Have we been apart too long for Spousal Visa? / Budgeting

[lonelyhusband]

I was hoping my wife and I would have been able to apply for her spousal visa to come here long ago but medical and financial problems for her prevented that.

Its been 32 months since my wife and I have seen each other, I cannot travel to her in the US due to entry ban imposed on me. Over the last few yrs my wife's health deteriorated, she lost our home, car and more recently her job. We have proof of emails / phone calls for most of our relationship however all proof of us living together in the US for the first 20 months is in my US application / appeal casework.

Do you think we can apply for a spousal visa after physically being apart so long? We are married 7yrs now.

If not, then as she recently lost her job with health insurance, will this make it harder for her to gain entry to the UK as a visitor. I have taken out UK medical insurance for her to commence next month. I fear that as she is unemployed the UK Government / Immigration may view her as a risk of overstaying if she has to come for a visit, if that's required before we can apply for her Spousal Visa.

Finally I'm pretty clued up on budgeting etc for the sponsorship but how best do I approach the Council Tax as it is paid over 10 instalments, am I allowed to show that as a weekly figure spread over 12 months? Currently I get the 25% single person discount, should I show 100% in the budget?

Thanks to anyone who can answer these questions for me.

[batleykhan]

Yes of course you can apply for a spousal visa, irrespective of how long you have been married or living apart.

As long as your marriage is legally recognised and that your relationship is genuine, yes you can apply.

In order to be succesful with your application, the onus is on you to show that you can maintain, support and accommodate her without recourse to UK public funds. It does not matter whether your wife has a job or a house . Her physiacl condition is irrelevant to the application.

The link below is to a detailed report that I did for Spousal visa from Pakistan. Whilst the procedure may be slightly diffrent for US applicant, at least it will give you an insight of what docs and evidence you will need for your wifes application.

Have a read of it and if you want more advise on how to put teh application together come back and someone will help you along with it.

I have just realised raeding your post that you may try your luck at inviting her on a tourist visa prior to applying for a spousal. I am of the opinion that this may not be a wise move. If you are thinking along the line she will come on atourist visa and once here she will apply for spousal visa. That I am fraid is not possible and I would strongly advise you againts doing this as it will have implications on any subsequent spouse appliaction

[ElenaW]

Just wanted to chime in to say that I'm so sorry you've been apart that long. That's horribly painful!

Also I fully agree with BatleyKhan. Don't have your wife apply for a tourist visa. Rather start getting your documents together required for a spousal visa.

[lonelyhusband]

Yes of course you can apply for a spousal visa, irrespective of how long you have been married or living apart.

As long as your marriage is legally recognised and that your relationship is genuine, yes you can apply.

In order to be succesful with your application, the onus is on you to show that you can maintain, support and accommodate her without recourse to UK public funds. It does not matter whether your wife has a job or a house . Her physiacl condition is irrelevant to the application.

The link below is to a detailed report that I did for Spousal visa from Pakistan. Whilst the procedure may be slightly diffrent for US applicant, at least it will give you an insight of what docs and evidence you will need for your wifes application.

Have a read of it and if you want more advise on how to put teh application together come back and someone will help you along with it.

I have just realised raeding your post that you may try your luck at inviting her on a tourist visa prior to applying for a spousal. I am of the opinion that this may not be a wise move. If you are thinking along the line she will come on atourist visa and once here she will apply for spousal visa. That I am fraid is not possible and I would strongly advise you againts doing this as it will have implications on any subsequent spouse appliaction

Just wanted to chime in to say that I'm so sorry you've been apart that long. That's horribly painful!

Also I fully agree with BatleyKhan. Don't have your wife apply for a tourist visa. Rather start getting your documents together required for a spousal visa.

Hi thanks for your advice and information, my wife is coming to the UK next month purely for a holiday, we have been apart that long now that we have discussed and agreed we barely know each other anymore.
She will stay for either a few weeks or a few months depending how we get along we aim to spend our first Christmas together in 5 years.
Once she returns if our marriage and relationship is as sturdy as we think then we will proceed to apply for a spousal visa from the US embassy next year, we estimate around March/ April so unfortunately may be hit with the immigration cap limit, we hope not but will just have to wait and see maybe we will get a good result and be able to spend an anniversary together too.

When sponsors lay out their budgeting for information is it ok to show the council tax spread over 52 weeks? I have no idea how to present that information.

[geriatrix]

There's no cap on spouse visa .. the cap affects people wanting to come to UK as economic migrants (under Tier 1 and Tier 2).

regards