FAMILY VISAS - MINIMUM INCOME REQUIREMENT
MINIMUM INCOME REQUIREMENT FOR FAMILY VISAS
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has published its report on the minimum income requirement for families of British Nationals, those with Right of Abode or settled status (Indefinite Leave to Remain) and has recommended that the government does not increase the minimum income threshold to the skilled worker threshold of £38,700 from the current level of £29,000. MAC have stated that the call for evidence last year received the highest ever for one of the committee’s consultations.
There has been some hype about this, but the UK Government does not necessarily follow all MAC guidelines so until a formal announcement is made by the Government, I wouldn't get your hopes up yet. However the report has been quite damning of the previous governments proposed increases to the Minimum Income Requirement.
The report starts out by stating that the impact of the minimum income requirement on families is as follows:
"The MIR can have significant negative impacts on the family life of British citizens or settled residents, and their children. Applicants who met the MIR usually found that these impacts were small, although some experienced stress and temporary periods of separation while establishing eligibility. Not surprisingly, the most negative impacts fell on people who did not qualify or who were separated for long periods before qualifying—in some cases, many years. The impacts include stress and mental health problems caused by separation, as well as financial problems caused by the lack of support from the partner. The impacts on British children separated from one of their parents are particularly concerning. There is evidence of mental health problems among children, difficulty establishing meaningful parental relationships with the absent partner, and feelings of rejection. While not everyone’s experience is uniform and in some cases the impacts were milder, separations due to the MIR have the capacity to inflict severe and lasting damage on British and settled people’s families".
The distressing impact that this policy has on families is set out in detail in the report, with many examples provided by those affected.
The report noted that the UK’s income threshold of £29,000 is high compared to other high-income countries that were reviewed and “In other words, other countries tend to put more weight on family life relative to economic wellbeing”.
The committee also looked at the impact of family migration on economic well-being, both from the perspective of the affected families, as well as the UK generally. The report points out that “around half of the British resident population are expected to pay less in taxes than it costs to provide them with public services and other state support over their lifetime” and so the expectation that a person has no negative impact on public finances seems unreasonable when compared to a fully British Family. The report also says:
"Many families with below-average incomes can still be considered to have enough income to support themselves (including to support themselves without being eligible for benefits), even if they do not have a positive net fiscal impact."
The committee advises against a requirement for an additional amount of income where families have children, because of the “particularly significant” impacts on children, especially in cases involving an out of country application where families are separated. The report states:
"We are not convinced that the current system sufficiently takes into account the negative impacts of separation on British children. In particular, we recommend a review of eligibility for the Parent route to consider making parents of British children eligible regardless of their relationship status".
The committee described the adequate maintenance test as “incoherent and unnecessarily complex” and suggested that it is replaced with either a more coherent calculation or an assessment of housing suitability only. I cannot disagree. The guidance on this is not clear at all.
Currently, only the income of the sponsor is taken into account in out of country applications. This a particular incongruous rule. If the object of an income requirement is to avoid access to public funds, there is no reason why a job offer from the applicant should not be included with the rest of the documentation. The committee noted that the Home Office could not provide a clear rationale for this and said that the government should look into counting the applicant’s income where they have a verified job offer in the UK. This would help mitigate the current issues experienced by British women who are the main caregivers who struggle to move back to the UK with their main earner partner.
CONCLUSION
Several options for a minimum income requirement are set out in the report, each with different considerations for the government to take into account.
All of the committee’s recommendations are lower than the current threshold of £29,000. While it is unlikely that the government will lower the income threshold, we can hope this review will prevent the further increases planned by the previous government.