Moving back to England after K1

[Cora5687 0]

Just out of curiosity how hard would it be for someone going through the K1 visa process to move back to England.

My husband is from England and im from USA. Hes here living and we're currently going through the AOS.
Just wondering but what would you have to do if we wanted to move back to England in a few years time and what not.
Has anyone on this forum done it?

[Hypnos 6,578]

He gets on a flight and goes there.

[ricnally 259]

He gets on a flight and goes there.

obvs OP means what would SHE have to do...

[Hypnos 6,578]

The requirements to bring a none-EU relative to the UK were recently changed, and are now much more onerous.

[TBoneTX 46,125]

*** Country-specific thread is moved from the K-1 Process forum to the UK regional subforum. ***

[JFH 12,191]

He will probably find it harder to bring you into the UK than you found it to bring him into the USA.

Currently there is a tight financial requirement. Either you have around £60,000 in savings or he goes to England 6 months before you and gets a job making more than £18,600 a year guaranteed (commissions, bonuses, overtime don't count and neither do zero-hours contracts). There is also an option where he demonstrates that he has been earning a certain amount in the USA also.

That said, these are the current rules that were put into place to cut down non-EU immigrants due to the fact that the EU's freedom of movement policy means that all EU citizens have an automatic right to live in the U.K. Now that Theresa May has finally announced that she will start something next year that David Cameron promised would happen this summer (trigger Article 50 to start the process of leaving the EU), in 2019 the rules will very likely change. No one knows what the criteria will be. It is my hope that they will be more sensible than the current rules which favour unskilled migrants with no connections to the country over family members of British citizens.

Edited October 4, 2016 by JFH

[Limey 551]

That said, these are the current rules that were put into place to cut down non-EU immigrants due to the fact that the EU's freedom of movement policy means that all EU citizens have an automatic right to live in the U.K. Now that Theresa May has finally announced that she will start something next year that David Cameron promised would happen this summer (trigger Article 50 to start the process of leaving the EU), in 2019 the rules will very likely change. No one knows what the criteria will be. It is my hope that they will be more sensible than the current rules which favour unskilled migrants with no connections to the country over family members of British citizens.

I would not bet on that.

The UK government, and it appears most of the people are intent on stopping as much immigration as possible. My brother is married to a Brazilian, who (along with him) is an EU permanent resident in Portugal. She has stopped repeatedly at immigration when entering Britain with my brother, despite the fact that since my brother is an EU resident for the purposes of entering the country (and not just British) they must permit her entry, and are not permitted to ask (eg) the purpose of her visit. The UK immigration people are poorly trained, do not know the laws, and under a directive from above to stop as many people as possible. Each time my brother has insisted they call their own legal help desk, and when they eventually do that, his wife is admitted.

In theory Brazilians do not need a visa to enter the UK. In practice they are frequently denied entry (I know of at least 2 cases).

They have written to their (Tory) MP about this. He is (as you might expect) very anti-immigration and has been no help at all.

When we finally exit the EU, my brother will lose the rights to bring in his wife, and I expect she will never be permitted to enter Britain again, despite having made numerous visits, and left each time.

When I have entered the UK with my American wife, she has repeatedly been questioned when they have discovered that she is married to a UK citizen, so each time we travel we carry lots of documentation to try to prove we are not intending to return permanently to the UK. It is always a nerve wracking experience, because they really are a clueless and obnoxious bunch. It makes me embarrassed to be British when I consider how many times I've visited the US, and how little trouble I have had, and how pleasant every one was during the K1 process and AOS.

The UK is not a friendly place to foreigners right now.

Edited October 4, 2016 by Limey

[JFH 12,191]

Yes, it certainly is unfriendly to foreigners. My husband has a lifetime ban due to a crime committed over 25 years ago (in the USA, not even a crime committed in the U.K. or against British people or interests).

