LadyUK

Just a quick thank you to everyone who has every given me great advice here!

We sent our first application packet off on Saturday - and I understand that London is speeding up.

I am so excited!

Only the divorce petitioner can apply for the decree absolute. They have to wait 6 weeks and one day from the date of the nisi before they can apply for the absolute.

Who is the petitioner of the divorce? Your fiance or his soon to be ex? And what is the date on the nisi?

This is why I'm glad my fiance didn't need an attorney!

If the petitioner does not apply for a decree absolute, then the respondent can apply 3 months after the date the petitioner could have applied for the decree absolute. This is 4½ months and 1 day after the decree nisi is granted and the cost is £30. The petitioner can prevent the respondent from doing this if the petitioner can show that by doing so would create financial difficulties, where a final financial order for ancillary relief has not been granted.

My divorce took about 2.5 years because of financial things being drawn out.

The courts almost always wait for financial matters to be settled before they will let either of you apply for the absolute, in case one of you dies, etc.

It was such a headache, but worth it in the end.

Good luck, and if you ever need someone to talk to, I am here for you.

I am feeling loads better about our upcoming DCF, and have followed the advice given you me.

So, we are now sorting things out for our wedding, and I thought I would share them with you (personal information has been removed).

Click the thumbnails for full size versions...

Once again, thank you everyone!

Well, I have not heard anyone outright say that that is what they are doing - but its pretty obvious.

I have written proof that this guy hasn't developed some of the sites/software he has claimed to have worked on - funnily enough the UK Home Office. They have never heard of him and weren't happy that he has made these claims.

The directors at this particular company where this guy is are always very hesitant to fire someone - I don't understand the reasoning - in fact I have yet to see it done - they just get moved to a different office/role.

I suppose SOMEONE has to type up the specifications and documents, and I am sure glad it isn't me

yep, I work in the same field, the company "a friend" is currently contracted to has a few like this.

Deadlines are very relaxed & goalposts are always being moved.

Its why the company has been working on this piece of software for over 3 years with no releases (my "friend" has only been with them for about 18 months).

Because employees have so many rights here in the UK, the ones who are slackers take advantage knowing that if you have employed them for over a year, firing them is damn near impossible.

Making their workday hell isn't, if you are careful.

If you don't trust them with getting work done, don't give them anything of importance to work on.

Make them responsible for typing up letters and administrative tasks and task them with impossible deadlines.

Take away any and all responsibility, especially of staff, and make them report to you daily.

Someone at "a friend's workplace" came to work one day (project manager of this software thats taking so long to have any outcome, who lied on his CV to get the job and really has no IT qualifications or experience) to find that not only has his role moved to the side, he has no more staff management duties, he has no say over decisions, his only role is to type up specifications, and one of his staff members was now his boss.

Everyone in their office is waiting patiently to see how it all ends up.

But this guy is a right b*stard and loves to bully people. Now that he has no power, he can't and it kills him.

Make sure that you adhere to every minute detail of their contract and your employee handbook, but nothing more.

They will soon leave on their own accord, but you may have to be patient.

I have no patience for slackers and timewasters. As Larry the Cable Guy says, Get Er Done!

I, too, established one of my degrees and numerous other qualifications while living here, including paying the extra £7000 per year for foreign education fees. I have been here nearly ten years and have established friendships, businesses, and have only ever recieved 1 speeding ticket.

I volunteer in my community, am an avid voter, pay through the nose in tax for items priced 300% higher than on the continent, recieve crappy service and sometimes hold my tongue, contribute to my local police meetings, volunteer for the local police authority, have protested issues, been involved in the anti-war movement (and the impeach Bush movements), created support networks for hundreds of people with concerns over certain medical issues and have even been subjected to catching MRSA while I have been here (which should be classed as a British "thing" since it is so bloody common).

I have even had Phd students who are writing their thesis on the Taliban in my home - surely that could be classed as fitting in with a British group?

Why should I have to take a test about what being British is all about when I clearly know more than most of the people around me? It sometimes sickens me when some people tell me they have never left the country, don't know where Wales is or even eaten spaghetti - its all foreign, you know.

I am very interested and involved in poilitics - can you tell?

Even US under Bush has to be better than this place.

Bush is one of the main reasons I have avoided going back to the US until now.

As much as I hate the monarchy and the doleys, chavs, NHS, speed camera money makers (safety my a*se) and all of the new citizen tests to make more money for the government, I would much rather be here and as far away from that war-mongering, lying, fear-enducing, election-stealing, uneducated, over-privledged, murdering idiot named Bush as possible.

