Living in the US but UK citizen

[Britlady70]

My situation is very complicated and I have no idea where to turn to right now, I am just hoping someone on here can help me.

I am a UK citizen born and raised there. I married my US husband 3 years ago and I have been in the USA ever since. I originally entered the US on a visa waiver that my airline said I had to apply for. But that is all I have obtained and that expired after my first year here. My original intentions was to come here and marry and we were going to go back to England together. My husband is in love with England and it is his dream to go there. We planned on returning before my waiver had expired, but one thing lead to another and mostly financial reasons prevented us from being able to apply for UK citizenship for my husband. I have two UK citizen sons also, who are both here with me and are attending US schools. I entered the country legally and married my husband with the intentions of us all returning to the UK. We both were involved in a car accident that took up all our savings on medical expenses and new vehicle. My husbands health was greatly effected too. My husband is a preacher and the money he earns is sporadic and sometimes none at all. He is desperately looking for secular work so he can support us and so we can make some permanent status changes one way or the other but so far he is having no luck. It has got to the point that now I have to make a decision to return on my own steam to the UK with my kids because it has become impossible for us to stay here on the little money my husband earns. and I am scared about our legal status also. I recently discovered that if I contact the UK embassy they may help me with the cost of travel back home. But I am scared to do that in case I will not be allowed to return if my husband cannot come to England either. The immigration process in the UK seems much harder than the US. I could return to England and return to work and save enough money for the immigration costs etc. I am so worried our family will be split up because of this. I had no idea everything would be so complicated and expensive marrying someone from a different country. I am going to make my situation worse by returning or will it go in my favour? I have a place to stay with friends. But I cannot afford my air fare yet. I am willing to leave ASAP if needed. I have no problem with that, I just don't want my family being split up permanently and we just don't have the finances to return. Also will I run into any trouble on connecting flights from my local airport to the international airport? I would hate for my children to experience any trauma with security there.

 

[newacct]

One thing you should think about is that right now, as you have entered legally and are married to a U.S. citizen, it is straightforward for you to get permanent residency with no problems; it is a position that many immigrants would covet. But once you leave the U.S., you will be banned from coming back to the U.S. for 10 years due to you having accumulated more than 1 year of unlawful presence. So you should think hard before leaving because you will go from having a straightforward path to staying legally, to not being able to come to the U.S. at all for a long time.

I know the application is expensive and you'll probably have to find a joint sponsor because your husband doesn't have much income. But if you are not opposed to staying in the U.S., I suggest you find any way to get the application done, e.g. borrow the application fee if you have to or see if you can get a fee waiver; and try hard to find a relative or friend or anyone who can be a joint sponsor. A little investment now is well worth the peace of mind of staying legally and the ability to work legally and get your life back together.

You will not have any trouble leaving the U.S. as long as you have the means to do so and the documents to enter the destination country. I am not sure about the process for your husband to immigrate to the U.K.