We're thinking about returning to Europe but don't know about Austria. We both LOVE England, have some friends there, and could envision our future there. Thus the question: What are our options for moving to England? That is, can we simply pack up and move? Would my wife have to be employed in order for me to get a work visa? Or can we move there if I intend to be the primary bread-winner? What if I intend to obtain a graduate degree there? Can we stay while I go to school and then remain there afterward? Would my time in school count toward the five years of residency required before one can apply for citizenship? I appreciate your responses.
Immigration - 2 Answers
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1 :
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/eucitizens/
2 :
Your wife, as an EU citizen, has complete freedom to live and work in the UK, so she can just pack up and move. You don't have that so will have to qualify some other way. What makes it easier is that you can apply as her husband, and that removes any requirement about work visas, student visas or any other such fiddling around. It also means you can get UK permanent residence quite a bit quicker. In all probability you can simply get a residence card as the husband of an EU citizen - see first link below. If this isn't possible, you'd need to get a settlement visa as the husband of an EU citizen wife. The 2nd link below is the relevant information page from the UK Border Agency's web site and you can find your way around the rest of it from there. As the husband of a settled resident, permission to stay would be granted for 2 years in the first place, and if you are still together at the end of that time, you can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain which, as the name states, gives you permanent residence rights in the UK. If you weren't married, you'd have to wait for 5 years to get that as stated in your question. If you've already been living together for more than 4 years, you might be granted ILR straight away, the one sticking point being that to get ILR, you have to pass the "Life in the UK" test as if you were applying to be naturalised as a British citizen, and you can only take the test in the UK. But you could probably do that on a visit to the UK, which you can do without a visa for up to 6 months anyway. Having got a visa as the husband of a resident wife, you would be completely free to study or work in the UK and being able to support yourselves without having to call on social security would be a key point of your application. Time as a student doesn't count towards the usual five years' residence required for citizenship, but as you would be applying as the husband of your wife rather than as a student, I suspect that doesn't matter in your case. Another little point on that is that if you've been living in the UK or elsewhere in the EU for three years, you'd pay the home student rate of tuition fees, which is usually about a third of the overseas rate - so you might like to think about that when deciding if you want to do a graduate degree immediately after coming to live in the UK or put it off for a while. (I work for the UK government agency that funds further education, so I know the requirement is based on length of residence rather than nationality. EU residence counts because it has to under EU law.) Good luck, and it's nice to hear you love England as much as I do!
