Help me be with my wife.

Firstly, I want to emphasise that there are a number of causes out there that are way more important than mine. Many of them are life threatening. Cecilia's own nephew is currently undergoing chemotherapy, so if you feel it more prudent to help that, please do. (His page is here. ).

For my own story, it starts with an admission. Last week, I married the love of my life, Cecilia. We met 5 years ago when we were both interns at Walt Disney World in Florida, stayed friends for a while, before finally entering into a relationship just shy of two years ago. We make each other happier than we've ever been before. We did it very low-key, because we were not in a financial position to do it big, but we knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We fully intend (still) on hosting a larger wedding eventually where we can celebrate with all of our friends and loved ones. We have both worked hard, all year, to make our dreams a reality. Being from two different countries (US & UK) we always knew it would be an uphill battle, and we are certainly not unique, but news we have recently recieved has turned our lives upside down, and frankly, broken our hearts.

Our plans all along had been to settle here in the UK, where we have spent the past year together whilst Cecilia completed her degree and I completed my masters. We have built lives here, friends, activities, work, everything. Whilst studying we have both worked so hard to make everything work out. I have worked no less than 4 part time jobs alongside my full time masters just to make ends meet, even with support from family.

To cut a long story short, the UK government have now placed increasingly restrictive measures on visas for spouses. Because the two of us have been full time students for the past year, we do not meet the necessary income requirements to qualify. We only found this out recently thanks to the publication of additional guidance, even though through the year we have made several phone calls to the Home Office to guide our future plans.

This has left us in a situation where we need to move to the USA. We are eligible for this, but the cost is crippling.

1. Filing fee for initial form (I130) - $535

2. Second stage Visa fee - $325

3. Affadavit of support - $120

4. Immigrant fee - $220

5. Police record - £45

6. Medical checks - £300

These are the listed official fees, but none of those take into consideration the flights, travel to the US embassy in London, the cost of moving all of our things to the USA, and a bunch of other small costs (postage etc) that will quickly add up when you've been studying for a year to try and get your careers off the ground. This also doesn't include legal fees for support, which we have decided to forgo to keep costs down.

Most of all though, is the emotional cost of the fact that while this process is ongoing, my wife and I, married for less than a week, will have to spend the next 6-12 months apart. We will both be working full time while this is ongoing, trying to meet the ever rising costs of the process, but we are turning to you for support. Neither of us are comfortable with the process, and hope that people recognise that we would never do something like this unless we reached the point of desperation and despair that we currently have. Any help you can give will be gratefully recieved, and if you so wish, will be repaid in the future, in cash, bank transfer, or a warm cup of tea.

The goal may seem high, but we are going to work towards it ourselves, and neither of us expect a free ride. Even 10% of it would go a long way in helping us finally get to start a proper life together.

If you can help, thank you. If you can't, thanks for reading. If you choose to support a more worthy cause, thank you too.