calliope

You're assuming everyone with money is prudent and everyone without is a fool that deserves everything he gets. That is a dangerous assumption that leads to very bad policy, like this. The right of a British person to return to their homeland should not be decided by their bank accounts under any circumstances. As I have written elsewhere, this policy could be argued as contravening UN human rights which Britain is a signatory to, so I doubt it will stand without serious challenge.

robin1234

No, I did not even remotely say that.
I agree it is a very bad policy.

calliope

The only reason I can for this policy is that they are pandering to the Daily Mail readers and trying to look tough by taking this nasty policy out on mainly innocent people who don't deserve it. I hope it sinks without trace.

nun

Linking a UK citizen's ability to reside in the UK with his or her immediate family to their income or net worth is the issue I have with the policy. I encourage people to save and invest, but I would never put restrictions on the immigration of UK citizens and their family because of how much they have in the bank......talk about worshiping Mammon.

Giantaxe

Indeed. I've got to hope this policy gets challenged in court. It's morally and, hopefully, legally wrong.

formula

The Human Rights law does not let you choose the country you want to move to.

calliope

Article 9 - no one shall be subjected to exile, Article 13 - everyone has the right to return to his own country.

formula

British citizens are not being denied the right to return to the UK.

calliope

Not technically, but they are being forced to divorce their spouses if they want to return.

Article 12 - "no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family..."

In pursuing this policy, the British Government is interfering with the family, or forcing people into live in exile from their own homeland.

Bevm

My self worth never had anything to do with money. We always regarded all income coming in as earned by us the team, both contributing in our own ways.

In the early school years the children aren't at school that much and it our case they were 4 years apart, so there was a young one around for a long time. We didn't need to pay for after school care or such because I did that. I did the housework, so no need to hire someone, or for us both to spend the evenings and weekends on that instead of with the kids.

I belonged to a cooperative nursery in the area, run by the parents, and providing group activities a few mornings a week, and a chance to hang out with other mothers. They were all mothers, though stay at home fathers would have been welcome. Mothers and little ones hung out a lot together,
at one another's houses or at the local park, which was fun and we learned from each other.

I saved money by making a lot of the kids' clothing, cooking from scratch, buying in bulk and freezing etc etc. I admit that I enjoy that sort of thing and still do. If it's someone's idea of hell, then yes, working and using part of the wages to cover that is probably a better idea.

I volunteered at the school, contributing to society, but also learning a lot more about how the school operated and becoming familiar with the staff, so I could help my kids better if they were struggling.

Staying at home with youngish children was many things, but never boring!

Eventually there's more free time in the day and I moved on to other things.

Bev

nun

The legislation doesn't demand divorce, just that the UK citizen leave their non-EU spouse and children behind. It's ok to have non-EU immediate family, but you can't live with them in the UK unless you meet the income requirements. That kind of linkage and interference in the private life of a UK citizen is a deeply un-conservative policy and strikes at our basic freedom to marry who we want and make a life.

formula

Then the UK aren't breaking the law as they aren't preventing their own citizens form returning to the UK.

How are they interfering with your privacy? You can have that privacy (family life)in the country you are already living in with your family. Some Brits already can't bring in their foreign national partner because of that persons history and that's legal. These Brits have their family life (usually) in that foreign national's country, unless they can convince another country to take them.

Exiled? When you chose to make your family life in another country? Surely not. You still have that family life in that country and it's not being interfered with.

They aren't even saying you can't bring a foreign national to the UK (subject to their criminal convictions of course). It's quite normal for countries to expect sponsors to be able show that they can financially support the person they wish to sponsor.

chocciecake

can i ask, won't MOST of the children of a british citizen be british by defalt then ,regardless of where they are born? most parents would automatically claim their citizenship for them and/or get the kids uk passport...it would only be if the ukc married someone that already had kids that weren't blood related to them, that would be bound by those terms then?

chocciecake

i totally agree!!!
i know many families that live off one wage of £25,000 , by renting a cheap house (easier in rural areas) and keeping their expenses basic! all they could really claim in benefits would be family tax benefit and child benefit that doesn't add up to much anyway! why can't the govt just say "no access to public funds" then, and leave it at that, instead of blocking families coming over??

when i first was granted my spouse visa back in 2001, my visa said that!!!

can i ask,as an aside, what is KOL?
i never bothered to get my citizenship, and now after leaving the country in 2009 for just under 2 years, i now have to wait another 3 years to apply for citizen ship (came back in march 2011) so i assume that i would have to pass the english test lol! and other requirements??? what exactly are they?

nun

IMHO it's NOT normal at all as proven by the EU residency work arounds and the previous UK legislation. The US does have income requirements for a Green card sponsorship, but to state that they are normal is your value judgement.