fiancé(e) met each other in person at least once within the 2-year period before you file your petition. You may request a waiver of this in-person meeting requirement if you can show that meeting in person would:

<span class="italic">Violate strict and long-established customs of your fiancé(e)’s foreign culture or social practice; or</span>
<span class="italic">Result in extreme hardship to you, the U.S. citizen petitioner.</span>

Covid would probably count as a reason not to have been in each other's company.

While this looks straightforward, a relatively brief relationship which has been almost entirely long distance may be queried. A USCIS officer might decide the British party just wanted a green card. Telling them that the ultimate aim is to leave the US and go to live the UK might raise an eyebrow too.

It is doable, but the parties will ultimately have to do separate interviews in which they will be asked all sorts of details about the relationship, and getting facts straight and convincing the officers that the relationship is the real deal will be important.

Ask on the US expat board mentioned upthread if anyone has gone through that process.

Thank you. The link from this thread to the forum looked like that site hadn’t been active for a few years. Is there another part that needs clicking?

@Turquoiseraindrops

Do you mean the UK-Yankee site?

It's very much active!

talk.uk-yankee.com

That link should take you straight to the forum.

If not, try the main site and click on "community" and there will be a drop down that says, "Forum". Your friends will be able to see the topics and ask questions there.

@mathanxiety my understanding is that it's totally legal to get married in the US on visa waiver as long as you don't stay and have no intention to. You don't need to file for a K-1.

How could you prove a relationship if there are no time stamped photos?

Signing a lease together, for housing, joint bank account, even joint household Amazon account might be things that support your claim

Of course, in real life, how to prove things tends to be the last thing people tend to think about in these situations, so proof itself can add to suspicion.

I understand that it is possible in the Uk to switch from a visitors visa to a family one. They don't make it easy by giving only six months for visitors and requiring six months duration of these arrangements.

Almost as if they don't want you to succeed.