Before you permanently move to the US

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Interesting that they announce today that they are extending their youth mobility scheme to allow Koreans to join. I would bet that a huge chunk of visa abuse comes from such schemes, along with working holiday schemes with participants staying after their visa expires or taking jobs the visa does not allow them to take. I knew of several working holiday visa holders that did exactly that.

I also wonder if there are new limitations placed on commonwealth citizens taking ancestral visas? I don't see anything in my research to suggest this is the case. It seems crazy to me that if might be easier to come to the UK if your dead grandmother was a British citizen than your living British spouse.

The Korean Youth Mobility scheme is part of the Statement of Intent.

Can you spell pork-barrel?

[snapdragon 9]

Wrote to my MP.

I know that some intern will probably reply in 6 weeks exactly (I did that job once) but I tried. I might encourage my family and friends to do the same.

Edited June 13, 2012 by snapdragon

[Captain Oates 911]

I just found this thread today. I am the UK Citizen and my wife is a USC. Actually, I am a USC too.

In 2006 we breezed into the British Consulate in Chicago and she got a UK "green card" in 20 minutes flat. We then went to live in the UK. 2007 was the wettest since the ice age and we were living in a real dump in Lancashire near her work. Eventually we got depressed and decided to move to Florida thinking how easy it was to come back to the UK

I am retired now and we were thinking of living in the UK again (not Lancashire)

She had visions of using the 4 year rule to get a UK "unconditional green card" (US terms)- but that is now scrapped

That would make it possible for her to early retire and live on my income (more than the new min). We couldn't do that in the US due to health care costs of 12k+

Our problems with the new rules are tiny compared to families who have my sympathy, but I must say these rules are very draconian.

As I am older than her, she worries that she would be thrown out if I died while she is not on permanent status.

Does anyone know what happens in those circumstances ? I know the US used to throw out conditional GC holders if their sponsor died, but it may have been changed.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

I just found this thread today. I am the UK Citizen and my wife is a USC. Actually, I am a USC too.

In 2006 we breezed into the British Consulate in Chicago and she got a UK "green card" in 20 minutes flat. We then went to live in the UK. 2007 was the wettest since the ice age and we were living in a real dump in Lancashire near her work. Eventually we got depressed and decided to move to Florida thinking how easy it was to come back to the UK

I am retired now and we were thinking of living in the UK again (not Lancashire)

She had visions of using the 4 year rule to get a UK "unconditional green card" (US terms)- but that is now scrapped

That would make it possible for her to early retire and live on my income (more than the new min). We couldn't do that in the US due to health care costs of 12k+

Our problems with the new rules are tiny compared to families who have my sympathy, but I must say these rules are very draconian.

As I am older than her, she worries that she would be thrown out if I died while she is not on permanent status.

Does anyone know what happens in those circumstances ? I know the US used to throw out conditional GC holders if their sponsor died, but it may have been changed.

Alan, there's provision in the Statement of Intent for Bereaved Partners. I believe she would be OK. Scroll down through the Statement and you'll find the info.

[Captain Oates 911]

Alan, there's provision in the Statement of Intent for Bereaved Partners. I believe she would be OK. Scroll down through the Statement and you'll find the info.

Thanks a lot for that - there is a lot to digest !

I reckon it would be doable for us and just a lot more hassle than the old 4 year rule

I feel so bad for people who can't hit the new income target as plenty of people can live on less than that if they have cheap or free accommodation!

I went through hell to get my US green card and I never thought the UK would go down this road - there are hundreds of thousands of illegals in London - they should have started with that problem first but honest applicants are always easier to whack

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Thanks a lot for that - there is a lot to digest !

I reckon it would be doable for us and just a lot more hassle than the old 4 year rule

I feel so bad for people who can't hit the new income target as plenty of people can live on less than that if they have cheap or free accommodation!

I went through hell to get my US green card and I never thought the UK would go down this road - there are hundreds of thousands of illegals in London - they should have started with that problem first but honest applicants are always easier to whack

What I don't understand about the proposals is the requirement that one must keep money in excess of £16K on hand IF you have an income shortfall.

Because as you say, plenty of people can live on less than £18600 if they have no housing cost.

Our plan has been to return and buy a small house or flat. Property costs being what they are and my refusal to live in a hovel means we would probably use up most of our cash savings to purchase a property.

Under the new rules, it seems like we'd need to rent for five years before we could buy property.

I don't really think it's the place of the Home Office to tell us we need to strap ourselves with rental payments for five years just so we can meet their arbitrary target. It's our money, after all.

[Captain Oates 911]

What I don't understand about the proposals is the requirement that one must keep money in excess of £16K on hand IF you have an income shortfall.

Because as you say, plenty of people can live on less than £18600 if they have no housing cost.

Our plan has been to return and buy a small house or flat. Property costs being what they are and my refusal to live in a hovel means we would probably use up most of our cash savings to purchase a property.

Under the new rules, it seems like we'd need to rent for five years before we could buy property.

I don't really think it's the place of the Home Office to tell us we need to strap ourselves with rental payments for five years just so we can meet their arbitrary target. It's our money, after all.

