Dual nationality, looking to migrate to US.

[alimck 0]

Hi There,

No idea if this is the place for this so here goes.

I hold dual nationality with both the US and UK. I was born in Texas, but my parents are British and were over there on work.

I now reside in the UK and have done for over 25 years. My wife (UK national) and I are now looking to move back to the US to live and work (she is a Reception (kindergarten) teacher and I am a Computer Management Technology professional.

My US passport is now expired, but I have a British one and I hold a Social Security number.

How would/should I begin the process of migrating?

Many thanks in advance.

alimck

[BigDaddy28 228]

Hi There,

No idea if this is the place for this so here goes.

I hold dual nationality with both the US and UK. I was born in Texas, but my parents are British and were over there on work.

I now reside in the UK and have done for over 25 years. My wife (UK national) and I are now looking to move back to the US to live and work (she is a Reception (kindergarten) teacher and I am a Computer Management Technology professional.

My US passport is now expired, but I have a British one and I hold a Social Security number.

How would/should I begin the process of migrating?

Many thanks in advance.

alimck

First you will have to renew your passport with the embassy because it a proof of your citizenship. Second you will have to apply for I130 for your wife, and kids if you have any. The embassy will tell you how to do it. You can call them and they will tell you exactly what you need for that. I don't know if they have to require you to reside in the US or not. I hope you did pay taxes in the US because you will definitly need that, so you can sponsor your wife. If not ask the embassy how to do that.

Here is the link to the I130:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=c67c7f9ded54d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

I don't know if they will require to file I485, the embassy will definitly tell you if you need it or not. Good luck

[bigdog 376]

----- Direct Consular Filing Information (updated) and the http://london.usembassy.gov/ I am not an expert but this may apply to you?

[BigDaddy28 228]

First you will have to renew your passport with the embassy because it a proof of your citizenship. Second you will have to apply for I130 for your wife, and kids if you have any. The embassy will tell you how to do it. You can call them and they will tell you exactly what you need for that. I don't know if they have to require you to reside in the US or not. I hope you did pay taxes in the US because you will definitly need that, so you can sponsor your wife. If not ask the embassy how to do that.

Here is the link to the I130:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=c67c7f9ded54d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

I don't know if they will require to file I485, the embassy will definitly tell you if you need it or not. Good luck

you will need to register the kids names with the embassy if you have any, they are US citizens already.

[LauraDP 10]

You are in a similar situation to us. My husband is a UK/US dual national. He was born in the UK and has lived here in the UK for the past 20 years. I am a UK national and so are our four kids (since my USC husband did not reside in the US long enough after his 14th birthday to pass his USC status on to the kids).

As the member above stated, the first thing to do is get all of your US affairs in order. Renew your passport as it is a key element to proving your identity as a USC in order to be able to submit petitions etc and also ensure that you have submitted tax returns to the IRS. My husband has always maintained his US passport but we got caught out on the tax thing since he had no idea he was supposed to be filing for foreign earned income (he left the US when he was still in his teens and not in employment). There will be nothing to pay and, therefore, no fine to incur but you do have to submit them. Granted he's a Chartered Accountant, but my husband found filing quite easy as there is a form for income earned abroad. If you have any children and you are eligible to pass on your citizenship to them then make sure you register for CBRA at the London Embassy for each of them.

Once you have all of that sorted, you submit an I130 petition for your spouse and any children who will be relocating with you. You are eligible for DCF so you can use the USCIS field office in the London Embassy. You should, therefore, spend some time on the London Embassy website getting to grips with the process and, of course, there is lots of information on this forum that you will find useful. I imagine you will need a co-sponsor for the I864 stage, which is the Affadavit of Support. If you have family still in the US then you could ask them to fulfil that role for you but it does not need to be family. We, for instance, are using a close family friend to act as co-sponsor for myself and my four sons with my husband being the primary sponsor of course. Another thing you should be thinking about is compiling evidence of intent to establish domicile in the US. Since you have been in the UK for 25 years you are probably like my husband and have very few formal ties to the US so you need to work at forging some ties and connections. We, for instance, are in the process of opening a US bank account. I believe you can also use evidence of winding up your affairs here but obviously you cannot begin to do that until you are nearer to actually emigrating.

There is a DCF section of the forum and also a UK section that you should check out for information specific to your planned immigration process. I have found everyone to be very helpful and informative on here and I am sure you will too.

Best wishes

Laura

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

you will need to register the kids names with the embassy if you have any, they are US citizens already.

Also make sure to register any children born in the US with the UK embassy and get them both passports. Keep in mind that unless your children have been living in the UK for several years up until university, they will be considered international students and be charged more (at least that was my understanding last time I checked). You'll also need your children's social security numbers, which I believe you can file for at the embassy.

There is a big British expat forum that can help you with some of the details of moving to America and good/bad areas to move to. I know my community in CT had many British people living there. Having other Brits around will help ease the transition.

Like others have suggested, you might want to move there ahead of them or visit and get a place to live, a bank account, credit card, and a driver's license. I'm not sure that you can buy a car and get car insurance with just a foreign license?

~Signed a US/UK citizen living in DK

[alimck 0]

We have no children, no debt and no mortgage in the UK so we consider ourselves pretty mobile, in a sense.

Thank you for the info on I-130 particularly and the info on renewing my passport - looks like I will need to book an appointment at the embassy!

Thank you all for your responses, this has been very useful.

alimck

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

** Moving from US Citizenship to DCF forum as this is the process the OP/ his wife will need ****

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

You are in a similar situation to us. My husband is a UK/US dual national. He was born in the UK and has lived here in the UK for the past 20 years. I am a UK national and so are our four kids (since my USC husband did not reside in the US long enough after his 14th birthday to pass his USC status on to the kids).

As the member above stated, the first thing to do is get all of your US affairs in order. Renew your passport as it is a key element to proving your identity as a USC in order to be able to submit petitions etc and also ensure that you have submitted tax returns to the IRS. My husband has always maintained his US passport but we got caught out on the tax thing since he had no idea he was supposed to be filing for foreign earned income (he left the US when he was still in his teens and not in employment). There will be nothing to pay and, therefore, no fine to incur but you do have to submit them. Granted he's a Chartered Accountant, but my husband found filing quite easy as there is a form for income earned abroad. If you have any children and you are eligible to pass on your citizenship to them then make sure you register for CBRA at the London Embassy for each of them.

Once you have all of that sorted, you submit an I130 petition for your spouse and any children who will be relocating with you. You are eligible for DCF so you can use the USCIS field office in the London Embassy. You should, therefore, spend some time on the London Embassy website getting to grips with the process and, of course, there is lots of information on this forum that you will find useful. I imagine you will need a co-sponsor for the I864 stage, which is the Affadavit of Support. If you have family still in the US then you could ask them to fulfil that role for you but it does not need to be family. We, for instance, are using a close family friend to act as co-sponsor for myself and my four sons with my husband being the primary sponsor of course. Another thing you should be thinking about is compiling evidence of intent to establish domicile in the US. Since you have been in the UK for 25 years you are probably like my husband and have very few formal ties to the US so you need to work at forging some ties and connections. We, for instance, are in the process of opening a US bank account. I believe you can also use evidence of winding up your affairs here but obviously you cannot begin to do that until you are nearer to actually emigrating.

There is a DCF section of the forum and also a UK section that you should check out for information specific to your planned immigration process. I have found everyone to be very helpful and informative on here and I am sure you will too.

Best wishes

Laura

Really great post, Laura!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

First 2 things are:

1. Renew your passport; and

2. Make you all your US taxes are filed and up to date.