Government reverses decision to increase family visa earning threshold to £38,000
Ministers have reversed their plans to increase the earning threshold Britons need to bring foreign family members to live in the UK to £38,700. Instead, the Government has decided to raise the threshold to £29,000 in the spring. Home Secretary James Cleverly had initially announced in early December the increase from £18,600 to £38,700 as part of a package of measures to curb legal migration. However, the move received criticism as it threatened to separate families and raise concerns. Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom confirmed the change of plans in answer to a written parliamentary question on Thursday.
Lord Sharpe stated that the current threshold of £18,600 allows 75% of the UK working population to bring their foreign family members into the country to live. He added that increasing the threshold to £38,700 would limit the same right to 30% of the working population. Lord Sharpe also outlined the incremental stages at which the threshold will be increased, starting at £29,000 in the spring of 2024.
It was confirmed that changes to the family visa scheme would only apply to new applicants, and anyone granted a fiance visa before the minimum income threshold is raised will also be assessed against the £18,600 requirement when they apply for a family visa. The home secretary suggested the plans would reduce net legal migration by 300,000 people a year. The planned changes will be introduced in a “stepped fashion throughout early 2024.”
The change has caused dissatisfaction among some members of the Conservative party, as well as opposition MPs. The Liberal Democrats called the planned £38,700 threshold “unworkable,” while Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described the change as “more evidence of Tory government chaos on immigration and the economy.”
