Irish citizen, US fiancée, want to live in the UK

[Testure]

Think the title pretty much sums it up. I'm an Irish citizen currently living in Dublin, my fiancée is a US citizen currently living in New York. We want to live together in London - what's the easiest way to go about this?

Our current plan is that 1) I move to London (I have a couple of job offers at the moment), 2) my partner comes to the UK on a fiancée visa, 3) we get married, 4) apply for a marriage visa, then 5) she can work. Is there any problem with this? I see some web sites saying that I would need to already be resident in the UK in order for this to work, but I'm not sure what the definition of "resident" is in this case. Do I need to have been living in the UK for some period of time? Does my Irish citizenship help in any way as opposed to another EU citizen? I've seen some conflicting information on various sites, but if anybody in here can offer a little advice, we'd be very grateful.

[yankeegirl]

Your Irish citizenship helps in that you do not have to be resident in the UK for 5 years before you can apply for a spouse to move under the UK immigration rules.

There is no certain period of time that you need to be resident before making the application. However, you will need to show proof of acommodation and adequate income without needing public funds. So, once you have a place to live and an income (you can also include any savings) you should be good to go.

[thsths]

Your Irish citizenship helps in that you do not have to be resident in the UK for 5 years before you can apply for a spouse to move under the UK immigration rules.

Yes, I think that is the main difference. So Testure can use the standard UK approach of fiance visa for 6 months, FLR for 2 years, followed by ILR. But I am not sure whether the spouse will be able to naturalise a year later - I think that requires British citizenship.

The other option is to go down the European track. There is no specific visa for the first part, so if you want to get married in the UK, you would have to find a visa that allows it. A fiance visa is one option, or a visitor visa and CoA, or an EEA Family Permit as unmarried couple. Then she gets a residence card, permanent residence after 5 years and naturalisation after 1 further year.

There are advantages to each approach. The UK track is faster, but expensive, and you never know how the rules will change. The EU track is generally more reliable. But you can always change to the EU track, whereas changing to the UK track requires leaving the UK and starting over.

Tom

[yankeegirl]

But I am not sure whether the spouse will be able to naturalise a year later - I think that requires British citizenship.

Absolutely right.

There are other posts breaking down the two routes. Pros and cons to each.

UK Immigration Rules:

Enter the UK on a fiancee visa. Marry within 6 months and apply for Further Leave to Remain. Before FLR expires, take and pass the Life in the UK test. After passing the test, apply for ILR within 28 days of expiry of FLR. If she so chooses, she'll be able to apply for British citizenship after 5 years residence.
Pros are obtaining ILR after only 2 years and a bit quicker to obtain citizenship. Cons are the cost of the visas and liable to change without much notice.

EU Regulations:

Enter on a fiancee visa. Marry within 6 months and apply for EU residence card valid for 5 years. At the expiry of that, apply for permanent residence. 1 year after obtaining PR, would be eligible to apply for citizneship. (so 6 years instead of 5). No life in the UK needed for PR, but would be needed for citizenship. Pros are all applications (except fiancee visa) are free. Applications are pretty straightforward and not quite as cumbersome. Cons are longer to get PR and citizenship.

In either case, they could also marry in the US, and then apply for either the spousal visa or the EEA family permit. In NYC, there is only a 24 hour waiting period to marry, and it's a very easy process.