Roughly 75% of people in work, in the UK can no longer live with a partner who isn’t a British Citizen under these rules as they can’t meet the 39k a year on their own. Most people outside of London have no chance under the income hike. This is tearing apart a British person’s right to a family life in the UK with a foreign partner and is going to destroy peoples lives for no good reason. Denying these people won’t make a dent in migration or affect the housing market, as they are applying to live with their partners and spouses can’t claim benefits.
Being so obsessed with the small proportion of problematic small boat and illegal migration, and assuming that’s the vast majority of the 700k immigration figure leads you to take sledgehammer policies to immigration.
And then it has consequences and negative externalities elsewhere because turns out a lot of migration is woven into the fabric of communities.
* shocked Pikachu face *
I have posted this before but I’ll post it again to make sure there’s no misconception going around:
1. The British individual needs to make £38,700 by themselves, their partner’s salary overseas doesn’t count
2. The partner needs to pay thousands of pounds to the Home Office to move here, to fund the NHS and to process the application. Basically tax up front
3. The partner has no access to public funds like Universal Credit for at least 5 years.
4. If they want to bring children in, the salary requirement is higher and the amount paid to the Home Office is also higher.
5. If the couple have a child here, they are British citizens because one of their parents is British. They are entitled to education/childcare/healthcare as much as you do. Their “cost to the state” doesn’t count towards the partner’s “cost to the state” in the same way that your “cost to the state” doesn’t count towards your parent’s.
Everything from point 2-5 is already in place for years, the only difference is the threshold, which is going to move from £18,600 to £38,700, affecting something like 70% of those in their 20s and 30s.
>The minimum income requirement for a spousal and family visas will be more than doubled, going from from £18,600 to £38,700.
>This means that people in the UK with an income less than of £38,000 will be unable to bring foreign family members over to live with them.
>Now, Western Isles MSP Alasdair Allan has warned Parliament that this move would threaten the “demography, economy, and social fabric of the Western Isles”.
>Many family visa holders in the Western Isles have contacted him in fear for their future on the islands.
>One of them is Tessa Gehringer Monk, a local ceramics artist who moved to the Western Isles from America in 2018.
>‘I love living in the Western Isles’
She says that the new rules will hit people in the Western Isles especially hard.
>“Often on the islands it’s necessary to take up multiple part-time or seasonal positions to make ends meet,” she says.
>“We work very hard and we will not be able to make £38,700 this year, especially with so little notice.”
>“I love living in the Western Isles,” says Mrs Monk. “I have a business here, I love the local community, I’m a Gaelic speaker. My goal for the coming year is to work locally in the education sector.”
>“I want so badly to be able to stay here,” she says. “But this measure may force me to move back to America.
>“I feel like my life has completely gone off track with this announcement.”
It’s interesting how the stories for these visa rules are always so selective.
I’ve not seen one that isn’t two white people yet let alone one that represents the most common scenarios.
Hint, Bradford is more impacted by this than most towns in the UK.
Is this affecting people who already live here? Or new migrants? I’m engaged to a Greek guy, he’s lived here for ages but isn’t a citizen. I’m autistic and can only work part time so I’ve no hope of earning £38K anytime soon. I can’t imagine this is going to affect people who are already settled here that would be ridiculous :S
This policy is significantly discouraging. With the threshold set at £38,000, achieving that level is challenging for many natives outside of London. Furthermore, the immigration requirement for marriage has been raised to over £60,000, implying that one’s partner must earn this amount to sponsor entry into the UK.
This policy might be short-lived, as it seems to have been hastily implemented in anticipation of the upcoming election. Considering the dysfunctional leadership within the Tory party, this policy might not endure for long.
When the fuck are people going to wake up and see the fascism?
They attack “woke” because the real word for it, empathy, would expose their rhetoric for what it is.
Blaming vulnerable people.
Fascism.
Fuck this Londoncentric horseshit, I’m fucking outraged at the scapegoating of this disgusting government.
Just more reasons that Scotland needs to be in control of it’s own immigration policy.
Naturally it’s going to affect people in rural areas more than it’s going to affect Londoners.
