yuna628

Indeed we do. I have seen a rough estimate of only 65k couples returning to the UK last year - to utilize a further reduction of that seems a bit odd to me. These are after all, persons coming there legally when the requirements were still fairly strict. Some estimates have shown that an extremely large number of the British public, even those considered making a decent living in the UK, would no longer be able to bring spouse and children under the new rules. I have noticed more than a few conservative names getting angry about this, when they suddenly realize who might be affected and complaining that British citizens with foreign spouses should have more rights compared to other immigrants. Some have said this is a nonsense rule that surely they'll change - I doubt this very much. Suppose we'll see.

You have 6 months from the time of the medical to enter the US. Once you enter, you have 90 days to marry.

Over the years there's been many persons on this forum that have inquired about returning to the UK with their American spouses and children. There has always been visa requirements involved with that, which included financial requirements that for some, were too great. Based on yesterday's announcement by the UK government, they intend to increase that burden further. The old rules required that the UK citizen and only the UK citizen had a UK job and guarantied salary held for six months or more of £18,600 (roughly $23,000), or a large sum of savings of £62,500. This amount increased with each non-UK citizen child. As of yesterday and becoming effective in spring 2024, these guarantied salary amount will be increased to £38,700 (roughly $48,800). No doubt that means the amount for savings and for any additional child will also increase. If the math works out that would increase to £112,000 in savings. No joint sponsors or joint income may be used. There is also price rises in the visa fees itself, as well as significant increase to the amount you would have to pay each year under the health immigration surcharge. This was a part of additional changes and measures which will negatively affect legal immigration to the UK. This post is just for informative purposes. I've had numerous discussions with UK-based lawyers and legal immigration support organizers. I'm sure that everyone will have a variety of thoughts on it. There may be legal challenges to come and things could theoretically change in a new election. My advice is always: make sure you have your UK citizen spouse's status settled here first, before thinking of uprooting yourselves and be aware that the UK's requirements are a lot harsher than the US. For more information: https://news.sky.com/story/tougher-visa-rules-for-foreign-workers-including-ban-on-bringing-families-and-raising-minimum-salary-requirement-13022936 https://freemovement.org.uk/government-attack-on-families-as-minimum-income-requirement-to-rise-to-38700/ https://kittyfallsimmigrationlaw.com/2023/12/05/partner-visa-minimum-income-requirement-is-going-up/

My husband says that he used to work with a former Marine who said that kids needs structure and that whenever his kids 'sassed him' goofed off, or didn't do their homework there had to be consequences - so phone get gone, video games go, no matter how long it takes for the kid to prove themselves again. I think that's probably a good rule of thumb, but I'm sure every parent's situation is different. I was homeschooled and was considered a good student though I taught myself most of it. There was a period of time where I did start to really struggle with reading, memorization, and math. My mom would get frustrated and think I was just being lazy. It wasn't. I needed glasses and vision therapy. I got the glasses at least, and kept putting in the hard work - the reading and memory issue resolved. Math though was a real struggle and I realize that it's probably Dyscalculia related to the eye issue, and maybe if I had the help I'd needed back then, things may have been easier. It's always a challenge to know what's going on with kids, especially as they get older. Make sure that any of his issues doesn't stem from a learning disorder. In other cases there might not be a learning disorder, but maybe the kid learns better a different way than how he's been told (we all aren't cookie cutters). Other times I think it may be needing additional hands-on (I'm not sure how much you do already) on your part, or the other parent, or a tutor to see where he's having trouble in his homework or courses. Maybe he doesn't get it and feels stupid and that nothing is worth trying if he's not having fun. Maybe he does get it and is lazy. Or maybe it's a struggle somewhere. Or it's a combo of all three.

Peanut butter worked well until one day he realized and then became suspicious of any further attempts. Thankfully he's addicted to cheese. 🤪

He does as long as it is hidden in high value food like cheese, otherwise good luck getting it down him. Pain meds were needed last night, he is super uncomfortable.

