Can my wife get a British citizenship?

[mike86]

hello,

Me and my wife live in Vietnam, she works as a casino dealer (gambling is illegal in Vietnam but legal for foreigners to play) and I work as a teacher.

Now, my wife lived in Britain for 5 years and even obtained a degree here and only left because her student visa had run out and she wanted to pursue a job in Vietnam.

As much as I do enjoy Vietnam I would much prefer living in Britain. I have read through quite a bit of information on it but would like to hear from people who have made applications and have more experience with the process. And any advice unique to situation would be fantastic.

thank you

[Casa]

The route to British Citizenship would take 5+ years, assuming the initial spouse visa was granted. Unless you have substantial savings your main problem may be in meeting the financial rule. As her sponsor, you'll need a minimum of £18,600 earnings per annum in the UK.

[Brigid from Ireland]

If you are an EU citizen, you can travel with your non-EU spouse to any EU country, other than the one where you normally reside. You can stay there with your wife for three months, and if you get work within the three months you can both stay, under migrant worker rules. It does not work if you want to take your non-EU wife to your own country as a first stop.

Once you have done 6-12 months in a different EU country, you can then go with your non-Eu wife back to your own country, and if you get a job there you can both stay.