Anyone filed an I-601 when the USC spouse in from England?

[ukgirl27 0]

What hardships did you use when the language is the same....i am from England and my husband is a USC. We have to file an I-601 because of an overstay and we are trying to see if there is anyone who has filed with a UK citizen and what things they said about England so that they never had to leave. FYI..we are both in Chicago right now, we are doing an in-country I-601!

[mary&tom 0]

What hardships did you use when the language is the same....i am from England and my husband is a USC. We have to file an I-601 because of an overstay and we are trying to see if there is anyone who has filed with a UK citizen and what things they said about England so that they never had to leave. FYI..we are both in Chicago right now, we are doing an in-country I-601!

Well... having actually made the move to England I am discovering first hand that the hardships are real. Of course it depends of what part of England you would be going to but for us, in the London area, our standard of living is far below what it could be in the states. My husband would be paid a higher wage in the states for what he does, while housing, food, almost everything really is so much cheaper in the states. Your USC citizen husband will have to give up his job in the USA and try to find one in England. He will most likely be leaving family behind.

Of course you would be doing the same if you go stay there in the USA but its the hardships to the USA citizen that are being considered in this situation. Just simple things like having to change doctors, getting used to new ways of doing things... for instance banking and morgages seem to be handled totally differently here in the UK. Speaking of banking, the exchange rate does not favor the dollar right now. If your husband has assetts to cash in and move to the UK he will take a huge financial hit now. I just had to move most of my money from the USA to the UK so we can buy a house and I lost thousands of dollars compared to if I could have moved it several months ago. The delays in our immigration process leading ultimately to our denial ended up costing us so much money in that respect.

There is more culture shock than you might expect ... little things that you are used to suddenly are different. Something as simple as not being able to find a decent dill pickle here in the Uk can be aggravating! Not sure I would put that in the hardship letter though but perhaps there would be a way to put across the fact that the little differences can mount up and cause one to feel a bit out of sorts sometimes. I can't even buy a cotton sweatshirt here! All the fleeces are synthetic materials.

You can even turn around things that might otherwise be considered an advantage. For example the UKhealth care system. Its good that so much of it is free but not being allowed to choose your own doctor is a hardship for an American. Maybe having to wait for certain types of care would be another hardship. I am in the process of sorting all of that out at the moment and its horrible. Dental care is another problem in the Uk. We were very lucky and did find an NHS dentist but many are not so lucky. I believe there is a shortage of dentists here.

Also, there can still be a bit of a language barrier even though both countries speak "English." Some terms are confusing and a person such as myself who has a difficult time with accents often has problems understanding what is being said.

Transportation is another issue. Some Americans will find it too difficult to attempt to drive in the UK particularly in areas with alot of traffic. I, for example, will most likely never drive again and because of that I will have lost a certain amount of independence that I am used to.

You just have to picture living in the UK and consider all the implications.

mary