Visa Help Please

Hi there and welcome to the Forum.

At the top of this page is a link to our Handy Tools section, if you select that, you'll get access to our Expat Guides, these contain articles that may help you in your journey.

To answer your specific questions:

Your kids are already British citizens by being children of a British citizen (i.e. you) and are entitled to UK passports as a right.  Apply to your nearest UK Embassy for their passports.

For your wife, she can apply for a family visa, the requirements are described on the UK Gov website; this link will take you there.

If you do the above, all the rest that you have written will go away.

Once you've read our guides and the link I've given, if you have any further specific questions, please come back to us.

I wish you the best of luck on your journey.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thanks for the reply,

Firstly, I will not be coming over as an Expat. Coming over to England is my choice and not my company's. I will however still work for the same company as I do now. They allow us to work from anywhere we want. I will read the info you suggested, but I don't think it's the info I need to help me. According to my knowledge I don't have no restrictions, I just need to proof that I am able to support my family.

Secondly, I am South-African born and got my British citizenship from my dad who was born in the UK. I have already found out and it is not allowed to carry citizenship over to my kids. Only one generation is allowed if not born in the UK.

If I take family Visas for my wife and kids, will my wife be able to work at a school with such a Visa and will my kids be able to attend school on the family Visa?

Thanks

QBL wrote:

Thanks for the reply,

Firstly, I will not be coming over as an Expat. Coming over to England is my choice and not my company's. I will however still work for the same company as I do now. They allow us to work from anywhere we want. I will read the info you suggested, but I don't think it's the info I need to help me. According to my knowledge I don't have no restrictions, I just need to proof that I am able to support my family.

Secondly, I am South-African born and got my British citizenship from my dad who was born in the UK. I have already found out and it is not allowed to carry citizenship over to my kids. Only one generation is allowed if not born in the UK.

If I take family Visas for my wife and kids, will my wife be able to work at a school with such a Visa and will my kids be able to attend school on the family Visa?

Thanks

Ah, OK, you didn't say your British nationality was by descent; in that case, you are quite right, your children do not inherit your UK citizenship.  In this case, they would have to follow the same process as your wife.

The thing you will need to watch out for is that you meet the minimum salary requirements of £18,600, plus £2,400 p/child at the time of application, you also have to make sure that the money you receive actually counts as income, the link I provided explains it all.

If your family arrive in the UK on a family visa, they can both work and study in the UK.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thanks,

PERFECT, this sounds better.
I guess that  £18,600 + £2,400 + £2,400 is annually income?

Now for the next part of my question     Sorry

A family Visa per dependent costs £1,464.
That is £1,464 x 3 = £4392.00 (If I apply from outside of the UK)


OR, enter the UK on a Visitor Visa:
£89 x 3 = £267

Then apply from within the UK for family Visas:
£993 x 3 = £2979

Total cost: £2979 + £267 = £3246
That is a saving of £1146

Will that be allowed?

It does say (paraphrasing) "If you came to the UK on a different visa, you might be able to switch to a family visa to stay with your spouse or partner, child or parent"; so it looks like you can.

The only thing that would concern me is that on a visitor visa, your wife won't be able to work, your kids won't be allowed to attend a public school and they won't be able to use the NHS (so you'll need Health Insurance for your wife and children); you can opt to pay into the NHS during the process, this link tells you about it.  So the money you save may get cancelled out by your wife being unable to work, paying for private education and the Health Insurance.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thanks, you guys are awesome. I should have come here in the first place instead of paying someone else for information. I will get it all together and read as much as I can, for now I think the family visas are the way to go.

Just as a last thing.
What is the difference between the Settlement and Family Visa then?
If my family is on a a family Visa, will they be able to apply for Citizenship after the required years? Or is that where the Settlement visa is different?

THANKS A MILLION.

Hi,

The family visa for a married couple that we've been discussing is generally valid for 2.5 years; it follows that it needs to be extended at the end of this time.  A settlement visa is defined as "indefinite leave to remain" and is normally the final link in the chain for people who are in the UK on some kind of temporary visa (like a family visa) and now wish to remain in the UK permanently; there are residency requirements, but it doesn't necessarily follow that you need British nationality to get a settlement visa.  The UK Gov website that explains this can be found at this link; at this link, there is a chain of questions that you'll have to follow to find out where in the system you fit in.

You need to be buyer-beware with this information; this is the current way, Brexit and political interference with UK immigration in general, is currently turning the UK into an Immigration nightmare and the rules may well change under your feet.  I have ex-colleagues who are married to non-EU nationals whose family have been forced to leave the UK when the spouse's immigration status became uncertain.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

So again we are unsure of which Visas to take because of the Brexit issue. As a certainty would it then be better to take the Settlement Visa or wait and see what happens with Brexit?