How long do you plan to stay afloat?

[Captain Pegg]

16 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Its easier to Drive, 16 hours by bus and train

Yeah, but you were talking about what happens when you can’t do the drive.

 

[AllenTC2]

12 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

But seriously, if you decide to live under the radar I can't see them ever putting in enough effort to actually track you down and arrest you and send you back.

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmmm.....I am pretty sure I would NOT want to do that, regardless of how much effort your immigration guys may or may not put into looking. LOL I'd be a guest in your country, and act as such. 

[booke23]

 

 

This might be an interesting watch for you. Also check out his other videos for general info on canal boating. 

 

 

 

[DandV]

A practical consideration for non UK residents is that the default visitor Visa duration is three months only. However border officials readily give out the maximum six month visa if they are satisfied that you will not take paid employment and that you will not be a drain on UK finances. 

There are available, or there were,  a longer term,  visitor visa for those with a British born grandparent. 

Good luck. We found our times on the system extremely enjoyable. Canal navigation and steering through "traffic" is a dream compared to motor caravaning, and inspite of their restricted width, a well designed go anywhere narrow boat is spacious for two people plus another two as occasional guests.

Running costs and depreciation are suprisingly modest compared to motorhomes.

[AllenTC2]

Just now, booke23 said:

 

 

This might be an interesting watch for you. Also check out his other videos for general info on canal boating. 

 

 

 

I am currently on Episode 69 of his series. "Travels by Narrowboat" was what I first stumbled across on Amazon Prime. I could not stop watching it. LOL I posted about it on another forum I'm on, and one of the folks there pointed me to Mr. Johns' series. ?

[Tumshie]

5 minutes ago, AllenTC2 said:

*sigh* Gotta love the internet.

Go to the source, it's the only way. 

 

6 minutes ago, AllenTC2 said:

And even if I do have to come back to the US after 6 months, how long do I have to stay here before returning?

I suspect you will get six months in a twelve month period, but how often you can repeat that cycle I don't know. But in post #7 @Kudzucraft says he plans nine here three home so he may have looked into it and found something that accommodates this time frame. 

 

Try this site, this is the page on the British Government's site that will give you a gateway to all the different visas. Bookmark this page and the you will be able to use it as the start point to explore all the different visa options. 

 

https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration

 

But beware Brexit could change things, plus the £pound is at an all time low at the moment because of the uncertainty of Brexit but once thing look more stable with Brexit expect the £pound to strengthen again so beware of the exchange rate, the maths might look good at the moment with the weak £pound but it might not stay that way, might be something to factor in. 

 

Anyway West Virginia is about 7 hours behind so I'm going to call it a night. Good luck with your research. 

 

 

[Slim]

20 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

Yeah, but you were talking about what happens when you can’t do the drive.

 

Unfortunatly the way things work when you reach a stage where driving becomes impractical travelling distances by public transport is not an option. 

 

Frank

[Tumshie]

There are loads of really interesting narrowboat vlogs on YouTube and it's well worth watching them for the entertainment factor if nothing else but there is a couple called The Minimal List they bought a narrowboat a couple of years ago and filmed most of how they went about it and posted it all to Youtube so their family in other countries could follow them. The wife, Jo is British but the husband Michael is American/Canadian (it's not that I can't tell the difference, he genuinely is both) he mentions stuff from time to time about what it's like from a Non-Brit perspective, so might be of interest to you. 

 

https://www.minimallist.co.uk

 

[matty40s]

1 hour ago, Tumshie said:

Is .ng not Nigeria. Nigeria is a Commonwealth Country so their visa applications will be very different from an American one. 

 

 

.ng is far more likely to be someone from that country attempting to charge for helping the process, or just farm Credit card details with personal information added as part of the form filling....m

[Dr Bob]

1 hour ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I'm 70 in a week or two and don't have any problems really. I don't live on board any more, but do try and get away for a couple of months at a time. The only that may finish me with narrowboats is if the current engine repair fails - I can't afford another major cost after this one. But I should be able to afford a smaller & therefore cheaper cruiser... 

This forum is full of old farts approaching 70 and I am one of them. We gave up lumpy water sailing as it was difficult reefing  the main in a 50knt blow...... but canals are so easy. Go for it!

[DandV]

26 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

 

I suspect you will get six months in a twelve month period, but how often you can repeat that cycle I don't know. But in post #7 @Kudzucraft says he plans nine here three home so he may have looked into it and found something that accommodates this time frame. 

 

Try this site, this is the page on the British Government's site that will give you a gateway to all the different visas. Bookmark this page and the you will be able to use it as the start point to explore all the different visa options. 

 

https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration

 

Our experience was that each time we entered we were asked to show our return tickets, and were politely asked about our plans. The first time after we had purchased our boat the officer did ask for an explanation on how locks worked, although I suspect she already knew! Another time, a suspected  new recruit asked if we had medical insurance, we did, though with the reciprocal arrangements, not strictly a requirement and referred us to a supervisor who promptly cleared us through.

The important thing to remember is that the six month Visa is discretionary to the port officer, and in our view, a privilege.

I think both entry and exits are logged, so they can see if any previous visits are cause for concern.

 

 

 

 

[Captain Pegg]

54 minutes ago, Slim said:

Unfortunatly the way things work when you reach a stage where driving becomes impractical travelling distances by public transport is not an option. 

 

Frank

Logically if you can’t do either of those you’re really going to struggle with a boat anyway.

