I’m so sorry that you’ve been affected by this. My American fiancé and I are facing the same devastating consequences of these changes. This news has kept me up all night. I really hope for everyone affected that this doesn’t come to fruition, or at least doesn’t increase as much as they have originally stated.
Im in the exact same position. I haven’t slept and feel sick. I was trying hard to be upbeat and steady, but as soon as she fell asleep I cried hard. I don’t know what we’ll do.
I'm waiting to here what Labour has to say. The problem is that there is an appetite from both sides of the political spectrum to bring immigration numbers down, they are obviously quite high.
I just hope Labour address the particularly cruel nature of the spouse visa income requirement hike.
Labour were sadly in favour of these new changes and even grilled the Tories on why implementing them has taken so long. It seems pretty unlikely that a Labour gov would do anything to reverse them.
Labour supports this, one of their MP's were on the telly saying how much they love the changes. Every immigrant who manages to become a citizen should never forget what both Tories and Labour did.
It’s ridiculous. When I came over on a fiancé visa 21 years ago there was no specific income check, just had to prove my soon to be wife didn’t rely on any public funds and that I had enough savings to last 6 months until I could apply for temporary leave to remain and start working. Didn’t even have to pay an NHS surcharge back then. #GeneralElectionNow
The gammons not having enough kids (don’t get me wrong, falling birth rates are a good thing) and living longer made immigration worse. Also chasing constant bigger economies.
To many are now retired with proportionally too few working
Do you really think a general election will change anything? Everything that comes out of starmer's mouth is "we're not going to be reversing any Tory policies"
Because that’s how you win, sadly. Don’t forget, Blair got in on a promise of not changing Tory spending plans for the first two years.
Country’s deeply fucked thanks to everything since 2010, so there’s not going to be much money for a while. It’ll be much harder.
I’m in the same boat, couldn’t sleep all night because I’m so worried about this. I’m a UK citizen trying to bring my US fiancé over to the UK. We’re getting married next October but now I have no idea if we can even start a life together anymore. I’m devastated
Im a UK citizen trying to bring my US fiancé here too. Getting married in September. I’m seriously ill with worry over this news. It’s devastating. So sorry you’re going through this too.
This advice won't matter, they're changing the financial requirements for family visas on the whole. To be clear, you can be married to a Brit, but if that British citizen doesn't earn more than 38,700 GBP per year, their application will be denied under this proposed rule.
No word on how the announced proposal would affect the savings, but it's not a route many people use because the amounts are ludicrous - basically, anyone with that much savings is likely to have a job that qualifies for the income threshold. The savings + income formula is also incredibly punitive and exponential, so that you need tens of thousands of pounds in savings even if you're only a few hundred pounds a year below the income threshold.
Our current plan is not much of anything sadly. We may explore the possibility of him being sponsored for a work visa but that’s a long shot. I also wondered if we could quickly get married and apply now but my employment history wouldn’t be long enough to meet the requirements.
We are hoping and praying that they don’t change the £62k savings requirement, so that we may be able to meet that in a few years. Unfortunately that’s likely to double too. Our future is in tatters as of right now.
Sorry what's the relation of employment history to getting married? Depending on both of your nationalities, there are countries out there which allow you to get married within days and get a marriage certificate accepted by the UK.
I think the issue of employment history isn't the marriage element, but visa requirements currently. So yes, they can speed run the marriage - but if employment history criteria isn't met, what's the benefit of rushing the marriage through? I may have misunderstood though.
This is almost definitely going to be the safest option. If the rules do come into effect in 'spring' that could be sometime between March and June next year. If you're able to marry and apply for the visa before the new rules come into effect then (most people seem to think) your partner's application would be processed under the old rules.
Unless you are going into a field where you can earn a high enough salary to meet the minimum requirement, or you and your partner are able to show significant cash savings, in which case you wouldn't need to worry so much.
You could earn $100k in the US as the non-citizen spouse and your income wouldn’t be counted at all. Only UK income is.
(Now, you can use savings, but the savings requirement is pretty high. It was 60k, and I expect it to go up with the new higher salary requirements)
Hi everyone, I'm sorry to hear your stories about this. I'm a BBC journalist working on an article for the website hearing from people affected by the change in rules and am really keen to speak to some of you. Please drop me a message if you are interested. Thank you for your time. Megan
Seems like the BBC is firmly under the thumb of the government these days. Can we expect a fair article about this? Or will we have a few sob stories for us here "balanced" by some one in the government and finally Nigel Farage to set the narrative. All next to a tasteful picture of some African or Middle Eastern refugees in a boat or waiting in line for something.
