anniecc wrote:If you're British, you have the right to return to the UK whenever you want. For your wife to be able to accompany you you'll need to meet the financial requirements. So if you want to return to the UK and look for a job, she won't be able to join you until such time as you meet the financial requirement. In practice that's likely to mean a separation of 6-12 months.
Hi Anniecc.
Your response to 85East that I have quoted here seems to answer the question I asked in this thread:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/immigr ... 61657.html, and on which no one has yet added any specific comments. I hope that my summarising that thread and restating the question contained in it below is acceptable on this thread, as it appears that this issue formed a fundamental part of 85East's question and I would like to delve into this issue further in the context of my own partner's application, which is entering a crucial decision-making stage.
My spouse is booked in for an appointment to submit our documents for her application for entry to the UK next Friday. I am currently in the UK having returned two months ago to look for work, and have not yet started working. Rather, I am relying on a job offer, starting at the end of this month, and on my previous 12 months of salaried employment income accumulated abroad to meet the financial requirement. Once my spouse hopefully receives her visa, it is my intention to fly out to her home country and return with her to the UK for her first entry on that visa.
From my understanding of the Home Office's internal guidance on categorising applications (Annex FM Section FM 1.7), to avail themself of the 'return' route (and therefore qualify to submit a job offer as evidence of meeting the financial requirement, rather than six months of UK pay slips), a person must 'return with' their spouse for 'settlement' as opposed to be already 'residing' in the UK. I suppose that the key question is how does the UKBA define 'return with' a spouse and how do they define 'residing' in the UK.
It appears to me from your post that you see 'returning' to the UK as 'entering' the UK. If this is the case, I would not be able to meet the financial requirement based on a job offer, and would instead be required to work here for 6 months first. My view, however, (which may be optimistic...) is that by setting the bar at the seemingly high level of 'resident' (which could arguably only be applied to those 'ordinarily resident' in the UK as under tax law) before they will require 6 months of employment in the UK, the Home Office is providing flexibility in allowing case officers to decide on a case by case basis whether someone should be categorised as having returned with a spouse or not.
Are you able to confirm from practical experience whether the UKBA will view me as having 'returned' and or as 'resident' in the UK? As I have to submit documents next week, were I to hear from someone with practical experience that the UKBA would definitely consider me as having 'returned' and or as 'resident', my partner and I would need to consider our options in terms of whether to submit and appeal, or request a refund and save the expense of the application and the potential time required in an appeal, and instead resubmit having met the requirement of six months of paid work in the UK.
My personal reading of the application form and VAF 4A Appendix 2 is that UKBA will adopt a flexible approach to interpretation of 'return' and 'residence', but if you have had a different experience, I would be really grateful for your comments.