For me personally, nothing can be worse than it currently is. I appreciate others may see the withdrawal from the EU negatively, but I am hopeful. Nothing can be worse than the current lifetime ban he has. Either he will still have a lifetime ban and we will be in the same position as we are now or he will be able to visit at some point, even for just a week.

[bcking 3,157]

He will probably find it harder to bring you into the UK than you found it to bring him into the USA.

Currently there is a tight financial requirement. Either you have around £60,000 in savings or he goes to England 6 months before you and gets a job making more than £18,600 a year guaranteed (commissions, bonuses, overtime don't count and neither do zero-hours contracts). There is also an option where he demonstrates that he has been earning a certain amount in the USA also.

That said, these are the current rules that were put into place to cut down non-EU immigrants due to the fact that the EU's freedom of movement policy means that all EU citizens have an automatic right to live in the U.K. Now that Theresa May has finally announced that she will start something next year that David Cameron promised would happen this summer (trigger Article 50 to start the process of leaving the EU), in 2019 the rules will very likely change. No one knows what the criteria will be. It is my hope that they will be more sensible than the current rules which favour unskilled migrants with no connections to the country over family members of British citizens.

How much more difficult is the financial requirement compared to the US requirements? IIRC the US sponsor has to be making 125% of our federal poverty level which for a family of 2 would be 20,025 USD. 18,600 pounds is 23,400 USD or so right now (6 months ago it would have been a lot more hehe). That isn't so far off. Maybe I'm missing some more minor points?

My wife and I are definitely considering going to the UK in the future depending on how we want to raise our family. Of course she needs to get here yet before we make those decisions but still, we are keeping the option open. I looked into going there in the first place and honestly the process seemed at least on paper to be much easier (and quicker).

I've also never had any issues getting through immigration to visit her in the UK. In fact I'm a "registered traveler" and I just walk through the electronic passport readers every time I visit. The last (and only time) she has tried to come to the US she was kept in a windowless room for an hour and was called an "idiot" for trying to visit. Very different experiences.

[*Snowdrop* 604]

How much more difficult is the financial requirement compared to the US requirements? IIRC the US sponsor has to be making 125% of our federal poverty level which for a family of 2 would be 20,025 USD. 18,600 pounds is 23,400 USD or so right now (6 months ago it would have been a lot more hehe). That isn't so far off. Maybe I'm missing some more minor points?

My wife and I are definitely considering going to the UK in the future depending on how we want to raise our family. Of course she needs to get here yet before we make those decisions but still, we are keeping the option open. I looked into going there in the first place and honestly the process seemed at least on paper to be much easier (and quicker).

I've also never had any issues getting through immigration to visit her in the UK. In fact I'm a "registered traveler" and I just walk through the electronic passport readers every time I visit. The last (and only time) she has tried to come to the US she was kept in a windowless room for an hour and was called an "idiot" for trying to visit. Very different experiences.

The problem is the lack of a joint sponsor option - the petitioner has to qualify on their own and they have to meet specific employment criteria. If you meet the criteria and can afford all the fees for the process it is indeed much quicker than the US process.

It's particularly difficult for UK expats who have been a stay-at-home parent while living abroad with their spouse.

If the UKC is abroad and wants to return at the same time as their spouse (this is assuming you can't qualify using assets) the UK spouse has to have held a job in the foreign country that meets the financial threshold for at least six months with the same company or for at least 12 months if with more than one company. They must also have a firm job offer meeting the financial requirement that starts within three months of their return.

The alternative is the UK spouse goes back to the UK finds a job which meets the requirements and then works at that job for six months before sending in the application for the foreign spouse - which means at least six months apart for the family.

So in my case - I have been working part-time for the last six years taking care of our daughter - we can't easily go to live in the UK altogether even though my Dad would be more than willing to be a joint sponsor.

[bcking 3,157]

Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. Didn't realize you couldn't have a sponsor. I guess also moving together is harder than having one person in each country. If we were to move back it would be with my wife transferring offices at a job since she works in an international industry.

