British Citizen Moving to UK with Turkish Wife

Hi,

I'm a British citizen and have been living in Istanbul, Turkey for about 15 years. I met my wife about 6 years ago, we married 4 years ago and now have two children. My wife is a Turkish citizen.

We want to go and live in the UK but are unsure how to apply as I do not have a job there and we have no house there although we have some money saved.

Should we go (my wife has a tourist visa) then apply for permission for my wife to stay as soon as I have a job and we've rented a house? Or should we apply for residency from here, give my parents address for residence and show that we have money saved?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks in advance,

Mike.

mikeyistanbul wrote:Hi,

I'm a British citizen and have been living in Istanbul, Turkey for about 15 years. I met my wife about 6 years ago, we married 4 years ago and now have two children. My wife is a Turkish citizen.

We want to go and live in the UK but are unsure how to apply as I do not have a job there and we have no house there although we have some money saved.

Should we go (my wife has a tourist visa) then apply for permission for my wife to stay as soon as I have a job and we've rented a house? Or should we apply for residency from here, give my parents address for residence and show that we have money saved?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks in advance,

Mike.

No - u cannot switch from tourist visa to anything really.

Best for u to go to UK, establish urself with a job and flat, then call ur wife, otherwise u fall foul of the finance and accommodation tests, which without five figure savings u cannot pass..

Mikey, it doesn't seem reasonable to me that you should have to separate from your family to find work in the UK before they can join you. You have been married (and I assume living together) for 4 years and are a British citizen. Wanderer, surely that should influence the BA's decision?

I'm in almost exactly the same position as you, in that I am British by birth, have been an expat in China for around 8 years, met and married my wife here four years ago and have two kids. Both of our children are British citizens. I do not have a job in the UK yet either, and we'll be living with my mum when we arrive.

We're be putting in our application tomorrow and the more I read on here, the more concerned I am about whether it will be accepted. This is what we'll be submitting:

VAF4A application form
Passports (copies of mine and kids)
Marriage certificate
Birth certificates (me, wife, kids)
My bank statement (printed from website, showing amount, a/c number, name)
Wife's Chinese bank statement
Photos (wedding day, us and the kids, us and my family)
Letter from my mum saying we'll stay at her house
Letter from me outlining our situation

The one thing I'm not sure on is the Sponsorship Undertaking form (SU07/01). Is it absolutely necessary to fill this in? As I have been in China for so long, I don't have any of the supporting documents necessary to complete this form so it doesn't seem to apply to our situation. Any advice is welcome.

Basically, if u r expat, and want to return with missus etc, u have have to prove u can afford it, u cannot return cap in hand claiming I am British etc....

Money, money, money...

U need to pay or have savings extravaganza...

Ok, I can understand that.

Regarding my question about the Sponsorship Undertaking form, should I just fill it in without any of the requested supporting docs then (title deeds etc.)? Is it a requirement for spouse visas?

Wanderer wrote:
u fall foul of the finance and accommodation tests, which without five figure savings u cannot pass..

Hello Wanderer,

Is € 12, 000 in savings account sufficient to pass this finance & accommodation test? I am also in the same situation. I have the house in the UK but I do not have the Job in UK and I want to move from Brussels though I have a decent job in Brussels.

Thanks for answering the question.

Thanks to everyone for replying here. PTP you're right that it is unreasonable would have thought if you've been married for years and have children no problem but it doesn't seem that way.

And thank you wanderer - how much money are we talking about and how must you prove you have it? I have 2 cars would the documentation for them be enough or should I sell them and put the money in the bank then print out a statement or something???

mikeyistanbul wrote:Thanks to everyone for replying here. PTP you're right that it is unreasonable would have thought if you've been married for years and have children no problem but it doesn't seem that way.

And thank you wanderer - how much money are we talking about and how must you prove you have it? I have 2 cars would the documentation for them be enough or should I sell them and put the money in the bank then print out a statement or something???

You need to sell your cars in order for the eco to consider the money to be a part of your maintenance.

Elena.

mikeyistanbul wrote:Elena.

Yes?

I was just saying thank you Elena someone else was telling me to work out expenses for 6 months council tax etc. and perhaps I could submit those calculations with the application...

mikeyistanbul wrote:I was just saying thank you Elena someone else was telling me to work out expenses for 6 months council tax etc. and perhaps I could submit those calculations with the application...

No problem.

Yeah you should submit a budget sheet with your application. 6 months is a good amount of time. You should have £101/week left over after rent and council tax.

We can manage that what do you think the chances are of them granting my wife a visa?

mikeyistanbul wrote:We can manage that what do you think the chances are of them granting my wife a visa?

If you meet the other criteria as well as the financial aspect then I would say you will get an approval.

Thank you so much Elena you've been so helpful