Return to the UK

[HUG]

You are saying i could move to France ,Spain or any other European country with my wife at the same time. Dont i need to have a job??

Of course you can't. There would be no one left in DR if that was possible.

You are restricting everyones movement by not having a job where you want to live. Families have to separate sometimes to benefit the family, it's no big deal for a man to go off to work to support his family for a year or so. You'll get nowhere waiting for change that might not happen.

 

[Matilda]

There are no sponsors anymore. They do not exist. I paid several hundred thousands in tax to the British government over my working life there. Yet I can never return to live there with my husband. I am more or less retired so no way could I earn the money they insist you do and I doubt he could ever pass the English test. We have been together for 13 years, married for nearly 10, yet can never live together in the UK. Windeguy you say "Makes perfect sense that you should have sufficient resources to support the person you want to bring into a country." Yes. But those Dominicans married to Americans and Canadians who want to go to their countries do not have to pass an English language test. And what is more, the test that they ask for is only speaking and listening. But that test doesn't exist in the DR so they have to do a much harder test which is speaking, listening, reading and writing. Oh and I forgot, need a TB test too, another couple of hundred dollars. The problem is the UK is overrun with immigrants from the EU, none of whom need to do any of this. You marry a Pole, a Greek, no probs, come on down. If you marry someone from an ex British colony, Barbados, Jamaica, no probs. Marry a Dominican - here are the rules. Not fair.

Matilda

 

[HUG]

Does your wife have a decent job?

 

[TropicalPaul]

You are saying i could move to France ,Spain or any other European country with my wife at the same time. Dont i need to have a job??

The British government sets immigration rules for people moving into the UK, but they are forced by EU law to allow any EU national live and work in the UK, and this person can also bring their spouse with them, the spouse can work from day one. So someone from Spain could bring their Dominican wife, and the Uk government would not be able to say no, because the Spanish person is "exercising his EU treaty rights". The same applies to UK nationals who choose to live in other EU member states, so a British national could take his Dominican wife and live in Spain, France, Germany etc. and those countries would have to let the wife in. The relevant EU law is Article 3 of Directive 2004/38/EC. You have to show that you are married, have been in a relationship for 2 years and that the EU national who is bringing in the spouse is able to support the spouse, but there are less hoops to jump through because it's not a law set by each country, it's a European law which they are forced to abide by.

Again, you really do need professional advice on this before you move forward.

 

[HUG]

This is a little misleading if you haven't been through it an exhausted these options. It basically means that once you are accepted into the UK, you can then move around Europe. You can not be a British citizen and apply for the visa for your wife for another European country. You need the UK visa before you can go elsewhere, there is no getting around that.

 

[mountainannie]

well, you could go to Jamaica probably for five years and get Jamaican citizenship and then she would be a Commonwealth citizen. Ok. I am only sorta kidding. This is really unbelievable. I wonder if all the other Brits here know that when they marry a Dominicana they are really consigning themselves to living here forever? I know that most Americans would always want the chance to go back home. What if they are on a pension?

 

[mountainannie]

Please How? I have been told that i have to return to the UK and find work. This work has have a salary above 18500. Once i have worked continuously for 6 months then i can apply for her to join me.
My dad wants to be a sponsor for her so she can come with me now. He will pay all living costs and provide us with a home. But i cannot find any information to say he can do this. I have emailed the UK visa people however, i cannot get a direct answer.

I guess the question is whether or not you think that you can find work that will pay that much. Six months is not that long.

 

[HUG]

What if they are on a pension?

If they are on pensions then they have had a lifetime to build savings up, and he will have evidence of this. It is as good as impossible for young men if they are not prepared to live apart from their wife and child for a year or more.
People keep saying 6months................ After 6 months is when you can begin the process, deposit the paperwork, by the time you get the process completed you could have been waiting and working apart for a couple of years with only the vacation visit.

My advice if you can't stick the DR anymore, arrange for the kid to leave with you, get her settled while you begin the whole haul for getting mum over. If the child is in school for a year or so in the UK it will also work for the mother to get in also, down the line once you have some financial records to produce. And the time will not be that tough when you can see the child every day.

 

[malko]

It still does seem an absurd law......
U dont choose who u fall in love with.........
And in this time and age everything is international this and international that...... people travel all aroumd the world on buisness or/and pleasure......
It would have seen more appropriated,,or less out of place,if it was an iranian or north coreen law........

 

[AnnaC]

It still does seem an absurd law......
U dont choose who u fall in love with.........
And in this time and age everything is international this and international that...... people travel all aroumd the world on buisness or/and pleasure......
It would have seen more appropriated,,or less out of place,if it was an iranian or north coreen law........

Let's put it this way, for many from certain countries it is almost impossible to immigrate to first world countries on their own merits unless they marry someone from there. It is the easiest way as hard as it may sound.

Can you see the problem?

 

[Mauricio]

When I had the same dilemma back in 2004 I considered the option of living in any other country of the EU than the Netherlands. The EU happens (or happened) to have a law that allows a EU citizen to live anywhere in the EU WITH his (or her) non-EU spouse. (She'll get a special visum). Most countries have their own stricter laws which impeded me to do the same in the a Netherlands, if I wanted to go there I needed to have a job earning 125% of minimum and start the process of getting her visa having the job and being able to proof enough income.

In the end we really didn't want to live in another country first so I solved it by getting a job in my father's company, did actual work for him as well, but stayed in DR, as soon as possible we arranged her residence visa and made the move.

 

[TropicalPaul]

This is a little misleading if you haven't been through it an exhausted these options. It basically means that once you are accepted into the UK, you can then move around Europe. You can not be a British citizen and apply for the visa for your wife for another European country. You need the UK visa before you can go elsewhere, there is no getting around that.