Do you know if there are certain jobs that get an easier pass for UK immigration? Once brexit happens they'll lose a lot of medics so wonder if that will be an easy way in.

Edited October 6, 2016 by bcking

[Miamigirlie 1]

Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. Didn't realize you couldn't have a sponsor. I guess also moving together is harder than having one person in each country. If we were to move back it would be with my wife transferring offices at a job since she works in an international industry.

Do you know if there are certain jobs that get an easier pass for UK immigration? Once brexit happens they'll lose a lot of medics so wonder if that will be an easy way in.

Well its def true that they are losing a lot of medics due to Brexit. My partner works at one of the NHS hospitals(until he loves here in a few months) and they are losing people left and right. A few surgeon,doctors and nurses from countries in the EU, have gone back to their countries because they either fear the backlash or are uncertain if they can even work in the UK in the future. So depending if either one of you are medically trained, it may be a great place to start.

[bcking 3,157]

Well its def true that they are losing a lot of medics due to Brexit. My partner works at one of the NHS hospitals(until he loves here in a few months) and they are losing people left and right. A few surgeon,doctors and nurses from countries in the EU, have gone back to their countries because they either fear the backlash or are uncertain if they can even work in the UK in the future. So depending if either one of you are medically trained, it may be a great place to start.

I'm a physician, trained in the US so we'll see. Jeremy Hunt seems to have some idea in his head that they will be able to fill the gaps with more UK-trained physicians. While the UK probably could do with a few more medical schools, you can't just create them in a year. It takes a lot of infrastructure to increase medical training since they have to be integrated into hospitals. There aren't many US-trained physicians that go to the UK though because the pay is so much lower. To start we are trying to see if my wife gets a job here first, at least until we have school aged kids (She'd rather send her kids to school in the UK than the US).

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Sort of off topic, but in regards to bcking's post --

I know I should believe it, but I still can't believe that they haven't addressed the issue relating to the relatively small number of med students in comparison to the number of doctors actually needed. When I was in law school in London back in the dark ages of the post-dotcom bust, we were very aware that while our own regulating body kept up barriers to entry to the profession (many of them income and class-based), it was nothing as bad as it was in medicine. I remember some talking head trying to make the argument that since it would take a significant amount of time and money to start new med schools and train more doctors... there was no point in doing so?

[bcking 3,157]

Sort of off topic, but in regards to bcking's post --

I know I should believe it, but I still can't believe that they haven't addressed the issue relating to the relatively small number of med students in comparison to the number of doctors actually needed. When I was in law school in London back in the dark ages of the post-dotcom bust, we were very aware that while our own regulating body kept up barriers to entry to the profession (many of them income and class-based), it was nothing as bad as it was in medicine. I remember some talking head trying to make the argument that since it would take a significant amount of time and money to start new med schools and train more doctors... there was no point in doing so?

We have had, and continue to have, a similar issue in the US. We have a growing elderly population, like the rest of the world, and don't have huge numbers of upcoming doctors to make up for that. In the last 10-20 years we've started opening more.

Problem is it's not just medical school. There is a lot of post-graduate training required to be an "Attending physician/Consultant" and that requires infrastructure as well. In the US while we've been growing the number of medical schools, to my knowledge the number of residency programs is not growing (or it is growing much slower). That is partly due to funding. Without opening the doors at every level there isn't really a huge point to making the funnel bigger at the time if the bottom is still a tiny hole. We'll just end up with a much of "Doctors" who don't match into residencies and have no practical training. In the US we had the additional problem/concern when Obamacare was passed with the massive numbers of previously uninsured people now having insurance and needing a doctor.

In the UK, post-graduate training is even longer than in the US so I imagine the restrictions are the same if not worse. You can't just graduate more doctors if you aren't able to support more trainees. That requires money which may not be there. That's partly why the UK enjoyed hiring European physicians. Let other countries handle the cost of their training, and then the UK can bring them in and use them as consultants/senior trainees. When they lose that ability, the cost of their system will likely increase if they expect to train all the doctors they need themselves.