 

JP

[AllenTC2]

1 hour ago, Tumshie said:

There are loads of really interesting narrowboat vlogs on YouTube and it's well worth watching them for the entertainment factor if nothing else but there is a couple called The Minimal List they bought a narrowboat a couple of years ago and filmed most of how they went about it and posted it all to Youtube so their family in other countries could follow them. The wife, Jo is British but the husband Michael is American/Canadian (it's not that I can't tell the difference, he genuinely is both) he mentions stuff from time to time about what it's like from a Non-Brit perspective, so might be of interest to you. 

 

https://www.minimallist.co.uk

 

Awesome! Thanks!

[Kudzucraft]

US citizens can visit as a Tourist for 6 months with no Visa required. 

 

Since we plan on staying longer we will plan on appling in advance for a long term Visa. You can get a 1 year, 2 year and I think up to 5 years?  And you can buy into the Health Care program if you wish. Since we are going to be there long term, unless I know my US based will pay, we will be buying into it. I figure it is simpler than trying to sort out payment from the US company while living on a boat with no fixed address.

 

'Lots of info on the website.  https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration

Edited October 13, 2019 by Kudzucraft

[Alan de Enfield]

9 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Its easier to Drive, 16 hours by bus and train

Pretty easy to locate you now - there are only 8 males (and 4 females) that live at that post code (which, by the way) is 16 feet above sea-level

 

As I'm sure you know, "The Elms" was purchased in 2002 for £224,000

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Pretty easy to locate you now - there are only 8 males (and 4 females) that live at that post code (which, by the way) is 16 feet above sea-level

 

As I'm sure you know, "The Elms" was purchased in 2002 for £224,000

That was probably a good price as the place needed a lot of work doing, I found the previous owner on the side of the road one night while walking the dog and called an ambulance for him, unfortunately he never came home again, he was only about 50 

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by ditchcrawler

[frahkn]

12 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Let's imagine you come over here on a six month visa. You buy a boat and live on it, cruising around. You visa run out. Now what? 

 

I guess they will start writing letters to whatever UK address you gave them. They might even send an immigration official or two around to interview you.

 

Will you answer the door? Obviously not. But seriously, if you decide to live under the radar I can't see them ever putting in enough effort to actually track you down and arrest you and send you back.

 

 

 

 

 

I think that the guy with the beard (is it Michael?) from the 'Minimal List' vlog has been here for several years and is certainly not 'below the radar'.

 

But he is married to an English woman, perhaps that makes the difference.

[AllenTC2]

2 hours ago, frahkn said:

But he is married to an English woman, perhaps that makes the difference.

Well, that's an option I suppose. ?

12 hours ago, Kudzucraft said:

US citizens can visit as a Tourist for 6 months with no Visa required. 

 

Since we plan on staying longer we will plan on appling in advance for a long term Visa. You can get a 1 year, 2 year and I think up to 5 years?  

I have glanced over that UK.gov site, but short of working there, or perhaps studying, I didn't see anything about long-term visas. I did find something about a 'leave to remain' program.

Thank you all for the input. Clearly, I have a lot more researching to do. LOL 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

There is always the tier 1 investor visa, if you have a spare £2,000,000!

[AllenTC2]

21 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

There is always the tier 1 investor visa, if you have a spare £2,000,000!

Statistically, about as likely as the marriage thing. ? 

[MoominPapa]

9 hours ago, frahkn said:

I think that the guy with the beard (is it Michael?) from the 'Minimal List' vlog has been here for several years and is certainly not 'below the radar'.

 

But he is married to an English woman, perhaps that makes the difference.

If you follow the vlog closely, they keep needing to moor close to stations whilst he get trains to London, which I suspect is not a coincidence. I don't think that being married to a UK citizen is enough, by itself, these days, to get in.

 

Lots of UK citizens are about to find out how much ball-ache real immigration bureaucrats (as opposed to mythical "Brussels bureaucrats") can inflict now that they've thrown away the ability to live in 27* other countries as-of-right. Idiots.

 

* actually 26. There are older arrangements with Ireland which are not in danger from Brexit, but I suppose might become questioned later, once a new scapegoat is required.

 

MP.

 

[peterboat]

5 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

If you follow the vlog closely, they keep needing to moor close to stations whilst he get trains to London, which I suspect is not a coincidence. I don't think that being married to a UK citizen is enough, by itself, these days, to get in.

 

Lots of UK citizens are about to find out how much ball-ache real immigration bureaucrats (as opposed to mythical "Brussels bureaucrats") can inflict now that they've thrown away the ability to live in 27* other countries as-of-right. Idiots.

 

* actually 26. There are older arrangements with Ireland which are not in danger from Brexit, but I suppose might become questioned later, once a new scapegoat is required.

 

MP.

 

Well its good to know that you have accepted what the majority voted for MP and know its going to happen.  What bothers me is how all those people used to live all over Europe like they used to pre EU? Because they did whether you remember it or not 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

10 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

There are older arrangements with Ireland which are not in danger from Brexit, but I suppose might become questioned later, once a new scapegoat is required.

Could this be a route for @AllenTC2? If he has an Irish parent, grandparent, or great grandparent, get Irish citizenship in addition to US, then use the UK/Ireland living arrangement to come to the UK.

 

Jen

[AllenTC2]

15 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Could this be a route for @AllenTC2? If he has an Irish parent, grandparent, or great grandparent, get Irish citizenship in addition to US, then use the UK/Ireland living arrangement to come to the UK.

 

Jen

There was something about having relatives in that UK.gov/Visa link Kudzucraft posted, but alas, I am pretty damn American. LOL My family is from Tennessee as far back as I know of. Off topic, but I'm adopted, so who knows where my biological fam is from.

[Jerra]

34 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

 I don't think that being married to a UK citizen is enough, by itself, these days, to get in.

As I understand it it isn't enough to get you in.  A friends son married a foreign girl and she isn't allowed to come here to live.