Hi Tulip! I was in this situation almost 10 years ago (After marrying a Brit and emigrating from Australia) and I am afraid to say that you may be struggling to find a funded PhD place until you have lived (and worked/paid tax) here for many years and hence have British Residency. It makes no difference that you are married to a Brit apparently - but they may have changed the rules by now! I know that I had to prove that I had paid tax for several years before I was able to get a Research Council Funded studentship. (BBSRC for me). My advice is do what I did - find work as a research assistant/technician - I did two years at two different labs and have publications from both. Unfortunately, the UK universities ignored my experience, and I had to get a Masters to get a PhD studentship (even though I had a 2:1, 4 years experience and 3 papers!!) Good luck! (I am only just now writing up 9.5 years after arriving in the UK)