Feeling Stuck
Posted by jds476@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 5 comments
I am an expat(US citizen) living in the UK, with my Portuguese husband, who has ILR. For the longest time, our plan has been to secure UK citizenship for ourselves, and Portuguese citizenship for myself, giving us (almost) full access to all of Europe.
However, it's absolutely EXHAUSTING trying to keep up with the immigration rules! We are hurriedly trying to secure his UK citizenship, in case the upcoming rule changes affect his current ILR. Very concerned about changes to my visa, with no clear idea on whether I'm going to see an increase from 5-10 years to obtain ILR/citizenship. Not to mention the 20k+ in visa fees over the course of my stay...
Looking at moving to other countries doesn't look any easier; if we were to try to move to Portugal, my husband would not meet the income requirements to sponsor a family reunification visa, as we live in the UK and would have to quit his job to move to Portugal. Since he works in a highly competitive job field, we would probably need to spend extended time apart before he could find a job and sponsor me. There are also planned changes to Portuguese immigration law that I worry will affect me as well.
I know this comes off as whiny, and I understand I am very lucky to live in the UK and am ultimately excited to get my UK/Portuguese citizenship! But wondering if anyone is feeling the same as me, or is in a similar situation? How do/did you handle it?
Wonderful-Help-8708@reddit
Move to the Netherlands. We are stupid enough to handout easy daft visa’s for Americans and get almost nothing in return for that friendship treaty.
The Portugese partner has an eu passport so that shouldn’t be a problem either.
Only housing might be a bit problematic but you have that problem almost everywhere in the eu.
HVP2019@reddit
Obtaining extra citizenships is not something that excites me personally especially if it involves uprooting my family or going through stressful or expensive process.
Yes immigration rules can be stressful so I minimize my stress by avoiding doing things that are optional and doing only what it necessary for me to live permanently in a country my family is settled.
krkrbnsn@reddit
There's a few things that are unclear with your post but my first question is how long have you both lived in the UK and how long have you each had pre-settled/settled status?
It sounds like he currently has settled status which is only needed for 1 year to then apply for citizenship. This should be the priority if you want to stay in the UK have stability. The potential change from 5 to 10 years for ILR/settled status continues to be debated in government so there's nothing you can really do about that except continue to live out the current EUSS timeframes. But it sounds like your husband should be <1yr away from that.
This part I'm confused about. If you came through your Portuguese spouse on the EUSS, you shouldn't have had anywhere close to these amounts in visa amounts as this particular scheme is incredibly streamlined and subsidised through the EU-UK withdrawal agreement. Even spouses of UK citizens have to pay more than spouses that are on the EUSS so I'm unclear on how your situation has amounted to that much.
It's almost always easier and cheaper to move to an EU country in which your EU spouse isn't a national of. This is because each individual EU country can create its own immigration rules for its own citizens and their spouses but they must provide specific rights to EU non-nationals (and their spouses) through the freedom of movement directive. This often results in some relatively light level residential bureaucracy when moving a spouse to another EU country rather than the full immigration visa processes of moving a spouse to your home country. Have you considered Spain?
My partner and I went through a similar decision process as you - I'm American, he's French and we live in the UK. Ultimately, we decided that we wanted to stay in the UK until at least one of us got British citizenship so we could have some stability (I got mine late last year) . I think that should be the priority for you both since you've already invested so much time and money into the country. Then perhaps start planning your exit strategy.
Lastly, I'm not an immigration specialist at all, just someone that has also gone through the process and done research around it. r/ukvisa is a really good source to ask specific immigration questions if you continue to have any.
jds476@reddit (OP)
My husband has been in the UK since 2018 and I've been here since 2021. He's had ILR for >1 year but only just now in the financial position to pay for his citizenship application. I came on a student visa and only switched to a spouse visa in 2024.
I may have worded the costing a bit poorly, but in summary: With the cost of my student visa, graduate visa, spouse visa X2, future ILR application, and future citizenship application X2, plus biometrics/other random bits, this is a little over 20k.
Spain is never somewhere I've seriously considered (with how much I've struggled with Portuguese it's a little daunting to learn a third language!), but I didn't know that it's easier than my husband's home country, I'll definitely look into this, thank you!
antizana@reddit
You could move to any other EU country, and there isn’t an income requirement for you to be with your husband there.
Instead of focusing on the passports, focus on where you actually want to live. If you’re happy in the UK then the effort and expense of pursing citizenship is worth it. If you don’t want to be there forever then don’t bother. If you want to live elsewhere for example in the EU then do so.