I don't think you are correct. If you are British, you have a right to go and live and work in Spain. You also have the right to take your family with you, and this includes your Dominican wife. She doesn't need permission to live in the UK with you, you can just go straight to Spain. It is easier to get this permission for her than to get permission for her to come and live with you in the UK. She will immediately get the right to work in Spain, and after 5 years, she gets a permanent stay in Spain. Once she has a Spanish passport, she can then come to the UK and live and work there. This rule applies if a UK national goes to any other EU country - so you could, for example, go and live in Dublin - but the minute a UK national tries to bring his wife into the UK, it's controlled by UK immigration rules, which are far tougher.

 

[AnnaC]

I don't think you are correct. If you are British, you have a right to go and live and work in Spain. You also have the right to take your family with you, and this includes your Dominican wife. She doesn't need permission to live in the UK with you, you can just go straight to Spain. It is easier to get this permission for her than to get permission for her to come and live with you in the UK. She will immediately get the right to work in Spain, and after 5 years, she gets a permanent stay in Spain. Once she has a Spanish passport, she can then come to the UK and live and work there. This rule applies if a UK national goes to any other EU country - so you could, for example, go and live in Dublin - but the minute a UK national tries to bring his wife into the UK, it's controlled by UK immigration rules, which are far tougher.

Must be something new. A Dominican living in the DR can just get on a plane with her husband and go to Spain with no Visa?

 

[HUG]

I would like to see you correct, although these options were explored and shut down. The legal advice was to try to wait until the system changes again, which is a blind idea. For arguments sakes, lets say this is correct, I presume this works both ways. Any Italian can take his Dominican wife to France, and french man can take his Dominican wife to Spain, or any Spanish man can take his wife to the UK...................... Without the requirements for his wife, or minimal, is this what you are saying? Because we all know that this is not true. That is just open season on Europe, impossible!

 

[HUG]

Must be something new. A Dominican living in the DR can just get on a plane with her husband and go to Spain with no Visa?

If Paul is going off the websites and info packs they have then I can entirely understand how the ease of it all seems. There are several seeming loop holes, but on investigation they get closed down. When it comes to Visas and Dominicans, if it seems easy then it is impossible, simple as that.


I hope to be proved wrong and some rules are now stupid simple, but I doubt it.


But besides this, I think we are moving from the point that a British citizen wants to live in the UK with his family, and can't. Several long term residents married to Doms have spoken of this, and I believe every option investigated. I am not sure just moving somewhere else is an option, you can't just go and bum off society anywhere in Europe.

It does seem wrong, but the UK is wrong, it is not a great place to live when accustomed to DR. I'm not even sure Dominicanas settle very well in British society, it rarely offers what they expect and see on TV.

 

[malko]

Let's put it this way, for many from certain countries it is almost impossible to immigrate to first world countries on their own merits unless they marry someone from there. It is the easiest way as hard as it may sound.

Can you see the problem?

I do see the problem. U imply that every dominicana/o will marry just for the possibilitie of livinig in the EU or other first world country.
While I am sure there even people out there that "sell " their nationality, I am also sure there are true love stories out there too.....
It shouldnt be too hard to distinguish between them.......
In switzerland they have surprise visits to ure home if they think u are living apart or suspect u "sold" ure passport.

For the sake of the conversation and also because hes is a dr1er and dr1er are all good guys, lets assume that the OP and his wife will spend their whole life togother in total harmony and love. 5 years IS a long time.
Then a british citizen should have the right to go back to britain with his wife, whoever that may be.Period.

 

[HUG]

Then a british citizen should have the right to go back to britain with his wife, whoever that may be.Period.

Yip, nothing great about being a British citizen these days, it's a disgrace and why most of us leave in the first place. Second class citizens in our own country.

 

[mountainannie]

If they are on pensions then they have had a lifetime to build savings up, and he will have evidence of this. It is as good as impossible for young men if they are not prepared to live apart from their wife and child for a year or more.
People keep saying 6months................ After 6 months is when you can begin the process, deposit the paperwork, by the time you get the process completed you could have been waiting and working apart for a couple of years with only the vacation visit.

My advice if you can't stick the DR anymore, arrange for the kid to leave with you, get her settled while you begin the whole haul for getting mum over. If the child is in school for a year or so in the UK it will also work for the mother to get in also, down the line once you have some financial records to produce. And the time will not be that tough when you can see the child every day.

Kid? What kid? The OP only mentioned a wife.

 

[TropicalPaul]

This is just one of the many reasons that so many Brits want to leave Europe, and the UK Independence Party is doing so well at the elections. European law rides roughshot over what makes sense, and it is indeed the case that a British person can go and live in Spain with his Dominican wife because he is exercising his rights as an EU citizen, and very few questions can be asked by the Spanish immigration people. But if the same British person wants to go and live in his own country, then he is subject to British, not European, laws, and therefore the UK government has the right to say no to him. This has been a loophole for years and years and people are still exploiting it, I believe.

 

[TropicalPaul]

Must be something new. A Dominican living in the DR can just get on a plane with her husband and go to Spain with no Visa?

Anna, she would need to get a visa first. But the "visa" would be applied for by her husband who would say he was exercising his treaty rights. He would need to demonstrate to the Spanish embassy that he was married - or in a relationship similar to marriage - that they had been together for two years and that he could support his wife. The Spanish embassy is required to give them a decision within 6 months of application. But the law is quite clear that a British citizen can take his wife, from any country, to live with him, so the only grounds they can object on are that she is not his wife, or that it's a sham marriage, or that he won't be able to support her. It's much easier than trying to get her a visa for his home country.