u/AhDunWantIt

Posting this a few days late but wanted to share our timeline and thank this group for their help during this process!

I’m American and switched from a Skilled Worker Visa to a Spouse Visa after my husband and I got married earlier this month. We have been living together for nearly a year now and together for nearly two. My husband is British.

I nabbed a super priority slot thanks to the advice I saw on this group to wait until 1 am — they popped up literally the second the clock turned.

Applied: 21 Aug
Biometrics: 24 Aug
Approval email: 25 Aug

Overall I think ours was a fairly straightforward case but we did still make sure to include as much proof of our relationship, finances, shared home, and details about our lives as possible. Happy to answer any questions!

Hi all! This community has always been extremely helpful to me with all my UK visa questions over the years, from my student visa to my grad visa to my work visa — so I’m hoping you can all help me with my upcoming spousal visa application?

I am an American currently living in the UK on a Skilled Worker Visa, however unfortunately my company is making me redundant. I only have a month left on my visa which doesn’t give me enough time to find a job in my industry to sponsor me. So, my partner and I decided to move up our marriage plans to now so I can switch to the spousal visa, and then we will still have a larger wedding at a later date. So we have done just that — we got married in the US, and we have the certified marriage certificate with us now that we’re headed back to the UK.

So I have a few questions about the documents we need to get together:

FINANCES -
I believe my work is going to put me on garden leave through the end of my visa as a sort of goodwill gesture since the timing of this was so bad, so technically I will still be employed by them until mid September and they will not be reporting my visa as curtailed to the home office. Can I still use my payslips as evidence of finances when we apply?

My partner makes more than enough on his own to meet the requirements (and so do I), however he just started a new job a month or so ago so he has to gather the last 12 months of payslips, plus since he started his new job (where he is now paid weekly) there has been a month long “hold” on being paid due to the way the company structures their payments.

As of last week the hold is done so he now will be paid regularly on a weekly basis, but I’m not sure if that will cause any issues when we submit his bank statements/payslips. Will a letter from his employer explaining the hold and that he is now paid weekly and the amount suffice?

It’s also a year-long fixed term contract — will this make any difference or cause issues?

And lastly, do we need to submit bank statements and payslips, or is one or the other okay?

RELATIONSHIP PROOF -
For proof of shared address we have his drivers license showing our address, and then my name on bills (the flat is mine so all the bills/mortgage/council tax is in my name — for proof of address he just has his bank statements and license right now). Is this enough?

And then for further relationship evidence I was just going to send the marriage certificate of course, some WhatsApp screenshots, tickets from trips we have taken, and photos of us traveling and on date nights, meeting family, etc.

Just want to make sure we are as thorough as possible to avoid issues. Thank you in advance!

Hi all,

Due to an unfortunate turn of events, I may be being made redundant on my skilled worker visa. Unfortunately it expires in a month and a half, meaning I don’t have much time to find a new role, so my partner and I are considering marriage as an option so I can switch to a spousal visa.

Is it true that because I am not a British citizen, the average waiting time after giving notice at the local registrar is 70-71 days rather than 29?

We are looking at Denmark and Gibraltar as well but it looks like the waiting time for a ceremony in Denmark is months. I haven’t checked on Gibraltar yet, but if that’s also a long wait time, I’m not sure what else we can do. I’m an American citizen — could we do it in the US quickly, and then come back to apply for the spousal visa?

Has anyone else been having a really difficult time getting in touch with customer service?

I have an order that UPS appears to have lost, there’s been no scans in over a week. I have emailed a couple of times to get Rouje to open an investigation with UPS since I can’t do it myself, and they just aren’t responding. I got one message back which was referencing the wrong order saying they can see it’s arrived, but when I responded repeating that I’m talking about a different order… nothing.

It’s just frustrating as the dress is now sold out and it was over £200, and I haven’t been able to get any sort of assistance for a week now. I have tried IG messaging them as well with no luck. Is this normal for them?! I have never had any issues with them before so I’m really surprised at this lack of communication when I have a real issue.

Also have any of you had success with UPS finding a parcel after no movement for days? It’s coming to London if that makes any difference, and looks like the delay is occurring in their Corbeil Essonnes hub in France.

Hello! Like many of you I’m trying to figure out the best way forward for my student loans now that SAVE is dead. I switched into IBR this morning (it looks like the other IDR options are being phased out anyway in 2028?), so am waiting for approval on that, but I noticed this when I was reading about the different options — “remaining balance may be taxable after loan forgiveness”.

I had NO idea about this and after some light research it seems like a lot of people didn’t know this would be the case with forgiveness. I’m in a strange position with my loans because I actually don’t live in the US anymore, and I claim foreign income exclusion on my taxes so my income here in the UK is excluded. That brings my US income to $0, and so I don’t ever actually pay anything on these loans. With IBR, my loan amount is going to double from roughly $50k to $100k thanks to accruing interest by the time they are forgiven in 20-25 years.

Is the entire forgiven balance, interest and all, treated as taxable? Does this mean I should expect the IRS to ask for ~$25k in 20 years’ time? Or can I have them remain unforgiven forever? 😂 It’s not the end of the world but I’m surprised no one really talks about this in the conversation about student loan forgiveness (or maybe they do and I just don’t hear about it abroad - I know more about UK tax than I do US).

Thank you!