Let dog out last night. It was very cold but he was bundled up. Nevertheless the old guy was in a rush to get back inside and wasn't paying attention. I hear screaming and yelping, and I'm like what on earth? Oh my gosh, so much blood everywhere. He'd somehow managed to get his toe wedged into the deck and proceeded to rip his nail straight off. There's nothing left. Many panicked moments of trying to get the kwik-stop to slow the bleeding and wrapping it in a bandage. By this point the dog has just shut down and isn't making any more noise - like he's in shock or something. I'm really not sure what to do, so we head over to the emergency vet. After an hour a tech looks at the foot and seems in awe then tells us it will be many many hours to be seen properly. We wait three, and ask any closer? Nope. By this time the dog is exhausted and we're exhausted so we decide to rewrap the foot as best we can until I can ring our vet in the morning. And by the time we get back home it's 2am. Our vet says we did a great job and that's about all we can do for it. Sent us on our way with antibiotics and pain pills. Poor little guy still seems mortified.

There is only one Napoleon to me. But yes, I've read some really bad things about this film, which is a real disappointment. Still will probably see it eventually, I want to know how good the costuming is.

If some on-sale clothing bought on Thursday/Friday gets me a pile of free stuff on Sunday once I drop the Kohls cash and additional coupons I've been saving - the girl maths works for me every year. Trick is making a list and sticking with it. Kohls is counting on someone to come in and spend extra well over the amount of free cash they have. Plus you can do store pickup and travel over the state line to avoid shipping and tax.

I kind of feel like we keep giving more and more money to the USCIS and there are never any better results. Continued slowdowns are predictable with the way things have been going, and it's been like that for ages. Things were slow as heck during Obama, slow with Trump, and still slow now. Sure I still have no idea how our N400 got processed so quickly while people are still waiting at our field office - but I don't think Biden had anything to do with that. Immigrants and their families are nothing but a dollar sign and used for political fodder. No one actually cares to fix anything.

I have ordered from British Corner before... there's also British Food Depot.. those prices though lol. Thank goodness Jolly Posh exists too. The local grocery store does have a small British section so there are usually plenty of overpriced Cadbury, mushy peas, and Jacobs. Ribena is a favorite of mine but it all has artificial sweetener in it now unless you go over to the Asian grocer (the OG one I found imported from Malaysia). Some things we will never be able to get like Stotties and Greggs gingerbread men.

Thanksgiving was successful though extremely tiring. After making most of all the food with me, my husband put up the pre-lit tree. There were many bulbs to replace. By the time I got done doing all the dishes, I was tired but thought it important to get some exercise in so we went for a walk around the neighborhood. The smell of pot permeated (ugh) everywhere outside... I guess there were some 'interesting' Thanksgivings going on. On Friday, I had multiple errands to run - the brand new pot store in town was so overflowing with cars it caused a traffic jam - so was stuck in traffic some time just to get some groceries. In fact I'd say there were more people there than at the Walmart for Black Friday. Put decorations on the tree, and while my husband worked on the outside, I finished up the last minute gardening tasks before the cold front came in. On Sunday we went on our morning coffee and walk by the water, and stopped over at the department store to see how bad it was after Friday. Surprisingly hardly any one there, and was still well stocked. Everything is also self-checkout now, which I liked. But my real purpose was to get my husband into a fitting room to try on some pants because the man hasn't had anything new in about six years and they are falling off him/worn out. But some of the male species don't seem to like the fuss of trying things on and get very flustered. Out of 7 pairs he tried on, we only came home with 1. A small victory! At least it was a deep discount. I spent an hour trying to argue with mom about making sure she wears safe slippers on her feet. How it works is you buy mom slippers, she will say they are amazing, and then a few days later say they are terrible and go back to wearing slippers that are falling apart and dangerous to walk on. Almost all my xmas shopping is done online now, and about 60% is wrapped already. Deals were poor though.

