Where to start IRL process?

[returntotheuk]

Hello,

I am a British citizen and I have been living abroad for around 12 years now. I presume my wife will need IRL as she is Asian and does not have British passport. We have been married for 10 years, we have 3 children, all whom have British passports.

We want to move to the UK, and we need to know the best way to start the process. We have some ideas but would like some tips and ideas of the best way to do it.

I plan to move to the UK first and set up a small business, so I will be self employed. eW will be renting a private property and I will bring our children with us first to settle and my wife will hopefully join to settle later. Once I get the business up and running, I will then work on getting my wife to come over and join us. I know we need to be earning around 22k before she can be considered to join us. I am not sure if I will be making 22k straight away with new business but hopefully I am.

I am hoping to bring my wife over with us on a family visitor visa first, this will be for around 3 mths. We will do this before applying for a settlement visa if you guys think this is best way to go. this means she can have some time with the kids and get them settled. She will return home on her own before we start applying for her settlement visa.

Other info, my wife speaks English to a good standard. She has been to the UK for 3 visits already, all for longer than a month.

It will be great you guys could give me more info on where to start with the IRL process.

Thanks

[returntotheuk]

Hi Guys,

I am a British citizen, my wife is Asian and we have 3 kids, we are hoping to move to the UK.

We have been married for 10 years.

Which settlement visa do we need for her? Is it the IRL we should be working on for her?

Thanks

[Casa]

No, the route to ILR and permanent settlement now requires residence in the UK of 5 years. You should be applying for a Spouse Settlement visa - VAF4a. However, as you are currently living outside of the UK, in order to meet the mandatory financial condition you would have to show that either:
1. You have been earning the equivalent of £18,600 in the country where you are resident and have a confirmed job offer in the UK to start within 3 months of arrival, with earnings of £18,600 per annum
or
2. You relocate to the UK on your own and apply for your wife's visa once you've been employed for 6 months with earnings per annum of £18,600.
or
3. Have savings over £62,500

I'm assuming your children hold British nationality.
https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk/overview

Your wife will also have to pass a pre-entry A1 English test before applying.
You will also have to pay the new NHS Surcharge of £600 online before submitting the application. This is in addition to the £956
visa fee. The initial visa will be for 33 months and there will be a further extension of 2,5 years before qualifying for ILR.

https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigrati ... n/overview

[Wanderer]

Also it's very unlikely she'd get a visit visa with a husband in UK. Not impossible, it's been done but be prepared.

[returntotheuk]

No, the route to ILR and permanent settlement now requires residence in the UK of 5 years. You should be applying for a Spouse Settlement visa - VAF4a. However, as you are currently living outside of the UK, in order to meet the mandatory financial condition you would have to show that either:
1. You have been earning the equivalent of £18,600 in the country where you are resident and have a confirmed job offer in the UK to start within 3 months of arrival, with earnings of £18,600 per annum
or
2. You relocate to the UK on your own and apply for your wife's visa once you've been employed for 6 months with earnings per annum of £18,600.
or
3. Have savings over £62,500

I'm assuming your children hold British nationality.
https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk/overview

Your wife will also have to pass a pre-entry A1 English test before applying.
You will also have to pay the new NHS Surcharge of £600 online before submitting the application. This is in addition to the £956
visa fee. The initial visa will be for 33 months and there will be a further extension of 2,5 years before qualifying for ILR.

https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigrati ... n/overview

Thanks for the information, yes all our children are British citizens. Our children are 9yrs, 8yrs and 5yrs if that makes a difference.

If my wife sits the English test then how long is this valid for before having to apply for the settlement visa?

Also, can child benefit and tax credits go towards the 18,600 per annum? I thought you needed more than 18,600 if you have 3 children?

Thanks

And, is been self employed make it more difficult than been employed when applying?

[Wanderer]

No, the route to ILR and permanent settlement now requires residence in the UK of 5 years. You should be applying for a Spouse Settlement visa - VAF4a. However, as you are currently living outside of the UK, in order to meet the mandatory financial condition you would have to show that either:
1. You have been earning the equivalent of £18,600 in the country where you are resident and have a confirmed job offer in the UK to start within 3 months of arrival, with earnings of £18,600 per annum
or
2. You relocate to the UK on your own and apply for your wife's visa once you've been employed for 6 months with earnings per annum of £18,600.
or
3. Have savings over £62,500

I'm assuming your children hold British nationality.
https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk/overview

Your wife will also have to pass a pre-entry A1 English test before applying.
You will also have to pay the new NHS Surcharge of £600 online before submitting the application. This is in addition to the £956
visa fee. The initial visa will be for 33 months and there will be a further extension of 2,5 years before qualifying for ILR.

https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigrati ... n/overview

Thanks for the information, yes all our children are British citizens. Our children are 9yrs, 8yrs and 5yrs if that makes a difference.

If my wife sits the English test then how long is this valid for before having to apply for the settlement visa?

Also, can child benefit and tax credits go towards the 18,600 per annum? I thought you needed more than 18,600 if you have 3 children?

Thanks

And, is been self employed make it more difficult than been employed when applying?

Got to be £18,600 gross salary.

Self employed is tougher because I believe you need to show accounts which means 12 months at least.

[Casa]

Wanderer's right that applying under self-employment will be more difficult due the requirement of HMRC self-assessment tax return and account records. Also for self-employment, the nett earnings must be £18,600. i.e the amount that you will pay tax on after deductible business expenses.
As your children have British nationality they don't need to be considered in the financial calculation, or pay the NHS surcharge.
I believe some English tests may expire after 2 years, but I'll leave that to other members to confirm.

[vinny]

I thought you needed more than 18,600 if you have 3 children?

Not if children are British.

[returntotheuk]

Thanks guys, some great information.

Just to confirm, if I was entitled to tax credits as a British citizen (even if my wife was not living with us), it does not account towards the financial threshold even tho I would receive the same money if she was there or not? Just want to confirm this as reading different things online and I know the laws have changed.

Our plan is to start our own business, but it seems as though this would take much longer before we could get my wife to join us in the UK and therefore separated longer from the family. It seems like it will be better for me to get a job first and make up the difference with savings?

If we have say 30,000 pounds savings then how much would I need to earn per year to meet financial requirements?

[Wanderer]

Thanks guys, some great information.

Just to confirm, if I was entitled to tax credits as a British citizen (even if my wife was not living with us), it does not account towards the financial threshold even tho I would receive the same money if she was there or not? Just want to confirm this as reading different things online and I know the laws have changed.

Our plan is to start our own business, but it seems as though this would take much longer before we could get my wife to join us in the UK and therefore separated longer from the family. It seems like it will be better for me to get a job first and make up the difference with savings?

If we have say 30,000 pounds savings then how much would I need to earn per year to meet financial requirements?

You can't count tax credits towards the requirement and in any case if you family was still abroad you'd not be entitled to any.

I think if with 30k savings (which must held in liquid funds in your name for six months or more) the formula is;

30,000 - 16,000 = 14,000 / 2.5 = 5,600, so 18,600 - 5,600 = 13,000.

Check that though, it's not the most well thought-out formula nor is it easy to remember....

The first 16,000 of savings are not counted, 2.5 is the multiplier factor for 2.5 year term of visa.