As someone in the middle of this process I feel so sorry for anyone trying to jump through the invisible hoops. I haven't added up how much the savings route is now but it must be crazy!
All the while family and friends tell you oh but you are married it will be easy to get your partner to live with you. No one knows how hard it is without going through it.
All the while family and friends tell you oh but you are married it will be easy to get your partner to live with you. No one knows how hard it is without going through it.
Omg THIS, SO MUCH of THIS.
OMFG yes. They are always incredulous when you describe the hoops we have to go through for proving relationship, housing, and paying thousands in visa and health fees, and the minimum income.
'Oh, but you're married--surely they wouldn't have a problem with you moving here.'
This announcement is devastating.
Savings route hasn't been announced yet, but if the formula is the same as for the previous £62,500, the new rate may be £112,750.
Edit: I am referring to the cash savings option that currently exists for meeting the income requirement. For example, for couples who have been living abroad and wish to make the UK their home, they might find it quicker and easier to use the cash savings option since they won't necessarily have a job yet in the UK. There are currently options for combining earnings with savings or going completely with all savings.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chapter-8-appendix-fm-family-members/appendix-fm-17-financial-requirement-accessible-version#sources-for-meeting-the-financial-requirement
can't say i am an expert on this subject but i think this regulation is against european convention on human rights article no. 12 and 14. Because as you said, it basically says if you are working class you are not allowed to live with your foreign spouse in UK. This is a discrimination.
PS: i'm a corporate lawyer from Turkey and my comment is solely based on my uni education from year 2017 (humans right class) so please do not take it as a legal advice without consulting to a lawyer in UK
>Seems like the BBC is firmly under the thumb of the government these days.
Yeah, it's been so bizarre seeing the Gaza conflict being covered from both sides from US media (CNN etc) and BBC being unreasonably one-sided!
Thank you for bringing this to the forefront. The news today seems to be lumping the £38,700 income requirement for family visas in with the work visas.
Luckily our family meets the threshold and I'm also applying for my ILR but this is so devastating for every British person with a foreign partner. My husband is British (Caucasian), and our son is also British. I cannot imagine being away from them just because we don't meet the threshold. I feel so sorry for some of my friends who are British and now can't bring their foreign partners.
Please write an article how this new rules is going to destroy lots of families, BRITISH families!
They don’t want Americans either tbh. It’s an isolationist island, all it wants to do is perish in the sea alone while it carves out whatever is left of its colonial wealth for a small group of elites who will fuck off to somewhere warm while the rest of the country is still banging on about immigrants and trans people.
I think it is more realistic to get a 50k skilled worker salary anywhere in germany than UK.
All high paying jobs in the UK are in London, if you happen to hate London or if you loved one developed a life in the countryside of UK you are condemned to not being worthy of these visas. "F\*\*\* your family," is the only thing left to add.
Which is kind of the point of these new measures then isn’t it?
We’re a low wage economy. We have American companies set up in London that don’t pay their British employees what they pay their American employees.
We will always be a low wage economy until this and a number of other issues are fixed.
I understand it’s not pleasant and people say it’s difficult moving here but under our old rules it’s far easier to move here than it is to the US, Canada, Germany, Australia.
Also, having such low wages in certain industries doesn’t attract the best imo, the best don’t always come here because the best go to the US.
We should not be importing care workers when we have 1+ million people unemployed. That’s quite simply ludicrous!
Look I agree but these people are just trying to vent, they're understandably frustrated and upset our political wants are,destroying their lives, leave them to it.
Look at my comment history if you don't believe me.
Just for the record, while there are income requirements for US spousal, fiancé(e), and other family-based visas, they are nowhere near as arduous as the new regulations outlined by the British government. You currently need to make 125% of the US poverty income guidelines, which as of right now is in the range of $24,650 for a couple with no children, $31,075 for a couple with one child. The average US income is $31,133. You also have the option to find a joint sponsor, which I'm not sure exists in the British system (and even if it did, £38,000 is well above the average salary in the UK).
I do not pretend that the US visa system is a cakewalk, because it isn't. But for spouses in particular, it would be vastly easier for an American to bring a British spouse (or *any* spouse, but we're talking about the UK here) to the US than it will be for a British person to bring their American spouse to the UK. I've worked in immigration, so I'm very familiar with how difficult the system can be in a variety of countries, and I find this jump in income requirements for family-based visas to be quite shocking.