But worth bearing in mind that rural people tend to have much more of a problem with the presence of foreigners in their locality than Londoners do, since rural folk tend to be older and often very socially and culturally conservative.
Selling you an idea as one thing but it’s actually about something totally different, thats the method the population eats it right up and those that don’t, create the opposition so you think people are squabbling when really it’s all manufactured bullshit!
It’s extremely easy to reduce legal immigration, and always has been. I understand why immigration numbers need to fall, but I think more emphasis needs to be put on illegal immigration.
This policy is just cruel really, and was devised by politicians who must think £40k is a low salary, or they just don’t care about the impacts this will have.
For me personally, it has solidified my view that I will never vote conservative as long as I live, as they’ve made the U.K. a worse place to live across the board. In terms of economically, mindset/attitude of the population, personal freedoms, and national pride – everything is just worse now.
My only problem with this is that it’s too London-centric, if the amount was 40k for people who live in london (where wages are better) and like 30k elsewhere it would be less of a problem.
Average annual salaries
18-21: 22,392
22-29: 30,316
30-39: 37,544
40-49: 40,040
50-59: 37,804
60+: 33,852
Source: ONS Annual Survey, November 2023
Whoever came up with this has a fetish for classist cruelty.
It would be interesting to see which age groups are the most affected by this new policy. I would imagine most family formation tends to occur somewhere between the ages of 25 and 45, with salaries being lower towards the younger side of that bracket.
By contrast, it likely has minimal impact on the over-65s, who firstly are probably very unlikely to consider marrying a foreigner, and in the rare event that they do, they are probably able to access a private/workplace pension at that age to help in satisfying the “minimum savings” requirement.
So when it comes to appealing to the Tories’ core vote (reactionary, socially conservative, elderly people), it’s probably quite a good policy from that group’s perspective.
I disagree with the new threshold, especially as you can live a decent life for a couple on under £38k (if jobs with those wages were even available) in many parts of the country.
However I believe the government already said it will not be retrospective and anyone already here will be able to extend their visa despite this & be grandfathered in …
This would not be an issue if it hadn’t been so badly abused by a specific subsection section of the UK population.
18 comments
Roughly 75% of people in work, in the UK can no longer live with a partner who isn’t a British Citizen under these rules as they can’t meet the 39k a year on their own. Most people outside of London have no chance under the income hike. This is tearing apart a British person’s right to a family life in the UK with a foreign partner and is going to destroy peoples lives for no good reason. Denying these people won’t make a dent in migration or affect the housing market, as they are applying to live with their partners and spouses can’t claim benefits.
Being so obsessed with the small proportion of problematic small boat and illegal migration, and assuming that’s the vast majority of the 700k immigration figure leads you to take sledgehammer policies to immigration.
And then it has consequences and negative externalities elsewhere because turns out a lot of migration is woven into the fabric of communities.
* shocked Pikachu face *
I have posted this before but I’ll post it again to make sure there’s no misconception going around:
1. The British individual needs to make £38,700 by themselves, their partner’s salary overseas doesn’t count
2. The partner needs to pay thousands of pounds to the Home Office to move here, to fund the NHS and to process the application. Basically tax up front
3. The partner has no access to public funds like Universal Credit for at least 5 years.
4. If they want to bring children in, the salary requirement is higher and the amount paid to the Home Office is also higher.
5. If the couple have a child here, they are British citizens because one of their parents is British. They are entitled to education/childcare/healthcare as much as you do. Their “cost to the state” doesn’t count towards the partner’s “cost to the state” in the same way that your “cost to the state” doesn’t count towards your parent’s.
Everything from point 2-5 is already in place for years, the only difference is the threshold, which is going to move from £18,600 to £38,700, affecting something like 70% of those in their 20s and 30s.
>The minimum income requirement for a spousal and family visas will be more than doubled, going from from £18,600 to £38,700.
>This means that people in the UK with an income less than of £38,000 will be unable to bring foreign family members over to live with them.
>Now, Western Isles MSP Alasdair Allan has warned Parliament that this move would threaten the “demography, economy, and social fabric of the Western Isles”.
>Many family visa holders in the Western Isles have contacted him in fear for their future on the islands.
