US Citizen moving to UK on foreign passport?

[Chris_Lloyd]

Hi everyone. My girlfriend is American and I am British. We’ve been together for a while now. We actually met working as dancers on a cruise ship. We want to get back to working on land and decided we’d prefer to live in the UK. Most likely London and audition for the West End shows as we’re both performing artists. We’ve been looking at all the visa options but we’re struggling to find something that will work for us that doesn’t involve marriage.
We found out some news recently. My American girlfriend has Italian ancestors and she will be able to get an Italian passport. Now if that’s possible would it be legal for her to enter the country and work on her Italian passport? Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[LdiJ]

Hi everyone. My girlfriend is American and I am British. We’ve been together for a while now. We actually met working as dancers on a cruise ship. We want to get back to working on land and decided we’d prefer to live in the UK. Most likely London and audition for the West End shows as we’re both performing artists. We’ve been looking at all the visa options but we’re struggling to find something that will work for us that doesn’t involve marriage.
We found out some news recently. My American girlfriend has Italian ancestors and she will be able to get an Italian passport. Now if that’s possible would it be legal for her to enter the country and work on her Italian passport? Any advice would be much appreciated.

This forum is for US law only.

However I will say the following:

When Britain was part of the EU it would have been possible for her to live and work in Britain as an Italian citizen with an Italian passport. Now that Brexit has happened I am guessing that will probably no longer work.

You most likely need to consult a local immigration solicitor (If that is the correct title)...particularly someone who is experienced in deal with actors.

 

[Taxing Matters]

This site focuses on U.S. law and thus it is unlikely that anyone here would know the details of U.K. immigration law. The rule for the EU is that citizens of the EU are given free movement among EU member states. If your girlfriend qualified as an Italian citizen (and I don't know the rules for Italian passports — whether she would have to be a citizen to get that) then she would be allowed free movement among EU member states. The U.K. is a EU member but since it has announced its intention to leave the EU (the Brexit) I do not know how the Brexit process has impacted how the U.K. implements the EU free migration principles. You'd want to talk to a solicitor who deals with immigration issues for answers on that. Be aware that depending on how Brexit turns out, even if she is allowed in now, her status might change once Brexit is completed (assuming it does get completed, of course).

On the American side of things, your girlfriend would not lose her U.S. citizenship simply because she also becomes an Italian citizen. She would also have to go through the process of renouncing her U.S. citizenship in order to lose it. There is a specific process for that. Until she gives up her U.S. citizenship, she will remain subject to U.S. taxation. That means she will still pay U.S. income tax as well as U.K. income tax on what she earns in the U.K., but she will get a credit against her U.S. tax for the tax paid to the U.K. She may also qualify for the foreign earned income inclusion. So in the end she doesn't get double taxed, but she does have to file in both countries and she ends up paying tax on her income at whichever country's rate of tax is the highest.

 

[FlyingRon]

And on the immigration side, as long as she has US citizenship she can travel elsewhere on her Italian passport but must show her US passport when entering the US.

 

[cbg]

Has she looked into a Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visa?

 

[Chris_Lloyd]

Yeah we

Has she looked into a Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visa?

We have looked into it. But unfortunately she doesn’t tick all the required boxes. The biggest problem is she has never worked outside of the US, which is a requirement