I often feel as though I have to apologize for being an American - how many of you feel the same?

I hate feeling ashamed of my nationality because of one man.

Sure Clinton got someone doing the dirty with him when he was in office, but he did his job, and I thought he was a great president. I was proud to be an American then.

I love many many many things about the UK, the government is NOT one of them, but I am happy to have waited and to be going back nearer the time that Bush is going out.

/end rant LOL

I could be really funny with him and tell him that I wish to keep my title as Dr and refuse to change it to Mrs LOL

Thanks - BTW, I am homesick, too

Thank you for your response.

I intend on waiting until I am in the USA to change my name. This upsets my fiancee, but I keep reminding him that it is ONLY temporary.

It will be alot less stress and hassle, and since I need a new social security card with my CURRENT name on it sorting out before I file my taxes for the past 3+ years, I don't want to confuse the matter even further.

Okay, here is what I plan on doing - I need some advice about DCF and my Passport/Indefinite Remain to Leave.

My current passport has my old married name on it - lets just say Smith.

My indifiinte remain to leave paperwork is a page IN my passport with the name Smith.

Once I am remarried to my hubby to be - say Mr Jones, I will need to do one of the following:

Continue using Smith until we are situated in America OR

Use Jones, get my passport updated, and my social security card updated, but wait on the indefinite leave to remain stamp - the processing times for changing the name on this is 14 weeks.

If I choose to take hubby to be's name, and not get my indefinite remain to leave stamp updated, will that affect me filing for the DCF because of the name differences? I will be enclosing my marriage/divorce documents so hopefully they can put two and two together?

Do they just update the name on the current passport?

Sorry for so many questions, just trying to get everything covered.

Thank you everyone for your help and guidance.

I will send my taxes for the past 3 years tomorrow in the post.

It looks like we will be booking Gretna Green around the end of May - I am sooo excited!

Thank you for your responses. According to the IRS website, we MUST file every year, regardless of where we are.

Sooo, the last time I filed was tax year 1999, and I intend on filing from 2000 onward.

I have been told in the past to not worry, as they won't chase you because you probably don't owe any money, but that was from an accountant, not a staff member of the IRS.

Once again, thank you soo much for your help!

Thank you so very much for your help.

I will also try and file 2004 and 2005 to make things much easier. I will also try and back file for previous years.

We have 2 cars - one can count as an asset, yes?

Our plans our, at the moment, are as follows:

1. File Taxes for 2005 and 2004.
   
2. Search high and low for photos of us together - Rob hates having his picture taken and I am always behind the camera!
   
3. Request copy of divorce documents from my first marraige in America (doing that this afternoon).
   
4. Will have decree absolute from 2nd marraige within next 3 weeks.
   
5. I will have approximatly £7000 Uk in savings, I will leave it there for now, will help with assets.
   
6. Arrange 3 different evaluations for the house.
   
7. Print off last 12 months bank statements - one of our accounts is a joint account.
   
8. Get letter written from bank where we hold accounts (Lloyds TSB).
   
9. Get letter written from the bank where I hold my savings - and open a US bank account (HSBC).
   
10. Call IRS in 3 weeks to ensure forms have been filed.
    
11. Get married as soon as possible - family are very very excited.
    
12. File for DCF - this will make working when we get there soo much easier.
    

Does that sound like a logical plan?

Sent both forms to the US embassy in London, they will sort it out for me.

Does anyone know how long it takes to get any information back about a sucessful file?

Nevermind - it was showing that I owed the IRS, but I had filled in one of the forms wrong.

I have completed my 1040EZ and the Form 2555 - Foreign Earned Income - do I just send both of these in to Austin or can I send them to the London Embassy?

*edit - you have to send them to the US address - mine is Austin Texas.

Do I need to add the form 2555 to my return?

I have been filing my taxes online today and its saying that I am owed over 6 thousand dollars from the IRS for the year 2006 - could this be correct?

I haven't completed it yet, but will give you an update when I am finished.

Thank you sooo much.

We are crazy about each other, and very keen on starting our new life together in the USA.

I do have a question - why did you say that I am looking for (3X poverty guideline) - I thought it only had to be 125% and for just the two of us that would only be $17,112? I would have hoped that our careers and degrees would have been taken into account (I have 2 degrees, one in medicine and one in comp science), but it does not appear so.

My mother has agreed to co-sponsor him as well, which will hopefully make this easier.

I do have a child from a previous marraige who lives with her father in Oklahoma - where I intend on moving, but he is 100% financially responsible for her. I do contribute, but am not required to do so. I am not sure if she has to be included.

