How to apply for a family visa from the USA to the UK: A Guide

Americans are “non-visa nationals”, so why do I even need a visa?

Whilst American tourists and business visitors can enter the UK without having to apply for a visa in advance, anyone wishing to stay longer than 6 months must apply for a visa that will permit them to do so. American spouses and partners are no exception and must apply for a family visa from the USA before travelling to the UK.

What are the rules?

The Immigration Rules are detailed within Appendix FM whilst the evidential requirements are detailed within Appendix FM-SE.

The legal requirements are based five different segments.

The first is to prove your relationship to the UK partner, whether that be to show you are engaged, living together for two years or married. You also must show sufficient documentation to prove a genuine and subsisting relationship over a reasonable period before the application is submitted to rule out any allegations of a sham marriage.

The second is to show a UK home where you will both live. This can be owned, rented or a place provided by a family member or friend as long as inclusion of the applicant will not result in overcrowding as defined by the relevant Housing Acts.

The third, and possibly the most important, is the financial position. You can show that your UK partner is working, self-employed, has income from other sources such as rented properties and so on. You can also rely on cash savings – a staggering £62,500 is required if no other income can be relied upon.

The fourth segment is to do with English language and Tuberculosis testing which US citizens are exempt from as long as they have lived there for at least 6 months before applying.

The fifth and final segment is to do with character and immigration history. They take into account any previous overstaying, refusals, breaches of visa conditions and any civil/criminal convictions which include driving offences. There is a sliding scale used for assessment and some offences result in a mandatory refusal whilst others allow discretionary arguments to be made when seeking a pragmatic approach.

Once you have decided you’re ready to apply, here is how to do it.

Stage 1 – Application

The first stage is the submission of the actual visa application form on the gov.uk website. This involves a lengthy application form answering detailed questions about your background and current circumstances. After you have filled out all of your details, you also have to select a US location where you will enrol your biometrics. Biometric enrolment is mandatory for all applicants and involves providing your fingerprints and having a digital photograph taken of you. Next, you pay your immigration health surcharge fee, pay your application fee, and then, your application is officially considered submitted.

Stage 2 – Biometrics meeting and evidence submission

After submission, you will have to attend your biometrics appointment and arrange your documents to be sent to the decision-makers.

There are different ways to submit your evidence. The most common one, and best way, is to self-upload to their partner website, VFS Global. Doing it yourself is reassuring as there is no reliance placed on a third party to scan things correctly. To the biometrics meeting, you then take your upload receipt together with the usual passports and any other ancillary items instructed at the time of submission.

If you do not wish to self-upload and would rather have this done, there is a service that can be purchased which allows you to take all the documents along to the meeting and have it done.

You can also purchase additional services such as access to a premium lounge, passport return and SMS services.

Stage 3 - Decision and visa

The decision is intimated via email with the initial visa called ‘vignette’ affixed in your passport. This is valid for 3 months to allow for flight arrangement to be made. The applicant is expected to enter the UK to ‘activate’ the visa before the expiry date. Following arrival, they collect the remainder of their visa (33 months for cohabiting partners and spouses) from their chosen post office.

Last words of advice

Keeping a close eye on VFS website is crucial in this climate which changes are often rapid and unprompted. If you are struggling or feeling overwhelmed with this process, please do get in touch with us.

The Immigration Department at Burness Paull LLP is led by Grace McGill. Amna Ashraf heads the Family Migration division and has over 10 years of experience in dealing with this type of work. The team will work with you to take as much of the stress and uncertainty out of the process as possible. Amna Ashraf and Grace McGill are best contacted by email.