My UK Trip and all the Bureaucracy
I just got back a couple of days ago from almost a month in England. My initial visa for the US was only issued for 6 months, so I had to do something to renew it. We could have applied by post for an extension, but decided I should go home for a trip so I could also book our wedding there at the same time. I had done all the ground work for it before leaving here. I had spoken with register offices both in England and Scotland to suss out exactly what was needed, and had explained exactly our situation regarding living in US but being originally from UK and wanting to marry in the UK, but only myself would be coming over on this occasion to organise it. England have a law that says both parties must appear in person at least 15 days before the date of the wedding to post the notice of intent to wed. You should post the notice either at the office you are getting married at, or at the office local to where you live. But as Gordon was not coming over, he was going to register his address as in Scotland, where his family are, as Scotland are a lot more liberated about these things and will accept the paperwork by post or online. Over the phone, this all seemed OK by both English and Scottish register offices, and everyone was happy it could be organised like that. So I booked my flight, and arranged an appointment with the local register office. But when I actually got there, they said that as we were planning on getting married in England, they would require the Scottish register office to comply with English law and have Gordon turn up in person to post the notice there, even though Scotland themselves are happy about taking it by post! After an hour spent with the registrar, going over various ideas and options, the end result was that we can’t get married in the UK without both of us going back there almost a month before the wedding date to fulfil the legal requirements and file the necessary paperwork, and then hang around waiting for the wedding. Even the registrar ended up saying it would be easier in our situation to get married in America. So that is what we will now have to do. But it means that after a couple of months of planning a wedding in England, speaking to various restaurants, hotels, etc, I am now back to square one. It seems that we are citizens of nowhere right now, we are no longer counted as citizens of the UK, and we are certainly not citizens of the US.At least it meant I got to see all my friends and family while I was over there, and got to eat some of the foods I had been missing most – Indian, fish and chips, and Chinese! And a friend gave birth while I was there as well, so that was very exciting.
Coming back here, I had slightly hoped that I might get longer than 6 months this time on my visa, as according to all the advice from both a visa lawyer and the INS website, if I could prove that I still had property and money back home, (so had something to go back to), and that I am only a second named person on Gordon’s bank account rather than having my own one here, they might let me stay longer, as being dependant on the main person with the work visa. However, you are always in the hands of the immigration officer on the desk when you get off the plane, and I lucked out there. I thought getting a woman would help, as she may be more sympathetic to someone wanting to be here with their boyfriend, but I don’t think sympathy or a sense of humour are allowed in that job. She gave me 6 months again, but said that was being generous as she was in a good mood (if she hadn’t told me I would never have known from looking!). It seems that the advice I got is not at all the same as the training that the immigration officers are given. She said the US does not recognise or make any allowances for couples living together who are not married.
On the bright side, the weather was really hot for the first couple of days I was back, in the high 80s, and the pool was still open. I had expected it to be long since closed, as the official closing date was the first weekend in September. So I got to use it again once more. But today is much colder, can you believe the temperature dropped 30 degrees from one day to the next! I think this may be the start of Autumn now.
1 Comments:
glad you had a good time, seeing all your old friends
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