How to sponsor my wife when I don't currently reside in UK?

[mfripp]

I am a dual US/UK citizen. I have lived in the US all my life, but am now moving to the UK with my wife to take a new job. She is an Indian citizen. We are applying for a settlement visa for her as my spouse, and have most of the documents in order.

The one thing that is perplexing us is the accommodation details that I have to provide as her sponsor. I don't currently live in the UK, so I don't have housing papers to show. We are planning to enter together and stay with friends or book a hotel for the first few weeks, while we look for permanent housing. We would like to stay with friends, but don't think we could list that as our UK address, because they only have a small flat, not suitable for us and them to live in long-term (and we don't want to be nosy and ask for copies of their rental agreement). On the other hand, a hotel reservation also doesn't seem like very convincing evidence of my having an established address in the UK. And we don't want to book a long-term lease sight-unseen before we get there.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can show a fixed address in the UK before we actually go there to find our permanent place?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Wanderer]

You will need to show suitable accommodation and sufficient funds.

What folks usually do is the UK Cit. goes first and rents a place, gets a job etc, and the other follows.

Otherwise you might struggle with the requirements

[mfripp]

What folks usually do is the UK Cit. goes first and rents a place, gets a job etc, and the other follows.

Thanks for this reply. So is it likely to be impossible to satisfy the visa officers on the accommodation issue without me going to the UK to line up long-term housing first? (I already have a 2-year, renewable employment contract in hand.)

Would they be satisfied with an open-ended rental agreement for a room in a house, or would that seem like insufficient space? I remember something that said they want us to have a flat or house of our own.

Alternatively, would they be satisfied with an open-ended agreement for a short-let flat? That is expensive, but probably costs less than an extra trip to the UK.