BritInParis

The Home Secretary has just made a statement on migration to the House of Commons.

Amongst other changes, settled persons wishing to sponsor family members will soon have to show an income of £38,700 pa, just over double the current threshold of £18,600 pa.

This is in addition to the previously announced increase to the Immigration Health Surcharge which will also increase for each applicant from £624 to £1035 pa from January 2024.

SanDiegogirl

In response to the high immigration levels, the breaking down of the NHS and the perceived low income threshold to sponsor dependents?
The current threshold is only a little above the level where supplementary benefits are applicable and additional benefits such as housing, universal credit can be claimed.

I recently saw an article in which it claimed that the UK was importing poverty......

Glendarino

How does this minimum threshold impact those who are already on say the 5 year journey??? We are due to renew our spouse visa next December. We should be fine but it does become a worry. Does this rule just apply to brand new applicants or existing ones too

SanDiegogirl

Don't know the final details, and it should be that those on the spouse route already would be grandfathered in under the old rules. (no guarantee though)
At least with the renewal the applicant and the sponsor's income can be used.

Glendarino

Im slightly confused, I always thought the threshold was our combined income but I see many on Twitter etc saying that the sole British person must now make the new amount. Must add she is already here at the moment as we’re on our first 2.5 year step

DLC

This source quotes people who say the British partner must earn the new amount and they expect that those people who have already started down the spouse route will be able to continue on it using the current rules.

Hopefully that "expect" will turn out to be right.

christmasoompa

Crikey that's a big jump. The £18,600 always felt too low to me, this now feels like it's gone too far the other way!

Thanks for posting BiP.

sternchen

Under current rules, the British spouse has to satisfy the financial requirement for the first entry clearance under spouse visa applied for outside of the UK.

If the non-British spouse is already in the UK with work permission (student, skilled worker, etc.), both incomes are taken into account. Same for the extension after 2.5 years.

BritInParis

It’s about right. The £18,600 threshold hasn’t been increased since its introduction in July 2012 meaning it would need to be £29,150 today just to keep pace with inflation. £38,700 is roughly the median UK household income and where you become a net contributor rather than a net beneficiary.

spouse of scouse

Charming.

British citizen been working overseas, met the love of your life and want to come home? Haven't got a job over the median wage to come back to? Sorry, you're out.

Come to the UK and care for our people who are frail aged, sick, or have a disability, because we can't/won't do it ourselves. The wages are low, workforce morale is horrible, and the work can be difficult. But come anyway. And leave your family behind.

I hope all the people who are applauding this dog-whistle, cynical bit of Tory electioneering don't whinge when the services currently provided by migrant workers flounder (even more) due to lack of staff. And I hope that, just occasionally, they think of the Brits that have been shut of out their own country.

christmasoompa

Still seems tough to me when first moving to a country to be expected to earn that straight away. It essentially means that stay at home mums or dads who've raised kids but have little/no work experience, who could have previously got a job working in a supermarket or something close to minimum age to meet the requirements, will now be very unlikely to be able to bring their families home. It might be the median household income, but that's two wages for most, this is just one person having to earn that.

BritInParis

I don’t disagree. I always thought it inconsistent that the applicant was not able to use their income to meet the financial requirements for the initial entry clearance application but was able for subsequent applications.

christmasoompa

Yep, that's exactly my issue with it. I don't disagree with needing a certain amount to bring a spouse to the UK, but if they're going to hike it up by that much it should be that either applicant/sponsor (or a combination of both) can be earning it. It just penalises any British parent that has stayed at home with children and not had a career, or any British person that has always worked in a minimum/low wage job. Realistically there's no chance of them jumping straight in to a job paying that amount if they don't have skills/experience behind them to do so, but it means they can't move home even if their spouse earns a fortune. A daft policy IMO.

SanDiegogirl

For the first visa the Brit alone must make the threshold; for the second visa etc applicant and sponsor incomes can be used.

AnxiouslyAnxious

Wow that’s big jump , is it for new applicants or for ILR or LTR applicants as well??