SPOUSE VISA QUERIES: MARRIED COUPLE RELOCATING FROM PANAMA

[panapatty]

Hi,

I hope that someone is able to help me with a few queries I have regarding the spouse visa or at least point me in the right direction. Your help is much appreciated!

I'm a British citizen and have been married to my Panamanian husband for a little more than 2 years. We have both been living together in Panama for the last 3 years, however, we have now both come to the decision that we would like to move permanently to the UK. As such, we both plan to move back to the UK at the end of March this year and understand we would need to apply for a spouse visa for my husband.

My queries relate mainly to the financial aspects of our application. We have joint savings of approximately $5000 and this amount should increase to about $7000 once we have sold our car. I also have 2 bank accounts open in the UK with savings of about £3500. My UK bank statements get sent to my parents address in the UK as such I dont have the originals - do I need the originals to make the application? Will scanned copies suffice?

Also, regarding employment, I am a qualified ESOL teacher and have been teaching in Panama since I arrived. I do not currently have a job offer awaiting me in the UK - is this necessary? I am aware of job postings for which I am suitably qualified - would print outs of these openings be sufficient? I am also a qualified notetaker for the deaf - with this certification I am able to work freelance with deaf students in higher education. However, once again I do not have job offers pertaining to this line of work.

Another course for concern is that both my husband and I have been living in an annex (constructed and paid for by husband) to his father's property since our marriage. Although such arrangements are commonplace here, is it likely the Immigration Officer will look negatively at our living arrangement? We contribute to the bills and support ourselves wholly without any support from his parents. Further to this, we have no utility bills that are in joint names as this is not permitted here (our internet bill comes under my husband's name only), so do not have proof in this form of living together for the last 3 years. We can however, receive a statement confirming this from the local townhouse and lawyer based on sworn statements by non-family witnesses. Is this acceptable? Also, we plan to live with my parents upon arrival in England on an absolutely short-term basis until we get our feet on the ground and are able to move out (once I get a job).

Any thoughts or advice on our situation, especially from those who have been in a similar situation would be greatly appreciated. I would also be grateful for advice on what evidence we should prepare for the spouse visa application. We want to be as thorough as possible in supporting our application.

Thank you very much! Hope to hear from some of you soon!

[batleykhan]

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

Read this first. If you are still not sure,come back and ask

[panapatty]

Thank you for the link. From what I have read, I understand that my husband will need to apply for the 2 year probationary spouse visa. However, the document doesn't really answer the queries I had in my original post.

From what I have read so far on the board/forum, is that most couples applying for the spouse visa are apart from each other at the time of application with the foreign spouse joining the British spouse in the UK. My situation is slightly different in that I have lived abroad with my husband for nearly 3 years and will be moving back to the UK together. If anyone has been through a similar experience and can provide any advice on how they prepared for the application process, then it would be much appreciated.

Also, if anyone is able to give me some guidance in regard to the queries I had in my original post then that too would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[batleykhan]

If you want to move back to teh UK at the same time as your hubby, then you will have to apply for your hubby whilst you are both iN Panama.

In order for your husband to suceed with his application, you need to convince teh ECO that you have enough finanace,support and accomadation available IN THE UK in order for your husband to suceed.

Now if you are confident you can show that, then by all means apply.

From your comments it is clear that you are more worried of what evidence you have back in Panama. I dont know why you are worried about this as the ECO will not be interested in this. He is more interested of what will happen when you both arrive in teh UK and he will judge you on that

If you had lived together 4 yrs or more then your hubby could have applied for indefinite leave to enter rather than an entry clearance(SPOUSAL) visa which is what he will require at the moment irrespective of how you apply for it.

The chances of suceeding in applications like I have stated above are much slimmer than had you first arrived in the UK,made arrangements for accomadation, got a job and show some savings.This way you can prove that you can support your hubby when he arrives in the UK which is the main thing that the ECO wants to know.

This does however mean there will be a period when you will be apart untill such time he gets his visa.

The latter is the better option in my opinion,because you can prove the main points whereas in the first one, he is to judge you what you might have available.

The choice is yours

[mochyn]

When I decided to return to the UK with my wife of 11 years, I first tried to get ILE but was told by the UK embassy of the difficulty and then decided to come back on a spousal visa.So I came back before my wife, found work and accommodation then she joined me.
A painful period of separation but it had to be done