Sabbatical from UK while adjusting status

[landmb 2]

I will be adjusting status from a K-1 visa in June this year. I have been offered a career break from my job in the civil service in the UK. This is a period of unpaid employment for up to 5 years (probably more widely known as a sabbatical?), during which I am still on the pay roll and technically employed by the civil service, but never doing any work or receiving any pay.

 

My reasons to do this would be to make both finding employment and gaining a visa much easier if we did decide to return to the UK. Employment within the civil service in the UK is complicated (lots of hoops to jump through to get employed and re-employed), and the financial requirements of UK spouse visas are strict.

 

I have searched here and other forums for others' experiences with this but have come up short. Even the guidance on whether you can work remotely for a company in another country whilst waiting for your EAD seems ambiguous. However I will never within the period of the career break be paid money or do work for my employer.

 

Would taking this career break be against the terms of my visa? If not, how would I detail the employment on the G-325a? Would I experience additional scrutiny at the interview? Any insight would be appreciated to help us weigh up the pros and cons of going ahead with this.

[broppy 204]

I don't have hard and fast advice, but I was in a similar situation a few years back when I moved to Canada. I took three years unpaid leave from European civil service for the same reasons you did - it would be a lot easier to move back, resume employment, and get my US wife back into the EU. I never once though of it as an issue, though, any more than I would using a tourist visa (or VWP as a tourist) while still being employed and paid back home. Admittedly, it wasn't technically a problem for me either - I had an open work permit in Canada and have since moved to the US with a green card, so could legitimately work the whole time. As far as filling in forms for US immigration, I always considered my civil service employment as ending on the last day I actually worked there. After all, even though you're technically still employed, effectively, you're not - like you said, you're not doing any work and not getting paid.

Edited March 14, 2017 by broppy