Absolutely - they are making it easy on themselves be being so arbitrary - the 'no recourse to public funds' should be sufficient.

The hundreds of thousand of illegals in London are living on less than that and without recourse.

My ex father in law was spending 5 pounds a week on food in 2006. Potato soup/turnip/Morrison's cooked chicken etc and he was as fit as a lop in his eighties and not hungry

Last week I covered my settee with the union flag and put on my union tie to watch the jubilee on my telly, but now I realize what my UK passport is worth to the UK government - not much.

My dad spent 6 years abroad in the war including the jungles of Burma and his dad was killed in France in 1917 when my dad was 18 months old. I worked all my career in England and my kids and grandchildren live there..

I will be able to get round this because I have enough - but for other returning Brits this is an insult to 'our own' while giving the illegals a free pass

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

[Glyn and Kathy 288]

Every time I see it in the news here....they mostly focus on the numbers, and also discuss, in length, the fact that criminal immigrants will no longer be able to stop being deported due to their right to a family life. I think them focusing on that, which I know MOST people agree with, makes folks here not pay attention to the rest of the rules and how it could affect them or someone they love.

[Justine+David 218]

David wrote his MP and seems discouraged that this would ever change when/if Labour gets back into power, thinking that by that point, the media will have forgotten about it and they can get away with it...as I posted on my wall today, I never thought I would see the UK immigration system become so much more draconian than the US...

[Krikit 1,165]

I was thinking about this. So, hypothetically, if my children live in the UK and I wanted to move back to be near them... and I don't meet the guidelines... I can either move back without my husband, or not move back and be separated from my children. Either way there is a separation.

I signed the epetition but it only addresses the 25k income. There is so much more to this.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I would have less of an issue with the income if it didn't demand that it be earned income for the UKC, with no option of co-sponsoring. It's clearly biased (generally speaking) against UKC women, especially those who stay at home or work part time to raise children. Alternatively, what if the UKC is retired but has a non-UKC spouse who is still working and capable of earning a good salary (and paying taxes)?

It also doesn't adequately consider the circumstances that most of us find ourselves in - someone who lives abroad who might want to move back. I imagine that many, many people could do this with less than $100k savings without recourse to public funds because they have family back in the UK who would offer a place to stay until they got on their feet. Someone with only $10k savings could manage just fine without help from their family for a few months as they took time finding a job, etc.

It really does boggle my mind how retrograde and out of touch with normal people this is - exactly what I'd expect from this government.

[Captain Oates 911]

I would have less of an issue with the income if it didn't demand that it be earned income for the UKC, with no option of co-sponsoring. It's clearly biased (generally speaking) against UKC women, especially those who stay at home or work part time to raise children. Alternatively, what if the UKC is retired but has a non-UKC spouse who is still working and capable of earning a good salary (and paying taxes)?

It also doesn't adequately consider the circumstances that most of us find ourselves in - someone who lives abroad who might want to move back. I imagine that many, many people could do this with less than $100k savings without recourse to public funds because they have family back in the UK who would offer a place to stay until they got on their feet. Someone with only $10k savings could manage just fine without help from their family for a few months as they took time finding a job, etc.

It really does boggle my mind how retrograde and out of touch with normal people this is - exactly what I'd expect from this government.

Heck it might be necessary for the UKC to become a German or Irish person and then immigrate to the UK that way !

It confirms what my dad always thought and the British State puts no value on it's citizens other than as cannon fodder in it's wars.

It asks for loyalty and then gives non. Actually, I realized this when I went to the British Embassy in Saudi. I was in distress and they were more concerned with not upsetting the Saudis and the warplane sales

Winston Churchill's mother was American - she would have faced many hurdles had it been 2012

Boris Johnson entered as dependent on a US passport

The yanks are over the top when it comes to all the qualifiers they put on everything, but the Brits have over simplified. My American wife has had FLR in the UK in 2006 - but there will be zero allowance for that once she left. 5 years probation now. Its too simple - too harsh.

Look out for quotas next when the traffickers get round this one

They could have left the 4 year married rule but excluded access to public funds for 5 years - but that's too complex for them

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

They could have left the 4 year married rule but excluded access to public funds for 5 years - but that's too complex for them

I really, for the life of me, can't understand why they can't do this. Fortunately for us, I got my citizenship before we returned to the US, but it really chaps my hide that if I had the nearly 10 years I spent working and paying tax in the UK (which I am sure your wife did too in her time there) would count for nothing should we decide to return.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I really, for the life of me, can't understand why they can't do this. Fortunately for us, I got my citizenship before we returned to the US, but it really chaps my hide that if I had the nearly 10 years I spent working and paying tax in the UK (which I am sure your wife did too in her time there) would count for nothing should we decide to return.

This is exactly the hurdle I face should I want to return, because I never got around to getting citizenship though I retain my ILR (I think -- who knows now). Not that it would really matter any more, because if I were returning even with a red passport, I'd more than likely be trying to bring a USC with me. This makes a return a no-go now. When I think back to how easy it was in 1996 to get my spousal visa (back then it only took ONE year to get my ILR after entry) I weep.