Help a Family Stay Together
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In order for Carol to apply for a family visa we need James to have either:
A job paying £18500/year ☑ - GOAL COMPLETED!
Any help toward reaching any of these goals is extremely appreciated.
Our Facebook Page
James and I met online when he was 15 and I was 13. He was from England and I was from Washington State in the US. We fell instantly in love! When I was 18 I joined the US Army. James and I fell out of contact.
A few years later we reconnected. By this time I was honorably discharged from the Army and had settled in Alabama. I was newly divorced and James had recently left a long term relationship after having gone through a life threatening medical emergency. I was at the lowest point of my life due to depression. We were unsatisfied with our lives, so we broke off all commitments and James left everything behind to fly to the US in 2016.
We are upfront in admitting James overstayed his right to remain in the USA. Due to my depression I was having a severely hard time taking care of myself (not able to get out of bed for days at a time, unable to maintain my apartment, difficulties feeding myself and performing basic tasks). I was in college at the time and my grades plummeted to an embarrassing low. I was also in therapy but was having a hard time getting the motivation to go to my appointments. While my ex husband and his family lived near by, I had no other family or friends in the area for support. James did not feel comfortable leaving me... And so he stayed.
James stayed, and I slowly started getting better.
In 2018 we got married. James was living as an illegal immigrant in the US. It played a HUGE toll on his mental health, especially during the time of Trump's presidency with the crackdown on illegal immigrants. I was finally well enough to work and provided for us full time. We avoided government benefits as much as possible, James couldn't access any benefits and I used food stamps until I was working full time at which point I quit using them. At this point if James were to leave the US he would have a 10-year ban, so we looked into getting him legalized in the US. We did all research ourselves without legal help (we were saving up for it but needed to do most of it ourselves due to income).
As a note: the whole time James was in the US he did not have access to Healthcare. He did could not get insurance due to no social security number, and he was terrified to try for any help due to the immigration crackdown. I became obsessed with making sure he was safe.
To our immense joy, we discovered we were 2 months pregnant at the end of 2018. Overjoyed as we were, it meant we had to focus on providing for our new baby rather than try and save for the legalization process. We welcomed our son Kayden in August of 2019.
After much discussion we decided to move to the UK and try our luck there. Our goal was the same as ever: get us all legal so we can safely stay together.
We started with a 6-month visa for myself and our son. We sold off all of our belongings. James left for the UK in November 2020; Kayden and I flew to Washington State (to see my parents) for a month to visit my family and then took the 10-hour flight to the UK in December 2020.
We have run into more roadblocks. James is finally getting the Healthcare he's needed these past 5 years. Between physical and mental issues, he's been deemed incapable of work. This means he does not meet the financial requirements for me to apply for the family visa (he needs to earn £18,500/year). A way around this is to apply for PIP, but he does not qualify because he has to have been in the UK at least one year out of the last three. Another way around this is to apply for Carers. His mother whom we live with is applying for PIP due to her own disabilities, however again James does not qualify because he'd have to have been the UK for two years out of the last three.
The final way around this is for us to have a savings of £65,000, or to have a substantial savings in addition to working. James is currently looking into going back to work despite his disabilities.
My 6-month visa is up in May. There is a 12-week application process for the family visa... Once we get everything sorted so I can even apply. The one good thing about this is our son qualified for British citizenship along with his US citizenship. He is able to travel freely between both countries (as long as he has an adult with him until he's older). Kayden will be returning to the US with me while his Daddy tries to get everything sorted (He will also lose access to his NHS healthcare while we are gone). We don't know exactly how long we will all be separated for. We are extremely anxious.
We are asking for opportunities. For help in any way possible. We've done so much of this ourselves with little help but the thought of our son being away from either parent destroys us. Be it any possible job offerings, legal help, donations, anything helps! If we do raise enough money, the remaining money will go towards helping families in similar situations.
