Want to live in UK with my husband!

[Sofimood]

Hello,

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice. I will try to outline my situation below. It may come out rather clunky but please bear with me!

I am a British National. My husband is a Pakistani national. We married in December 2007. My husband was already settled in the USA on a work visa, so I left England and joined him there. We have been living in the States for the last 2 years but have now decided to move to England.

My question is will I have to go to England first and find work to be able to call him over or can we apply to go over together. We have saving of about 16,000 GBP that we can use to live on until we both find work (i.e we won't need to rely on public funds). We are both Graduates (I have a Bachelors and he has Masters) so we hope to find jobs quicklyish!. I already own a house in the UK that we will be able to live in. So my main question is can we apply and go together because we already have no need for public funds or is it necessary for me to have a job prior to his application being accepted?

Any advice would be very very welcome.

Many thanks

[John]

With a house to live in and that amount of savings, that looks OK. No need for you to go first.

And given that your husband is "legal" in the US, he can apply for his spouse visa there in the US, rather than having to go back to Pakistan to apply. That will be distinctly easier, and if you use an expediter, it could take just a few days.

[Sofimood]

thanks John. I'm not sure what you mean by an expediter. Do you mean like a solicitor or somebody?

[Sofimood]

Hello All,

After much thought we decided it would be best for me to come here first and look for a job, and for my husband to remain in the States and continue with his job, and then follow me (this way at least one of us would be in employment).

I have now been offered a job on a 6 month basis with a local authority (I am Trading Standards Officer). My question is will I still be able to sponsor my husband even if my employment is not on a permanent basis. (We will still have suitable accommodation when he arrives.)

Thank you

[ElenaW]

Should be fine because of your savings. However, like John has already said. There is no need for you to go back first and find a job with your amount of savings. If you were to apply without the savings and include a temporary contract, your visa may be refused.

Also, expeditors from the states are no longer available but you can pay an extra $300 to worldbridge for a quicker processing (under 15 working days).

[Sofimood]

Thank you ElenaW. I am actually already back here in the UK as we were not keen on the idea of both coming over and being out of employment. We felt it would be better for us if he stayed in the States and carried on with his job while I secured employment here. This way at least one of us would be in a job at all times (so we do not eat into all of our savings). I have been here since about the middle of August.

Our circumstances have changed slightly since my original post. He will be bringing about £8,000 of our savings, and with my (contract) job I will be bringing home approx £1,500 a month AFTER tax etc. I also have an another £3,000 worth of savings in my UK bank account from before we got married. This will be put towards our joint savings too.

Do you think that a visa might be refused with this amount of savings (instead of the £16,000 we initially hoped we woudl have) plus the regular income from my 6 month contracted employment?

[ElenaW]

Even though you don't have as much money in savings, it's still quite a significant amount so no I don't think your husband will be refused.