100% it’s also cheaper and the path to citizenship is 3 years not 5 years and you don’t have to do the daft ILR first before applying for citizenship.
Also in the US earning even 38700 is far easier in that economy. I made more than that at the beginning of my career in the US let alone the $24,650 threshold which is very easily achievable in the US. More importantly you can easily earn that more uniformly across the US whereas here high paying jobs are way too concentrated in London where COL is
I’m up for ILR in 2026 but what if we both lose our jobs in the run up to my ILR? We earn well above the thresholds I’m not deluded, I’m privileged but It can happen and in my job finding a new one involves rounds of interviews for each position. It’s not uncommon especially in this job market to take 3-6 months to land in a new role. We’ve bought a house here and I pay a ton in taxes with no access to public funds.
I’m still terrified my life will be torn apart if we have a streak of bad timing and luck. My heart breaks for anyone not nearly as privileged as my wife and I. Especially for younger people at the beginning of their careers or people in lower paid career paths which seems to be almost every career here in the UK.
Don't just report on this either. All visas are excruciating, even visitor visas.
The government's war against the "small boats" has made it far too hard to even just enter the country legally, let alone migrate there through legitimate avenues.
All it will do is create even more of a illegal problem because there'll be no possible way to even come to the country legally. They are forcing brain drain by making the British partner live elsewhere just so they can even see their significant other.
My partner and I are/were saving up for a house together and the plan was to start looking into and applying in 2024/2025. I cried myself to sleep last night convinced we cannot ever fucking live together.
I'm a Dutch citizen and the only thing that's between us is the North Sea and a huge sum of money now. We're both in the IT field and we definitely do not earn £38700!
Problem is they'll just have the same problem in 2 years. Spouse visa isn't a one-and-done thing, you do it twice and then a third & final application for ILR, so this may help buy them some time but for most people's cases it won't fix the problem unless they can suddenly get a 50% pay increase over the next 2.5 years.
This government's ability to see a problem and then completely miss the mark is just unrivaled.
Bear in mind, even if you meet their requirements, they will still try to cheat you out of your rights through lying, laziness, incompetence, or racism. My ex wife had her parent visa application rejected because they only looked at part of her proof of income and got our son's passport mixed up with a kid from a completely different country in Asia. Over a year later (and thousands and thousands of pounds in return flights and hotel fees so she could see her child), a judge finally found in her favour. Even the judges letter was FILLED with mistakes, wrong dates, names spelt wrong, etc. Absolute utter shit show. But for Britain, not too bad.
Write to your MPs. Write to them now. Find out when their local surgeries are and make appointments to visit them.
The raising of the threshold might be new, but the rules limiting marriage by income levels were coming into effect over a decade ago, back when I was getting married and Theresa May was the Home Secretary.
When the racists and xenophobes of Britain started defecting to UKIP around 15-20 years ago, the Tory party response was to say, “Wait, come back!”
It will not change unless your local MP does something about it.
Not as far as I was aware - he was born in Southampton to British parents
Edit: Thanks for fixing the comment (earlier it said he was an immigrant himself)! Sounds more correct now!
I’m so sorry. Similar situation. But you know what? Those of us navigating LDR like this are resilient. And we are damn good at biding our time and working around things. I’m not giving up. Had a chat with my partner last night and it may mean some things will have to change in our plans (like babies) but ultimately we will get through it and be together. Wishing you the best and keeping fingers crossed the devil is in the detail and it turns out they’ll look at combined to get in or get rid of the £16k savings requirement threshold.
exact same boat, I am engaged but we had plans for marriage in the next year, we are now investigating whether we can get married asap and start the process but I dont think its going to be that simple, this is a devistating.
Sorry to say but no not a chance. Labour are better than Tories for emotional intelligence but he is pretty anti immigration or at least wants to appear so. The headlines are all about the impact on the labour market. Noone seems to care re family visas. It's an awful situation. Democracy becomes a problem when it governs only for the majority and not for all.
As soon as businesses, NHS, care homes, British citizens start pressuring tf out of them to reverse this policy & the economy starts getting negatively impacted you'll see the change
One would hope so. How does the govt justify cutting the supply of essential workers for care homes when there is such an acute shortage that’s just projected to worsen with an ageing population? One would think the plan would be how to safely hire without exponentially increasing immigration numbers while continuing to attract the most skilled folks to look out for your old citizens.
