Hi all! My cousins and I started a blog called Three Ladies and Their Babies about pretty much anything and everything to do with our lives. I moved to Leicester, England almost 4 years ago to marry my then boyfriend and a lot of my posts are going to be about living the UK as an American. I did a post about finding love online and I thought some of you could probably relate and might be interested in reading it! If not, feel free to skip past this. If this kind of thing isn't allowed, let me know and I'll be happy to remove it.

http://threeladiesandtheirbabies.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/finding-love-online/

Hi, I'm in an LDR with an American guy and I'm in the UK. We've talked about how to get us both in one place and he wants to move to the UK, and we've talked about getting married and going down the fiancé visa and such. The problem is that for him to qualify he is not allowed to use public funds for the first six months or so until he can start working. I live in a council house and receive benefit to pay my rent. Now I seem to remember reading somewhere that if he paid the rent with his own money he would still be allowed to live here, is that correct? If so, could anyone post a link to something saying that? I know that once we were declared as partners I would lose some of my benefit, but if he could support the pair of us by paying our rent and council tax, would that be okay? Do you know if I would still be eligible for my benefits until he started working? Since his income would be £0 apart from whatever money he has to support us, or would my claiming count as using public funds?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm exhausted and about to head to bed, so was hoping someone would have the answers I need or could at least point me in the right direction. Thanks to anyone who can help!

Cross-posted to loversfaraway

has anyone gone through an immigration lawyer? i have been together with my bf for ten yrs.he is in the uk and i am here in the US.We have talked a lot about the best route for us to take to get him here but he is having a very difficult time finding jobs here being in the UK he's applied for a lot but everyone seems to want a US citizen.We have discussed the marriage route and im all for it but he doesnt feel comfortable with me having to support him financially until he is able to work here and our families are very old school in that respect.I say to hell what our families say because its us making the decision but he doesnt want to go against their wishes as such.Can anyone help with getting an immigration lawyer and how do u know its legit? I think with someone to help who knows more and can put us in the right direction would help a ton.Im willing to spend the money to get him here because i dont want to lose my soulmate and its been ten yrs something has to happen! any info would help a ton i am desperate i just want us to be together already!

Hi all. I am wondering about child care jobs in the UK. Not nannying, but rather working in a pre-school or day-care type job.

Long story short: I'm American, currently living and working in Japan with my English boyfriend of six years. We want to eventually settle down in the UK, and are trying to make that possible, despite those strict new marriage visa laws... (Grrrr...:(

Should we one day be able to jump through all those hoops and live together in the UK, I'd need to find a job, of course. Does anyone know what the child-care industry is like there? Salary, job requirements,etc. Does a person need to have some sort of official training for such jobs?

While I don't have any sort of child-care certification, I HAVE spent the last 6 years working with children. (One as a live-in nanny, and five as an ESL teacher.) Currently, I teach in a school where I am usually the only adult present, and am responsible for the care and teaching of up to 15 kids at a time, ranging in age from 2 to 18. 95 percent of the time, I am alone with the kids; literally the only adult in the school. So far I have worked here for two years. It is a national chain of schools in Japan, and I could have references given by the native English speaking staff in the future.

Would that kind of experience be enough to get a job in a pre-school or day-care in the UK? (Assuming that I had the necessary visa to live and work there, of course.) If not, what could I do once living there to make myself marketable in the field?

Any advice or information is greatly appreciated! Thanks a lot! Am cross posting to another comm, sorry if you get a double post.

Do people in the UK tend to send birth announcements when a baby is born? My MIL freaked when I planned on sending wedding announcements because apparently they don't do that there. I don't want to commit a faux pas.

I have been looking into a work visa for the UK and I think I apply to most all of the fields except a sponsor. How would you go about finding a sponsor? I just need a little more information on the subject. I currently do not have a degree, but I do have an advanced position at a large company and I also have transferable skills from a couple different fields. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Well we can start with I'm in the US and she's in the UK. We've been talking for awhile. I'd like to move to the UK and would like to know the easiest course of action. I looked into a work visa, but I don't think I'm eligiable for any of them(if someone could explain the requirements that would be grat). I have a decent job in the US, it's just the position is not transferrable even though the company I work for is a multi-national company. She doesn't meet the income requirements for a spousal visa, so we are kind of at a crossroads. If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to drop me a line. One way or another I'm going to make it work, just need a little guidance.

Anyone seen the movie Like Crazy? 

Hi guys, quick question:

Can you be added to the electoral register in the UK when you have ILR?

My husband is applying for his ILR later this year, until he gets it we can't buy a house as there's only one mortgage company who will lend to us with him on his current visa (hugely annoying). When we saw a mortgage advisor last year he said that my dh has no credit score and would need to be added to the electoral register/apply for a credit card etc. He went to buy a contract phone in December and was denied on account of his lack of credit, thankfully I was with him and I took it out in my name but was told that after a couple of months I could switch it to his name so that should help with his credit score.

Has anyone else had any problems trying to get a mortgage before getting their ILR? It seems like there's something in our path to just leading a normal life whichever way we turn :(

Hi everyone! I just wanted to drop in and say that we got our NOA2 two weeks ago, so we are well on our way to getting Adam's visa. We got approved about 2.5 months sooner than the estimated time, so we're hurriedly pushing up all of our wedding plans. If all goes well with the interview in London, we estimate that he'll be moving here around the end of August or beginning of September. Hurray!!

Now he's in the unenviable position of decided what to keep, what to bring, and how to bring it. Poor guy.