I have considered filing for dual citizenship, but to be honest I want to get this out of the way first. Between all of the filing fees, travel fees, medical fees, moving fees, etc I feel like I am already visiting a proctologist.

We were considering selling the house and moving into rented accomodation while all of this is going on - but perhaps we should wait on this. I wanted to pay off some credit cards but they can wait LOL.

I had the car valued recently so I know I can get at least 7K UK out of it if I wanted a quick sale. 8 and a half if I was prepared to stick to my guns.

What are the benefits, other than timescale, of the DCF?

I really appreciate your help. We have a long weekend planned next month - driving to Scotland to Loch Ness - we may have to stop and get married at Gretna Green!

Going to check out your link on duality now.

Thank you, I have asked on the other forums and provided more information.

I have not filed taxes because I have been advised that there has been no need.

I am contacting the embassy tomorrow to try and get them filed.

My fiancee and I want to be in the US by the end of the year, we are excited about starting our new lives together, and are happy to get married here or there, because we intend on having a second ceremony there regardless of when our legal one is. I honestly do not want to cope with another UK winter LOL!

So I have come here to try and establish if it is quicker/less hassle for us to get married now, or wait and get married there.

I was concerned about the financial documentation, but I think my assets and my income should suffice. I can only hope. If not, my mother has agreed to co-sponsor him. My family have spent lots of time with him and adore him (my fiancee). Even my ex-husband enjoys his company when we visit - and I get along very well with his new wife.

So, at this moment, it looks as if it would be quicker/easier to get married now, do the DCF and get the paperwork done.

Many thanks for your help and advice.

Okay, I will clarify a few things and perhaps make it easier for you to advise me.

My mother has offered this evening to be a joint sponsor, but I need more details as to what this entails if you can advise.

My fiancee, Rob, is a UK citizen, was born here, and has lived here all of his life. We have been living together for nearly 2 years. I have only just agreed to the terms of my divorce which has been ongoing since 2004. I should have my final divorce paperwork within the next two weeks (decree absolute).

I have lived here since 1997.

I have what is called "Indefinite Remain To Leave" in the UK with no restrictions. This means that I live in the UK with no restrictions. However, if I leave for more than 2 years at a time, I can lose this, so we intend on visiting often.

Our combined household income is about £42,000 per annum - or about $84,000.00 US.

I own a home here with about £20,000 ($40,000.00 US) worth of equity, and my car is worth about £8000.00 ($16,000 US).

Would this be adequate for assets?

I will mention to my mom that everyone will be staying with their own mom, I am sure she will be relieved

If my partner and I were to go ahead and get married here, my mother said that she would be happy to file the forms for him to come to the USA with me - I haven't filed taxes in 8 years and will be starting over when I get there, and I am worried that this would cause problems.

Is that an easy way of doing things?

Can she legally apply for him to come over?

I was told that they are doing DCF again.

I worry that the tax thing will hold us up.

I want to try and get married either on the weekend on Thanksgiving or New Years - but I won't book anything until we get the approved forms!

Thank you everyone for your help.

I won't have a job when I first move to the USA - we are staying with my mom until we get established, which shouldn't take long. This means that I cannot file the proof of support for my spouse, which I think means we cannot file for DCF. I have also not filed US taxes in about 8 years - I was told that because my income was not US income that I did not need to until I return to the USA - also a factor in the DCF.

Thanks for the help, but it doesn't look possible

We probably will wind up having a very small ceremony when we get there. You are right, planning something like a wedding is hard when you aren't sure about the timeline. There are a few venues that I love, but without a date I cannot book one.

Thank you again for your help, it is much appreciated.

My fiancee and I were looking at filing a K1 until someone so nicely pointed out that the DCF is much quicker.

So, we live in the UK, and wanted to know if they still do the DCF, as I have seen conflicting information on websites?

How long does the average DCF take in the UK?

I will not be working when we first arrive to the USA, we intend on living with my mom until we get situated - does this mean we cannot file the DCF?

Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry, I meant K1 Visa not F1 - I was watching the racing when I typed it.

How long does the DCF take?

I would really love to just elope sometimes, but my family want to be there. My sister wants to get ordained on the internet so she can do the ceremony LOL!

Sorry, I am the US citizen filing for a F1 fiancee visa, he is British, I am a US Citizen.

According to the US, the military base IS US Soil - believe me, filing taxes was interesting that year.

We are not married yet, we were told that the process would be much faster if we waited and did the F1.

I don't want to go through the Texas processing centre, but if we have to, we will.

Many thanks.