Moving eventually, could use some advice/websites

Question

My boyfriend lives in London, I live in the U.S. We've decided that it would be better and easier for me to move there rather than him moving here to the states(for various reasons). The question is: How do I go about moving to England legally? Is there another way to go about it besides just "intent to marry" or "fiance" visa? (don't get me wrong, I love him...just looking at options) What documentation would I need?(health records, divorce records, financial records?), Are there any websites that give kind of a step by step walkthrough for legally obtaining citizenship? (or am I doomed to only reading legal terminology I can never hope to understand?), and last, but certainly not least, is it true that the best course of action is to hire a lawyer that handles international moves?

Answer 1

This may be of some great help

http://www.ukimmigration.com/family/uk_c...

Hope I helped :).

Answer 2

This provides a link to the Home Office which should have all the information you need on visas:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/

You should also contact the British Embassy nearest to you & speak to them about your options:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/e...

http://www.britainusa.com/

Answer 3

I've known a few people in the past in your situation ... they would have preferred to be able to come and live together for a time without necessarily having to make the big commitment of getting married straight away, but the legalities are against you ... if you come on a visitors visa you can stay 3 months (I think it's 3, might be 6, not sure) and you HAVE to leave at the end of that time ... if you subsequently want to come back intending to marry you will have to go back home, do all the necessary paperwork before you can come back again which means a lot of expense and time

so if you definitely know that you want to live here long-term you're just going to have to bite the bullet and get married

as far as I understand it, there are two ways to do this - your boyfriend travels to your place, you get married, he comes back to UK and you start the application to join him (takes a few months, maybe maximum about 6 months I think) - or you can come to this country on a fiancee visa, in which case I think you have something like 6 months before you either marry or go back home

I guess you could do it through a lawyer but I'm sure if you approach the British Embassy nearest to you they can help you through everything you need to do ... but don't expect them to be too helpful and encouraging, they're bureaucrats whose job it is to check and double-check

expect the officials to check up on you - they will probably need to visit you at home and you need to prove to them that you really are a bona-fide married couple - there are still people who try to scam the system with a marriage of convenience in order to get entry to the UK