Does working for a British embassy count as working within the UK for the purposes of sponsorship?

[ElMac94]

Hello,

Probably a silly question but I have the opportunity to work for the local embassy and I was wondering if that would count toward the financial requirement of having earned £18,600 for at least six months, even if it's in local currency, as it would be on UK soil? I am trying to sponsor my husband back to the UK without having to be apart from him for six months and I can't think of how else to do it, since we won't be able to come up with the necessary savings as a workaround.

[seagul]

If your income is declared to UK HMRC and you are paying tax on it then it maybe used.

[wahi66]

Hello,

Probably a silly question but I have the opportunity to work for the local embassy and I was wondering if that would count toward the financial requirement of having earned £18,600 for at least six months, even if it's in local currency, as it would be on UK soil? I am trying to sponsor my husband back to the UK without having to be apart from him for six months and I can't think of how else to do it, since we won't be able to come up with the necessary savings as a workaround.

what do you mean by local currency?? you mean pound sterling?

[secret.simon]

The embassy of a foreign country is not the territory of the foreign country, but still the territory of the host country, but exempt from certain laws and control (i.e. the physical space of the embassy has diplomatic immunity) of the host country. So, the UK embassy in another country is not UK territory and you did not work in the UK.

Is an Embassy on Foreign Soil the Sovereign Territory of the Host Country or the Embassy’s Country?

Which country's law is valid on embassy grounds?

To answer your question about the law that applies on embassy premises, it is the law of the receiving state. If the Embassy signs a lease agreement (which can be considered a commercial transaction and hence exempt from immunity in terms of article 31(1), quoted above) on their premises, it will be the laws of the receiving state that apply, not of the sending state. Many countries (like South Africa) also exclude employment contracts from diplomatic immunity. Those employment agreements are then regulated by the laws of the receiving state, and subject to adjudication by the courts of the receiving state.

However, if you are a British citizen and worked in a Crown or designated service, that is considered for some specific purposes (such as for citizenship by descent) as being the equivalent of being in the UK. You may want to explore that route.

[ElMac94]

Hello,

Probably a silly question but I have the opportunity to work for the local embassy and I was wondering if that would count toward the financial requirement of having earned £18,600 for at least six months, even if it's in local currency, as it would be on UK soil? I am trying to sponsor my husband back to the UK without having to be apart from him for six months and I can't think of how else to do it, since we won't be able to come up with the necessary savings as a workaround.

what do you mean by local currency?? you mean pound sterling?

USD. I am trying to understand whether or not the spousal requirement is to be paid the required amount in pounds or if it has to be money earned within the UK, and if so, whether working on British soil counts.

[ElMac94]

The embassy of a foreign country is not the territory of the foreign country, but still the territory of the host country, but exempt from certain laws and control (i.e. the physical space of the embassy has diplomatic immunity) of the host country. So, the UK embassy in another country is not UK territory and you did not work in the UK.

Is an Embassy on Foreign Soil the Sovereign Territory of the Host Country or the Embassy’s Country?

Which country's law is valid on embassy grounds?

To answer your question about the law that applies on embassy premises, it is the law of the receiving state. If the Embassy signs a lease agreement (which can be considered a commercial transaction and hence exempt from immunity in terms of article 31(1), quoted above) on their premises, it will be the laws of the receiving state that apply, not of the sending state. Many countries (like South Africa) also exclude employment contracts from diplomatic immunity. Those employment agreements are then regulated by the laws of the receiving state, and subject to adjudication by the courts of the receiving state.

However, if you are a British citizen and worked in a Crown or designated service, that is considered for some specific purposes (such as for citizenship by descent) as being the equivalent of being in the UK. You may want to explore that route.

Thanks for the reply, I guess that settles that. I am a British citizen and I did live in the UK as a child, although it's an unusual situation in that I was not registered as a citizen while I was living in the UK (recently registered under UKF, and only registered after my kids were born). So I am trying to register my kids as citizens through Section 3(1) from overseas in order to go back, since the alternative is that I will need to leave them for six months (or more, taking into account visa processing times) in order to be in the UK, earning the amount I would need to sponsor them (and my husband) over. They are all very young so I am trying to avoid that hardship as much as humanly possible but it looks like employment at the embassy is not the route that would provide a solution to that, sadly.

[wahi66]

The embassy of a foreign country is not the territory of the foreign country, but still the territory of the host country, but exempt from certain laws and control (i.e. the physical space of the embassy has diplomatic immunity) of the host country. So, the UK embassy in another country is not UK territory and you did not work in the UK.

Is an Embassy on Foreign Soil the Sovereign Territory of the Host Country or the Embassy’s Country?

Which country's law is valid on embassy grounds?

To answer your question about the law that applies on embassy premises, it is the law of the receiving state. If the Embassy signs a lease agreement (which can be considered a commercial transaction and hence exempt from immunity in terms of article 31(1), quoted above) on their premises, it will be the laws of the receiving state that apply, not of the sending state. Many countries (like South Africa) also exclude employment contracts from diplomatic immunity. Those employment agreements are then regulated by the laws of the receiving state, and subject to adjudication by the courts of the receiving state.

However, if you are a British citizen and worked in a Crown or designated service, that is considered for some specific purposes (such as for citizenship by descent) as being the equivalent of being in the UK. You may want to explore that route.

Thanks for the reply, I guess that settles that. I am a British citizen and I did live in the UK as a child, although it's an unusual situation in that I was not registered as a citizen while I was living in the UK (recently registered under UKF, and only registered after my kids were born). So I am trying to register my kids as citizens through Section 3(1) from overseas in order to go back, since the alternative is that I will need to leave them for six months (or more, taking into account visa processing times) in order to be in the UK, earning the amount I would need to sponsor them (and my husband) over. They are all very young so I am trying to avoid that hardship as much as humanly possible but it looks like employment at the embassy is not the route that would provide a solution to that, sadly.

you can apply your children's british citizenship while living abroad.

[ElMac94]

The embassy of a foreign country is not the territory of the foreign country, but still the territory of the host country, but exempt from certain laws and control (i.e. the physical space of the embassy has diplomatic immunity) of the host country. So, the UK embassy in another country is not UK territory and you did not work in the UK.

Is an Embassy on Foreign Soil the Sovereign Territory of the Host Country or the Embassy’s Country?

Which country's law is valid on embassy grounds?

To answer your question about the law that applies on embassy premises, it is the law of the receiving state. If the Embassy signs a lease agreement (which can be considered a commercial transaction and hence exempt from immunity in terms of article 31(1), quoted above) on their premises, it will be the laws of the receiving state that apply, not of the sending state. Many countries (like South Africa) also exclude employment contracts from diplomatic immunity. Those employment agreements are then regulated by the laws of the receiving state, and subject to adjudication by the courts of the receiving state.

However, if you are a British citizen and worked in a Crown or designated service, that is considered for some specific purposes (such as for citizenship by descent) as being the equivalent of being in the UK. You may want to explore that route.

Thanks for the reply, I guess that settles that. I am a British citizen and I did live in the UK as a child, although it's an unusual situation in that I was not registered as a citizen while I was living in the UK (recently registered under UKF, and only registered after my kids were born). So I am trying to register my kids as citizens through Section 3(1) from overseas in order to go back, since the alternative is that I will need to leave them for six months (or more, taking into account visa processing times) in order to be in the UK, earning the amount I would need to sponsor them (and my husband) over. They are all very young so I am trying to avoid that hardship as much as humanly possible but it looks like employment at the embassy is not the route that would provide a solution to that, sadly.

you can apply your children's british citizenship while living abroad.

Right, I'm in the process of that now.