Purchase eyed: a computer, but did not buy. Simply still too expensive this year even at the membership club. Large ticket items were a fitness watch which was on sale. A lego set I had purchased back in August on sale is still being sold at regular price so I'm glad I got that early. Sneakers were on sale so a few good deals there. Amazon had good deals on blu ray and books this year and most purchases came from there. A buy of sale items from Kohls on Friday got me enough cash to have nearly free bill on Sunday. Ultimately spending more this year but getting less. Inflation clearly or retailers being greedy.

On his first trip to Baltimore, I took my husband to the inner harbor (Baltimore makes #16 on the list) and there on the street corner was a single dead roach and an uneaten orange. It was so amusing to us at the time we took a photo.. I don't remember roaches being a big problem when I was in Baltimore.. rats and other odd creatures sure. I hear bedbugs are sweeping Europe now.

Scored the many free turkeys because of promotional member deals with multiple stores I shop at. Technically could have scored a 4th turkey but that would be excessive. Spend a certain amount since Sept/October and you'd get a free turkey in return is a popular deal here. My only complaint is the turkey is smaller this year 16-17 compared to the 25-28lb birds other times.

This week has been nuts: Three days devoted to medical appointments for my parents (two more next week as well), followed by a trip to the clinic myself. We have been having a heck of a time finding a post office to get the husband's passport done, but it was suggested to try a different office in another town and it looks like there's some appointments finally. Of course he's wary about sending the certificate off and it kind of coincided with his DL needing renewal soon. I had to dig around to find conflicting info of how early to renew and then ended up calling for clarification. Did not want to risk sending the certificate off with the passport and not getting it back in time for the new DL. Thankfully got that all done and registered to vote too. I told him welcome to the sweet fresh hell of jury duty, but he remained enthusiastic. Many hours of shopping for the Thanksgiving stuff was spent, and scored three free turkeys (one gets donated to the veterans hall). I then decided not to wait this year to decorate because after all the stress lately I needed something cheerful to do. So many more hours were spent getting all that done. That was followed by spending six hours grooming and bathing the dog, because it's a whole process with him, and I'm doing it myself now instead as it's less frightening for him when he's going blind. No sooner do I get all the dirty blankets and towels in a basket does he jump in and start rolling his sweet coconut smelling body (ugggghhhhh...). Next week it's two days of more parental medical appointments, a home health nurse visit, and an entire day devoted to pre-Thanksgiving baking.

I've been wondering that myself actually. We have boxes of the stuff that seems unnecessary to keep after everything is now all done. Kind of like a lead weight of what ifs we can't get rid of though, it's sometimes terrifying to think of shredding it all. I think maybe digitize everything multiple times and keep all official letters might be the way to go for now.

You're going to find dealing with the USCIS unpredictable. Sometimes I suspect RFEs are a stalling tactic, other times legit reasons, and still others possibly because the officer is new or lost some of the paperwork and they are never going to admit that. Ultimately a good statement of intent letters should be no problem along with evidence of relationship. Our RFE for medical evidence for AOS for example is common and we provided everything that was asked for. I'm confident the case really was the officer was new to handling AOS and was not aware of their own rules, or they simply lost the paperwork. When I responded to the RFE, I gave again what was asked for, and wrote a stern letter providing them their own rules in hopes that the officer would not do it to someone else ever again. For UK K1 couples, it is generally accepted that an extremely high burden of proof is not required. I understood that but front loaded what I could (as I did with every application), within reason. IIRC we included letter of intents and a signed statement detailing how we met as it was a very long relationship. Affidavits from friends and family (cannot recall if we did this for K1) but did for AOS, are considered weaker evidence, because anyone could say anything. LibertyBears will never know if any of the stuff they sent in actually helped or not (I suppose it would if documents had been lost), but the RFE was answered positively and quickly with no issues. RFEs are frustrating but generally can be answered quickly when they are simple.