UK family visa requirements
In order for Carol to apply for a family visa we need James to have either:
A job paying £18500/year ☑ - GOAL COMPLETED!
Any help toward reaching any of these goals is extremely appreciated.
Our Facebook Page
James and I met online when he was 15 and I was 13. He was from England and I was from Washington State in the US. We fell instantly in love! When I was 18 I joined the US Army. James and I fell out of contact.
A few years later we reconnected. By this time I was honorably discharged from the Army and had settled in Alabama. I was newly divorced and James had recently left a long term relationship after having gone through a life threatening medical emergency. I was at the lowest point of my life due to depression. We were unsatisfied with our lives, so we broke off all commitments and James left everything behind to fly to the US in 2016.
We are upfront in admitting James overstayed his right to remain in the USA. Due to my depression I was having a severely hard time taking care of myself (not able to get out of bed for days at a time, unable to maintain my apartment, difficulties feeding myself and performing basic tasks). I was in college at the time and my grades plummeted to an embarrassing low. I was also in therapy but was having a hard time getting the motivation to go to my appointments. While my ex husband and his family lived near by, I had no other family or friends in the area for support. James did not feel comfortable leaving me... And so he stayed.
James stayed, and I slowly started getting better.
In 2018 we got married. James was living as an illegal immigrant in the US. It played a HUGE toll on his mental health, especially during the time of Trump's presidency with the crackdown on illegal immigrants. I was finally well enough to work and provided for us full time. We avoided government benefits as much as possible, James couldn't access any benefits and I used food stamps until I was working full time at which point I quit using them. At this point if James were to leave the US he would have a 10-year ban, so we looked into getting him legalized in the US. We did all research ourselves without legal help (we were saving up for it but needed to do most of it ourselves due to income).
As a note: the whole time James was in the US he did not have access to Healthcare. He did could not get insurance due to no social security number, and he was terrified to try for any help due to the immigration crackdown. I became obsessed with making sure he was safe.
To our immense joy, we discovered we were 2 months pregnant at the end of 2018. Overjoyed as we were, it meant we had to focus on providing for our new baby rather than try and save for the legalization process. We welcomed our son Kayden in August of 2019.
After much discussion we decided to move to the UK and try our luck there. Our goal was the same as ever: get us all legal so we can safely stay together.
We started with a 6-month visa for myself and our son. We sold off all of our belongings. James left for the UK in November 2020; Kayden and I flew to Washington State (to see my parents) for a month to visit my family and then took the 10-hour flight to the UK in December 2020.
We have run into more roadblocks. James is finally getting the Healthcare he's needed these past 5 years. Between physical and mental issues, he's been deemed incapable of work. This means he does not meet the financial requirements for me to apply for the family visa (he needs to earn £18,500/year). A way around this is to apply for PIP, but he does not qualify because he has to have been in the UK at least one year out of the last three. Another way around this is to apply for Carers. His mother whom we live with is applying for PIP due to her own disabilities, however again James does not qualify because he'd have to have been the UK for two years out of the last three.
The final way around this is for us to have a savings of £65,000, or to have a substantial savings in addition to working. James is currently looking into going back to work despite his disabilities.
My 6-month visa is up in May. There is a 12-week application process for the family visa... Once we get everything sorted so I can even apply. The one good thing about this is our son qualified for British citizenship along with his US citizenship. He is able to travel freely between both countries (as long as he has an adult with him until he's older). Kayden will be returning to the US with me while his Daddy tries to get everything sorted (He will also lose access to his NHS healthcare while we are gone). We don't know exactly how long we will all be separated for. We are extremely anxious.
We are asking for opportunities. For help in any way possible. We've done so much of this ourselves with little help but the thought of our son being away from either parent destroys us. Be it any possible job offerings, legal help, donations, anything helps! If we do raise enough money, the remaining money will go towards helping families in similar situations.
UK family visa requirements
Organizer
Carol Ann
Organizer
England
