Spousal visa for US citizen with Spanish residency

[Skylar1331]

I am a US citizen married to a UK citizen. We live together in Spain where he is a teacher and I have an EU Family residency permit that is valid for 5 years. We are expecting our first child in December. However, I was accepted to a phd program at the University of Nottingham that begins in October of 2016 and it looks like we will have to move back to the UK.

I previously held a UK student visa as I did my Masters at Oxford, a Tier 4 which I worked on for 2 years in London and met my husband during and a Tier 2 which I had until I resigned from my job in London 1.5 years ago and we moved abroad. We were married in Gibraltar this past October.

I am wondering if the UK will force me to return to the US in order to apply for my spousal visa which I'll need for October 2016to start my degree. I would like to think I could apply from within the UK or from Spain as I have an EU residency visa which I know entitles me to travel freely in the UK, but for some reason the posts I've read all seem to indicate a return to the US in order to apply will be required.

This will be quite tricky with an infant and health insurance that is valid only in Spain (as this is our current country of residence). Perhaps there is a loophole and I can apply from my current country of residence? My husband will have no problem lining up a new teaching job in Nottingham and the maintence funds should also not be an issue, but I'm worried about the timing and the application constraints.

Does anyone have any advice? Many thanks in advance.

[Casa]

You could apply for a spouse visa from Spain but your husband (as the sponsor) would have to meet the financial conditions, showing he has been earning the equivalent of at least £18,600 in Spain for the last 6 months before submitting the application and have a confirmed job offer in the UK to start within 3 months of arrival, also with minimum earnings of £18,600 per annum. The visa alone will be £956 + £600 for the initial 2.5 year probationary period. Have a look at the Surinder Singh route. That may well be your better option.
https://www.gov.uk/family-permit/surinder-singh

[Skylar1331]

Thank you so much! I had never heard of the Surinder Singh but it is definitely for us. He most definitely makes that salary now and will have a job lined up with a higher salary that will start almost immediately when we move back. The visa is expensive but they always are for the UK. I assumed it comes with standard maintenance funds requirements and bank documentation but I don't see mention of it in the links you sent. Does this mean that my fingerprints etc. which are on record in Spain transfer to the UK or that we complete the mail application in person when we return to the UK? I remember that from the US it is quite a process to apply but as that was under the points based visas, perhaps it is different.

Two additional questions:

We will apply for a UK passport for our child (and a US passport) who will be born in Spain this December but will we need to list him as a dependent and/or does my husband need a higher salary because he will now have 2 dependents?

We are living together in Spain and both have official residency here. It will not be difficult to prove he has made his living in Spain given work contracts, our rental agreements and bank accounts etc. plus our child being born here, but will it be a problem that we were married in Gibraltar and not Spain? See: "If the family member of the British citizen is their spouse or civil partner, they are living together in the EEA country or must have entered into the marriage or civil partnership and have been living together in the relevant EEA country before the British citizen returned to the UK."

[Casa]

It's irrelevant where you married. If you take the Surinder Singh route you won't have to pay the UK visa fees or meet the financial earnings condition. You'll be entering under EEA regulations not UK Rules. Your son will be British and not considered as a dependent.
You may find this article helpful;
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/surinde ... ion-route/

[Skylar1331]

We are so grateful to learn about this information-- this fits us completely as we'll have been living and working in Spain for 2 years when we apply. Very interesting to read how the UK has shifted their focus to the "center of life" argument. I think we more than meet the new requirements : we speak some Spanish, we have adopted a dog and he has a Spanish passport, we're a member of a local animal rescue group, my husband plays football on a local team, we rent a house, we'll have had a child born in Spain. I doubt we would have found this visa on our own though so again, many thanks for your help!

[Casa]

You can easily meet the requirements for Surinder Singh. Good luck with everything.