>One of them is Tessa Gehringer Monk, a local ceramics artist who moved to the Western Isles from America in 2018.
>‘I love living in the Western Isles’
She says that the new rules will hit people in the Western Isles especially hard.
>“Often on the islands it’s necessary to take up multiple part-time or seasonal positions to make ends meet,” she says.
>“We work very hard and we will not be able to make £38,700 this year, especially with so little notice.”
>“I love living in the Western Isles,” says Mrs Monk. “I have a business here, I love the local community, I’m a Gaelic speaker. My goal for the coming year is to work locally in the education sector.”
>“I want so badly to be able to stay here,” she says. “But this measure may force me to move back to America.
>“I feel like my life has completely gone off track with this announcement.”
It’s interesting how the stories for these visa rules are always so selective.
I’ve not seen one that isn’t two white people yet let alone one that represents the most common scenarios.
Hint, Bradford is more impacted by this than most towns in the UK.
Is this affecting people who already live here? Or new migrants? I’m engaged to a Greek guy, he’s lived here for ages but isn’t a citizen. I’m autistic and can only work part time so I’ve no hope of earning £38K anytime soon. I can’t imagine this is going to affect people who are already settled here that would be ridiculous :S
This policy is significantly discouraging. With the threshold set at £38,000, achieving that level is challenging for many natives outside of London. Furthermore, the immigration requirement for marriage has been raised to over £60,000, implying that one’s partner must earn this amount to sponsor entry into the UK.
This policy might be short-lived, as it seems to have been hastily implemented in anticipation of the upcoming election. Considering the dysfunctional leadership within the Tory party, this policy might not endure for long.
When the fuck are people going to wake up and see the fascism?
They attack “woke” because the real word for it, empathy, would expose their rhetoric for what it is.
Blaming vulnerable people.
Fascism.
Fuck this Londoncentric horseshit, I’m fucking outraged at the scapegoating of this disgusting government.
Just more reasons that Scotland needs to be in control of it’s own immigration policy.
Naturally it’s going to affect people in rural areas more than it’s going to affect Londoners.
But worth bearing in mind that rural people tend to have much more of a problem with the presence of foreigners in their locality than Londoners do, since rural folk tend to be older and often very socially and culturally conservative.
Selling you an idea as one thing but it’s actually about something totally different, thats the method the population eats it right up and those that don’t, create the opposition so you think people are squabbling when really it’s all manufactured bullshit!
It’s extremely easy to reduce legal immigration, and always has been. I understand why immigration numbers need to fall, but I think more emphasis needs to be put on illegal immigration.
This policy is just cruel really, and was devised by politicians who must think £40k is a low salary, or they just don’t care about the impacts this will have.
For me personally, it has solidified my view that I will never vote conservative as long as I live, as they’ve made the U.K. a worse place to live across the board. In terms of economically, mindset/attitude of the population, personal freedoms, and national pride – everything is just worse now.
My only problem with this is that it’s too London-centric, if the amount was 40k for people who live in london (where wages are better) and like 30k elsewhere it would be less of a problem.
Average annual salaries
18-21: 22,392
22-29: 30,316
30-39: 37,544
40-49: 40,040
50-59: 37,804
60+: 33,852
Source: ONS Annual Survey, November 2023
Whoever came up with this has a fetish for classist cruelty.
It would be interesting to see which age groups are the most affected by this new policy. I would imagine most family formation tends to occur somewhere between the ages of 25 and 45, with salaries being lower towards the younger side of that bracket.
By contrast, it likely has minimal impact on the over-65s, who firstly are probably very unlikely to consider marrying a foreigner, and in the rare event that they do, they are probably able to access a private/workplace pension at that age to help in satisfying the “minimum savings” requirement.
So when it comes to appealing to the Tories’ core vote (reactionary, socially conservative, elderly people), it’s probably quite a good policy from that group’s perspective.
I disagree with the new threshold, especially as you can live a decent life for a couple on under £38k (if jobs with those wages were even available) in many parts of the country.
However I believe the government already said it will not be retrospective and anyone already here will be able to extend their visa despite this & be grandfathered in …
This would not be an issue if it hadn’t been so badly abused by a specific subsection section of the UK population.