How does it work for an American who marries a British citizen?
Does this allow entry into the country, and if so, under what type of Visa?

The rules and such are very frustrating and confusing. I don't even know where to start.

Imago said:

you'd be right, hon, if that were the case I can't say for certain, obviously, but I'm 90% sure you'd be ok with regards to a visa

grimnt said:

ok.
There are lots of options and because of my age, it appears difficult.
The only one that looks like a sure shot is the 'marriage' route, but that's rather frustrating as well.

I love American and all, but I would love to get away from this strange and backass place for a good 10 years or more

It was a very difficult decision to immigrate to Australia. I'm in the middle of the process of getting permanent residence right now. I applied for a spouse visa, and it was an asinine amount of work to get everything in order! We hired a migration agent who it turns out was a fraud and abandoned his office without notice after being suspended for unethical actions. Fortunately, it hasn't affected my application, and it should go pretty smoothly!

Imago said:

You have other options too, I'm going to guess, because you've had a pretty good career haven't you? you could maybe go for Highly Skilled Migrant? I don't know... they're changing all the visa's at the moment

Marriage is really my only option too, it sucks

Moonbeam said:

I hope it goes smoothly for you now... you're in a good spot to make things happen, in Sydney

to you and Tracy

grimnt said:

Highly skilled worker program requires that meet a point system.
My age being over 30-something meant I scored low there.
Although I have a masters degree, it wasn't from one of the 30 Universities recongized by the office, so I got no points there.
I ended up 20 points shy of the required amount or some rubbish.

There were other Visas I could get, but they also seemed problematic and a few didn't even count towards my residency there. I'm still looking into it and may actually just pay one of those consulting companies that assist in the endeavor. I would think that US-to-UK and vice versa would be a lot easier since their priminister is our Presidents butt puppet of sorts (I say this with absolutely no pride or malice).

Imago said:

ask val and phil, duh!

so i had this awesome recent graduates thing (BUNAC) that i was planning for, except they moved the deadline to apply up to the end of this month, and the UK govt tacked on a $435 visa fee on top of the $290 program fee. no way can i get the money in time. i've been pretty much crying about it all day.

Imago said:

ah ok, yeah I wasn't sure whether you'd looked at that avenue... fair enough

well, you know I wish you good luck with it all

evenstar3 said:

oh hon I'm sorry that sucks

Imago said:

You would think that but it is not so. The immigration sucks, it is expensive, ever changing and no one in immigration actually know what the rules are.
The only way that I got my visa so quickly into the UK was because we flew to the US when I denied entry into the UK and it had to get sorted ASAP. I paid about $4000 in total to get it all sorted.

Now we are working in reverse and it could take up to 18 months. It is a joke. Being a spouse doesn't mean shit these days as far as immigration goes. Thanks to all of the ppl that got married just to immigrate to another country. we had to provide a lot more evidence of being married other than our marriage certificate.

It is just as hard for someone to go from the US to the UK as it is from any other country, same rules apply.
Do lots of reading and ask lots of questions. Hopefully you can get someone to answer them, that is the hard part.


Too bad they cannot come up with a swapping program. Everyday when I am walking the dog at the aerodrome I run into ppl that ask where I am from. When I tell them, their first question is "why on earth are you HERE???". Then they go on to tell me if they could move to another country they would in a heart beat.
If there was a program that just swapped ppl, it would be quicker than going through this crazy immigration process that they have in place now.


Good luck!

MrsMdiver said:

hope everything goes to plan

grimnt said:

Thanks
We are going to give it our best shot. Maybe I will suggest the swapping system and then we can swap...Australia looks lovely!

evenstar3 said:

You tend to forgot that the Brits used to ship their convicts to Australia and I doubt they want them back.....


(just kidding, ofcourse!)

abierman said:

asshole!!!

grimnt said:

abierman said:

Brits LOVE us Aussies!

grimnt said:

that's because, besides the Irish, the Aussies are the only people in the world who drink more than the Brits!

abierman said:

...SOME Aussies, that is! it's pretty hard to get me to have a drink unless I want one

Okay, I've been looking at the UK border agency site forever, and basically it looks like they're going to be changing up a lot of things in November. They're introducing a new Tier 5 2-year work scheme for 18-30 year olds (please let the US be an eligible country ), and making changes to Tier 2 as well. Hopefully this makes things easier...

evenstar3 said:

I'm crossing my fingers for you

evenstar3 said:

What's with the freaking age restriction?

My bro is emigrating to the states this year.. as he is a professional, he wont have too many problems apparently..

sorry, I cant help about emigrating to the UK.. perhaps get married?

CarrieMpls said:

It's not that older folk are barred from immigration, but they score lower points on the age criterion. As a person increases in age, their balance of asset vs. liability to a country theoretically shifts: fewer years contributing to the GDP, but increased cost to social service programs.

Sounds harsh, doesn't it?

Lammastide said:

I'm not sure that always makes sense, though. I'm earning more than I ever have which means I'm spending more, both in taxes and into the economy. Just cause you get a visa to work somewhere doesn't mean you'll be there for life.

CarrieMpls said:

You're right, of course. But another factor may be your immediate marketability to employers. Because you are older and more experienced, you may command a higher wage, better benefits and more secure terms of employment. This means some companies -- against what may be better judgement -- might actually prefer the fresh-out-of-college young sprite over you. Employers can get maximum work from them, but cyclically chew them up and spit them out at a lower long-term cost. This has created an awful labor situation in France, for example.

I wonder if immigration laws take this "benefit" to employers into account.
[Edited 9/20/08 8:20am]

grimnt said:

Yep! Live in Tel Aviv, near the sea, te market, cafes, restaurants etc. Amazing wife and two gorgeous daughters...