How can I live in the United Kingdom Legally w/family? HELP!

[katieskrafts]

We are taking a family vacation to the United Kingdom within 6 months, beyond a passport is there anything else required to vacation there as a Galbraith Clan Family Reunion?

Also I am currently in school part-time for a Horticulture Degree in Plant Science within the United States. I would like to continue my education in the UK, can I go to school there and how do I do that with a husband and two kids?

What is required to potentially move to the UK for school and to live there permanently with my husband and two kids?
ASAP help is greatly appreciated, thank you

[Wanderer]

Expensive.

You'll need to shell out for the cost of ur education, about 10k sterling per year, and show that you can live without public funds. You can work part time.

Your husband can come as ur dependant, and can work full time.

Kids are ok for free schooling etc, assuming they are under 18 and therefore not adults.

Your big problem is having the cash up front to pay for all this, since you cannot use ur projected earnings on the student visa to fund ur studies.

As for living here permanently u'll need to either rack up 10 years legal stay in any category or after ur studies find an employer to sponsor you for a work permit and obtain PR five years after that.

[katieskrafts]

Wow I didn't know it would be that hard, I read an article that the UK was making it easier for people to move and live there because of the age gap that is occurring. We would like to live in Wales or Scotland but now after what you have said it doesn't look that way. It's been our life long goal, our family roots and heritage are there.
Is there any easier and less expensive way to slowly move into the UK legally? We were also thinking about renting a flat over there and just visiting 3 months out of the year.
I also read on this msg. board that you shouldn't mention your intent of wanting to move to the UK that it would look suspicious? have you heard of this? We simply just want to retire and grow old there.
Thank you for responding and helping us out. )

[RobinLondon]

This thread should probably be moved to the UK board!

I'm not sure what article you were reading, but the UK is making it increasingly difficult for all but the most skilled to move to this country. Basically, if you're not European or in a high-demand field...well, it's not the easiest process. Maybe the UK had a "soft touch" to immigration forty years ago, but that's definitely not the case now. It's as high-volume and as controversial a subject as it is in the US, if not more.

And you can't just "slowly move into the UK". If you come over for three months every year, you're more than welcome to do that. But you will coming as visitors. You won't be able to work. And your three month stints won't make any progress towards living here permanently.

If you want to see a summary of the routes that are available to you, I'd start with this primer first. Important note though, the US is NOT a Commonwealth nation. Canada, yes. USA, no.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/A2202373

BTW, I would budget at least US$4,000 per person in your family for just the immigration fees to move to the UK, from the first visa to naturalisation. That's not including moving or setting-up-home costs. It's not quite that much now, but that may very well be the price or more within the next couple of years.

You might also want to read this topic here on this board as well:

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... highlight=