OP: No it won't affect AOS, but it is good evidence of marriage, and the question is do you think that not having health insurance is ultimately wise? You may be young, seemingly healthy, and take no medications but having health insurance in the US is one of the most important things we pay for. For a part of my young 'healthy' life I also had no health insurance. I couldn't afford it, but a normal illness all the sudden turned into something serious and I ended up in the hospital. After that there was thousands of dollars in medical bills to pay, and being hounded and threatened by the hospital when I did not pay them fast enough. After that experience, I found a way to pay for it and I certainly would never have dreamed of not having my husband who was also healthy and took no medications on my plan. And that came in handy, because a year or so of him living here he ended up in the ER in terrible pain and needed a scan. A couple hours, a scan, and medication would have cost us thousands of dollars without insurance - instead all we paid was a copay. A few years after that, my gallbladder said "nope I'm done with life" without warning. I was very sick - a long hospital stay, surgery with complications, medications, anesthesia, follow-ups would have cost roughly $50,000. Our insurance covered most everything, and we only owed a few copays. No one ever plans on getting sick or injured, unfortunately medical costs in the US can break a person. Temporary insurances are junk coverage, they are not adequate for any sort of protection. Open enrollment is currently available in the US, I'd encourage you and your fiancé start looking into something for the future.

Well yes, that drive to London all the way from the northeast is a long one isn't it? My husband took his dad along and made a buddy roadtrip out of it. 😝 As far as pitfalls goes, well the number one thing is always going to be vaccinations. Can your wife get the ones required from the GP before having the medical? Get proof of all that is received. That's what my husband did. Otherwise you'll be at the mercy of Knightbridge's high prices. The summary is discussed toward the end of this thread

That's not really why she was tossed out. But they got David Cameron now which is hilarious, and the train wreck over there continues.

Ignorance in a population is a result of a bad education system. It should not be some sign that others should be happy with the status quo of ignorance. Many of the questions if not all of the questions, should be vital to know in real life to be any sort of productive citizen. It is not a difficult test, and the US citizen can help their immigrant spouse with studying.

Whenever dad gets swollen up, they have to quickly adjust the dosage. I had that issue with him this summer, and he's still on a higher dosage until the nephrologist confirms what she wants to do. Usually when he refuses to take his meds, drink/eat properly, exercise - he ends up in the hospital with a stint in rehab. In sibling news it seems she's finally listened and got herself a new apartment. My advice was to stop looking for rentals in upper class suburbia (the only reason she had a place there to begin with was the landlord was shady) and that there are plenty of city options with actual decent living commodities. She seems pleased for now, but I won't soon forget the stress this has caused. We tried probing deeper into my in-laws health situation over the weekend and could find no answers. There are medical appointments scheduled for concerning issues but neither one could actually tell us what they are for. We are told a diagnosis was deliberately withheld by the NHS for five months, a diagnosis that needs serious care, but that they couldn't understand the nature of the diagnosis because the doctor was in their words "a foreign gentleman". I don't think me blurting out "hey guys this is crazy!" on a phone call is helpful, but it's hard for me to hold my tongue when I see health deteriorating so badly. His parents deserve good care and they aren't getting it. Can none of my husband's siblings advocate and be there for their parents for appointments like I do I ask? Husband shrugs and shakes his head. His parents wouldn't want to burden anyone.

I can't imagine it either. My dad does the same thing with his medication and instructions... frustrating to no end, and it's put him in hospital a few times too! Can Mama T-B not be taken to the hospital? I have spent a few days running back and forth to various clinics and I have to say there's a lot of terribly sick people out there that are coming into clinics or trying to tough it out at home when they really sound like they need emergency care. I saw one child coughing and crying so hard he was nearly blue from gasping with air.

If your spouse has lived here for any reasonable number of time a good deal of these questions they should know already. The best way to remember them is to test your spouse every day, and go over the ones that they get stuck on the most. Eventually they will stick. A lawyer should not be needed for this. The spouse is asking to become the citizen and not the lawyer, it's their responsibility to complete the test. OP: good luck on it, and don't worry. If you guys spend a while studying together it will be okay!