{"id":191034,"date":"2025-06-17T06:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T06:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/191034\/"},"modified":"2025-06-17T06:59:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T06:59:09","slug":"british-woman-laments-brexit-rules-that-would-stop-her-italian-husband-moving-to-uk-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/191034\/","title":{"rendered":"British woman laments Brexit rules that would stop her Italian husband moving to UK | Brexit"},"content":{"rendered":"

A British woman whose family cannot return to the UK because of Brexit<\/a> visa rules has said she feels \u201cforgotten and rejected\u201d by the country of her birth.<\/p>\n

Sarah Douglas moved to Italy<\/a> to teach English in 2007 before marrying Matteo Ricci, an Italian software developer, in 2010.<\/p>\n

The couple had always planned to settle in the UK, where Douglas wants to be closer to her parents, who are in their 70s.<\/p>\n

But under the current, post-Brexit immigration regime, she must earn more than \u00a329,000 and have been working in a job paying that for at least six months in the UK before she can apply for a family visa that would allow her husband to move here, or have \u00a388,500 in cash savings.<\/p>\n

The rules mean she would have to return to the UK from the family\u2019s home in Perugia, Umbria, with their three children \u2013 Alba, 13, Mirryn, 10 and Arthur, five \u2013 before Ricci could join them.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, a review by the migration advisory committee (Mac) raised the hopes of families separated by the rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The panel suggested ministers could cut the amount a British citizen or settled resident must earn<\/a> to apply for a partner\u2019s visa and suggested scrapping a Tory plan to raise the minimum income requirement to \u00a338,700, saying it would conflict with the right to family life (article 8, EHCR).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds really promising so far, but I still can\u2019t get hopeful,\u201d Douglas, who grew up in the Scottish Borders, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very secure, but this visa policy would push us into instability by being separated, funding two households, being a single parent home, essentially, for at least six months,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Ricci earns more than the income requirement, but under the current rules<\/a>, his salary is not taken into account.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other crazy thing is that my children are also British citizens,\u201d Douglas added. \u201cWe could come anytime alone and be completely dependent on the state for benefits, but we\u2019re not allowed to bring my husband who would work to support us.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an awful lot of hoops to jump through to be able to live in my own country. It\u2019s really upsetting for my kids. Most of their family lives in the UK. They speak English fluently. They really don\u2019t understand why they can\u2019t live in their own country close to their cousins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just basically feel forgotten about, rejected. We can\u2019t make any concrete future plans. But we would not be considering moving if we didn\u2019t think we would be financially independent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until April 2024, the income requirement was \u00a318,600, or two and half times that figure in cash savings. The couple were close to meeting the savings requirement when the threshold was changed.<\/p>\n

Caroline Coombs, the executive director of Reunite Families UK, said families\u2019 voices had been \u201cignored for too long\u201d, adding that the policy had \u201ccaused untold damage to those whose only \u2018fault\u2019 has been to fall in love with someone born abroad\u201d with a \u201chorrendous impact on children\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate Mac\u2019s reference to the fact that should the government decide to maintain an MIR [minimum income requirement], this should be lowered \u2026 however we firmly believe that there shouldn\u2019t be an MIR. Any threshold, even at minimum wage would still separate people who just want to be a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Home Office spokesperson said: \u201cWe are now considering [the Mac review\u2019s] findings and will respond in due course. The government has already committed to legislate to clarify the application of article 8 of the ECHR for applicants, caseworkers and the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A British woman whose family cannot return to the UK because of Brexit visa rules has said she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-191034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114697415096536720","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}