In a surprising policy reversal, the UK government has abandoned its contentious plan to swiftly raise the minimum salary requirement for British nationals sponsoring foreign family members.
The revised proposal, announced with minimal fanfare, now advocates an incremental increase, beginning at £29,000 instead of the initially proposed £38,700.
This unexpected shift, lacking in detail and sudden in implementation, has drawn criticism for its perceived lack of consultation and ensuing chaos, prompting opposition parties to condemn the policy change.
While the £29,000 threshold remains above the average UK working salary, concerns persist regarding its impact on family reunification and overall legal migration dynamics.
The incremental raises are set to commence next spring, but a specific timeline for reaching the originally proposed £38,700 threshold has not been outlined.
Under the initial £18,600 threshold, 75% of individuals could afford to have family members join them. In contrast, setting it at £38,700 would reduce this affordability to just 40%, and only 25% in the north-east of England.
The original change, part of a broader crackdown on legal migration, was anticipated to contribute approximately 10,000 to an overall planned reduction of 300,000 in annual migration numbers, with potential adverse effects on families.
“£29,000 is still very high for most families – it excludes over half of the population from sponsoring a foreign spouse and is much higher than the minimum wage so those on lower salaries are still being told their family is not welcome here.
“It’s baffling why the MIR [minimum income requirement] is now going to be raised incrementally – the process is already complicated enough without this too.”
The sudden revision has sparked reactions from advocacy groups, with Reunite Families, a campaign group for those affected by immigration rules, expressing disappointment.
The revised policy, outlined in a parliamentary answer by Conservative peer and junior Home Office minister Andrew Sharpe, stipulates that the minimum income requirement “will be increased in incremental stages to give predictability.” Although the first stage, increasing to £29,000, is slated for next spring, details about subsequent increments remain unspecified.
The apparent ambiguity in the government’s approach aims to address concerns while avoiding outright abandonment of the new threshold.
Home Secretary James Cleverly, in a statement, asserted that further details about the plan’s implementation and timeline have been provided, emphasizing the continued commitment to reducing annual net migration by 300,000.
Notably, individuals renewing family visas and children seeking to join or move with parents will only need to meet the current income requirement, not the increased threshold, according to a Home Office factsheet.
The opposition, including Labour and the Liberal Democrats, has seized on this development as evidence of government chaos on immigration and economic matters.
The initial shift to £38,700 followed heightened concerns about rising net inward migration, reaching 745,000 in the year to December 2022.
While the plan received praise from some Tory MPs, concerns were raised about potential chaos in the health sector and damage to the UK’s long-term growth prospects.
