British citizen moving back to UK with Australian husband

[Lindsay S]

Hi,

Can anyone help point me in the right direction? I don't really know where to start. I am a British citizen and have lived in Australia since 2009 and married an Australian. I am a permanent resident of Australia but we are looking to move to England in a couple of years. Does anyone know what we need to do for this and what visa my husband will need? Can we do this from Australia or do I need to move back first?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Lindsay 

[Collie]

Hi Lindsay,

Not sure what of what your hubbie needs to do to be legal in the UK (some sort of partner visa I'm guessing).  I would recommend you take out Australian citizenship before leaving though.  It keeps your options open into the future, you never know how circumstances may change.  It is relatively straightforward and not overly expensive.  You won't lose anything on the British side.  There seems to be a bit of a processing backlog at the moment though so do it sooner raher than later.

I moved home in 2007 ("for good"), but took out my Aussie citizenship before leaving.  GFC hits, no work, 4 years later, I'm back living in Aus.  The point being that by having the Aussie passport I had options and didn't need to worry about Resident return visas etc.

Col

[Lindsay S]

That's a good idea thanks for that Col. Yeah I was thinking the same for some sort of partner visa but it looks like its all in relation to me already being there when I've been looking into it and then him coming over. Plus there was the part about me having to be earning nearly 20k GPB p/a and obviously I'm in Australia still so we don't meet that. Glad we have decided to look into it all now rather than last min haha.

[Wa7]

Spouse visa will be required, from what I gather you can apply for it whilst still in Aus but not 100% on this. Check with your partner if they have a British born grandparent because they can then apply for a ancestry visa and this is a much easier visa to obtain.

 

 

 

[Lindsay S]

Thanks so much, I'll take a look at that

[LKC]

I think this is the relevant part of the UK government website https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk.  It seems that you can apply from outside the UK, but there are requirements that need to be met, such as a financial requirement which might mean you either need a certain amount in savings or a job with a salary over a certain amount to come to (I think the British partner needs the job).  I would second what someone else said about citizenship.  It would make life easier if you wanted to return to Australia at any point.

Edited April 14, 2017 by LKC
Forgot the link!

[Collie]

Good idea on the ancestry visa.  It may be worth checking if they are eligible for any sort of European citizenship by descent.  A large part of the Australian population will be of European descent.  This will do him for at least the short term for the UK (depending on the whole Brexit debacle) and will save you a whole load of hoops to jump through.