Assumptions about spending

[mtbc]

Wikipedia annoyed me this morning by claiming that a £2 donation is the price of your Saturday coffee. Ha, my Saturday coffee costs just over 20p and I consider it a luxury of such dizzying height that, along with my sometimes making use of non-stick foil, I have on multiple occasions discussed and cleared such indulgent expense with mst3kmoxie. Wikipedia's thinking seemed up there with the too-common helpful household budgeting advice that seems to start with a guess that we throw money away like idiots. My inability to save for a deposit on a house has far more to do with issues like the £2,297 visa fee we must pay next Spring rather than the nights out and overseas holidays that we already do not spend money on. I should ask my MP about the moral basis on which HMG's service charges sometimes far exceed delivery cost but at least they are not making light of it at me.

Comments

[aldabra]

Oh yes, that annoys me too. (And what must Deepest Africa think of us? There's a certain anglo-centrism going on, too.)

How is your visa cost that much? I went off to look up citizenship for spouses and permanent residence, but it all looked too difficult (and there's an implication that permanent residence stops working after Brexit even if you were British to start with?). Have you not been here five years yet?

[mtbc]

Yes, we've been here for five years now, but one adds extra paperwork delays to that number. I don't know what we actually paid but at current rates our process would be,

1. $2,050 for entry visa from US (US spouse of British person)
2. £993 to extend it to the five-year mark
3. £2,297 to convert it to allowing to settle with indefinite leave to remain (their estimated processing cost is £252)
4. £1,282 for naturalization

… plus various smaller fees and the £200/year for NHS access. Needless to say, this expenditure rate is rather higher than what we spend on buying cars!