[texasbrit]

Hello again, all! :wave:

My expat journey has including applying and successfully being granted:

1) Fiancee visa (entered the UK July 2015)
2) First FLR(M) (October 2015)
3) FLR(M) extension (March 2018)

All with the help of this fantastic forum! Now it is a matter of waiting another 2.5 years before I apply for SET(M).

My husband and I have always lived together, but my in-laws and all of our family (on my husband's side, that is) live in another part of the UK. We desperately want to move there to be closer to our family and purchase our first home. Despite this being feasible for my husband to do at the drop of a hat (he works for a company remotely from home and can do so anywhere in the UK), I am a bit "stuck".

I currently am a professional in a very niche role with no similar opportunities available in/around the area where my husband and I wish to move. We have considered the following scenario:

Him moving to the area where our family lives while I stay behind temporarily, just for job reasons (I have a colleague I can live with). This would entail me commuting to our permanent home for 5 days once a fortnight and living with my colleague in the interim. My husband and I would have a joint mortgage, joint council tax, and joint bills. I would register with a GP there and also change my permanent address on file with my employer.

As I mentioned before, this would only be temporary, but could well be the case for ~1 year (or even slightly over) while I scour for a suitable transfer. Would UKVI raise an eyebrow at seeing correspondence for proof of cohabitation to a singular address, but then also seeing that said permanent address is in a completely different part of the UK to where I work? We plan to apply for SET(M) using my salary vs my husband's for the financial requirement, making my employer information and payslips accessible to UKVI.

This is all hypothetical due to the fact that if it is bound to cause problems with UKVI we will have to bite the bullet and wait until I am granted SET(M).

Any advice/guidance is much appreciated! Many thanks in advance.

 

[nyclon]

If you'll be using your salary it's going to be pretty obvious that you're not living together. Why can't you wait until you have a job before making a permanent move?

 

[texasbrit]

Thanks for the quick reply, nyclon. We would still be living together, just not 24/7. Me getting a job might take 6 months...it might take 2 years. We really want to get a home underway now. Its just an avenue we are looking into at the moment.

For all intents and purposes we would be living together, just commuting and living elsewhere during the week. Is that not possible? Surely some couples must live in different places at times...

 

[nyclon]

The point of a UK spouse visa is that you want to live together with your spouse in the UK. When you have ILR or citizenship, you can surely do what you want but until then, living apart for an extended period of time will probably be a problem. You're talking about making a CHOICE to not live together for what could be 2 years. Despite having your name on bills where you don't technically live full time, it's going to be obvious that you aren't living together.