How new UK immigration rules could tear families apart

Campaigners and lawyers have branded new immigration rules that could leave Britons earning less than £38,700 unable to live with their foreign spouses as “draconian”, “discriminatory” and “anti-family”.

Changes to the minimum income for family visas announced by Home Secretary James Cleverly mean people may be prevented from bringing loved ones to stay in the country under certain circumstances.

Cleverly said UK citizens must earn at least £38,700 to sponsor foreign relatives seeking a visa.

Figures from HM Revenue and Customs show that, as of 2020/21, the 73rd percentile of the UK population earned less than this month, meaning just under three-quarters of Britons could be excluded from the new proposals.

The current minimum income to sponsor a spouse or partner is £18,600 – more than half the recently proposed figure – raising concerns that the latest reform could tear more families apart.

The policy, expected to be introduced next spring, was set out by Cleverly as part of a package of proposals aimed at achieving the biggest-ever reduction in net migration after levels soared to a record high.

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The ONS revised its net migration figure to put 2022 at a record 745,000.

Cleverly said that his new strategy, along with previously announced plans to limit family members of foreign students from entering the country, would reduce the number by 300,000.

Immigration attorneys have said that the change to minimum income for family visas will not substantially reduce the numbers and that the pain of preventing people from living with the person they love is not worth the benefits.

“Basically, don’t fall in love with someone foreign,” immigration attorney Katie Newbury told Yahoo News.

The lawyer at law firm Kingsley Napley, who specializes in immigration issues, said she was “really surprised” by Cleverly’s announcement and would not be surprised if a legal challenge was brought against him.

He said that before a minimum income threshold of £18,600 was first introduced in 2012, all people had to do was prove they could support themselves without relying on public funds.

Now, Newbury says the foreign spouse of a British citizen could be earning a substantial amount of money, but this would not count towards the £38,700 minimum if they were coming to the country for the first time.

A foreign partner would only be able to count your income towards the application if they were earning money in the UK, which is unlikely to be the case if you haven’t even arrived in the country yet.

If you rely on income from employment or self-employment, it must be in the name of the British or established partner, Newbury said, although your money could be earned in the UK or abroad, depending on the type of income.

Newbury added that applicants have to earn an additional amount for each of their non-British children, meaning the threshold could be even higher for many families.

While foreign spouses cannot rely on their overseas income, as it may not be available to them in the UK, they can rely on savings and investments under the current rules.

Downing Street has since confirmed that the minimum income of £38,700 was for “a household as a whole”.

Even the current lower minimum income has taken its toll: a 2015 report by the Children’s Commissioner claimed that 15,000 children were living in so-called “Skype families” because their parents could not live together.

With the average annual gross earnings of full-time employees in the UK rising to £34,963 in April 2023, according to the ONS, Newbury says “many more” families will be devastated by the new proposal.

“I have clients who have money, but they don’t follow the rules in a specific way. You can have people who live with their family for free, they have no accommodation costs, but that doesn’t matter.

“When they came up with that figure of £18,600 in 2012, it was after many consultations about what they thought was the minimum to prevent people resorting to public funds. This last figure seems to have been pulled out of thin air.

“These are not huge numbers, so if we are concerned about reducing net migration, this will not help. We are not talking about hundreds of thousands of people arriving as spouses of British citizens.”

‘Draconian, discriminatory and without any real purpose’

Jonathan Portes, an economics professor at King’s College University who specializes in immigration and labor mobility, told Yahoo News that the family visa proposal is “very draconian by international standards.”

He added that, given the distribution of income in the UK, the policy would be “discriminatory by gender, ethnicity and where in the country you live”.

“It’s very important to say that this is a rule that applies to British people getting married, it’s not just immigrants who are affected,” he added.

Some critics have argued that the Home Office’s chosen wording, referring to bringing “dependents” to the UK, attempts to distance itself from the fact that British citizens will be prevented from bringing their partners.

Portes added: “I think this is some kind of draconian and clearly socially unfair rule that serves no real purpose.

“It’s not that there is a huge wave of public concern about people marrying people with an income of £25,000 a year and marrying foreigners.

“I don’t think the British public are worried about them in terms of immigration and the numbers in those cases are not that big.

“It’s hard not to see that kind of xenophobic gesture toward parts of the conservative right without any particular social or economic basis, but that’s my personal opinion.”

With the new £38,700 requirement, immigration lawyer Colin Yeo said around “3/4 of workers” would be ineligible to sponsor a partner.

“They will have to separate and live in different countries or move abroad together,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“The impact on the children affected is profound. Women, part-time workers, ethnic minorities and anyone outside of London will be disproportionately affected. British citizens returning from abroad will also be severely affected.”

Meanwhile, Ben Ansell, professor of comparative democratic institutions at Nuffield College, Oxford University, wrote: “It is deeply unconservative to say that only people earning above the 73rd percentile of the income distribution can live with those they love.” “A very, very wrong political opinion.”

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said on Tuesday: “The family immigration rules contain provision for exceptional circumstances where there would be unreasonably harsh consequences for the applicant, their partner, a relevant child or other family member if their application were refused.” .

No examples of such circumstances were given and the spokesperson said requests would be considered “on a case-by-case basis”.