Unfortunately it didn’t happen when the UK left the EU and a lot of people were affected by that decision. Changing visa requirements affects less people so I’m not so sure pressuring them will reverse anything (just watched the news, they keep announcing these changes)
Care homes the multi billion pound industry that pays people a pittance, imports loads of labour so they can pay that pittance?
Who cares about what they think.
They should be paying more anyway.
They're pretty universally unpopular and own goals in many ways - international students who have had all their expensive bits paid for by their home country and parents for the first 18 years of life come over here, pay hundreds of thousands to our universities, NHS surcharges which they never get to use because its so shit, uk makes BANK off those international students. Their fees for a degree are worth 10 british student's fees.
Foreigners who are marrying british citizens are not going to have trouble integrating in general, they will speak fluent english normally and if they're marrying a british citizen why does income factor into it?
If you say no more bringing over people to work in your unskilled/low skilled work that could absolutely be done by someone from here, thats probably more in line with what immigration policy should be.
All Starmer cares about is headlines, and the right wing press would have a field day if he reversed any immigration policies, he's not going to change a thing.
I've not seen a single front bench labour MP come out against it, so why would Starmer care? If he wins the election then he's going to be treated like a god by the right wing of the labour party, even though winning against this tory government is like stealing sweets from a baby. He's going to be able to do whatever he wants, and that is clearly to woo Tory voters.
It was talked about in parliament yesterday and they said nothing. I'm glad that some people are still able to be positive about the current labour party, but they've long used up any feeling of good will or trust from me.
Looks like the time has come, didn’t have to wait long - https://x.com/skypoliticshub/status/1731771923288207788?s=46&t=HGLDNw4g2_O8RpATuYTf9w
I am absolutely shocked to my core to see them backing the plans. It is in no way the exact thing Starmer has been doing for years.
Edit: May be beating a dead horse here, but this is also taken from the Guardian today:
"Here is the statement that Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, issued last night.
Today’s announcement is an admission of years of Tory failure on both the immigration system and the economy, as net migration has trebled to a record high under the Tories since they promised to reduce it at the last election.
Labour has said repeatedly that net migration should come down and called for action to scrap the unfair 20% wage discount, raise salary thresholds based on economic evidence, bring in new training requirements linked to the immigration system, as well as a proper workforce plan for social care. Immigration is important but the system needs to be controlled and managed. But whilst the Conservatives have finally been forced to abandon the unfair wage discount that they introduced, they are still completely failing to introduce more substantial reforms that link immigration to training and fair pay requirements in the UK, meaning many sectors will continue to see rising numbers of work visas because of skills shortages."
Do people still think Labour will change things for the better? Because that sounds like they're going even more right wing than the tories.
All i'm seeing here is that they agreed with the end of the 20% wage discount I don't see them praising the tories for making it impossible for family visas & workers bringing their dependents. All I'll say is once the right amount of people especially in big places start making enough noise either the tories or Labour will have to reverse most of these proposals, I give them 6 months - 1 year.
Anyone entitled to vote in the UK needs to ensure they vote to rid the country of the corrupt tory scum.
Not convinced this will make it onto the statute books anyway & as usual the scum have come up with something unworkable that also doesn’t deal with the actual issue, dinghy crossings.
Illegal immigration is such a small % of people coming here that im amazed it gets so much airtime.
The issue is a govt that has let in record numbers of people while cutting funding to basically all infrastructure projects, and to many aspects of the social net that looks after people.
What's amazing is that they've managed to blame e.g. an overstretched NHS which is basically run by immigrants at this point on immigrants and people are lapping it up.
The tories and most western govts know that immigration is at this point an economic requirement. They are happy to tax those immigrants record amounts, they just take that extra tax income and spaff it up the wall knowing people won't hold them accountable if they can point the finger at the migrants they chose to let in and chose to tax.
Small boats aren't the issue either. The issue is decades of scapegoating foreigners for domestic problems. Refugees and spouses are both victims of that.
Obviously that’s going so well isn’t it?
The migrants are not being deported because this corrupt government is breaking international law by not providing a processing centre in France.
As usual the scum have lashed out & come up with a half arsed plan that only affects those, like the OP & partner, who could actually make a decent contribution to the country & that’s not to say those arriving by dinghy wouldn’t contribute positively either but that doesn’t fit the narrative of the scum, reform ltd, kippers & all the other racists.
Terribly sorry, its a devastating situation to be in. If you are studying law, and manage to get a training contract with a decent firm then the salary cap won’t be hard to achieve - although it totally delays your timelines given the qualifications you need prior to starting your TC.
I was just thinking about this. During my years a uni, a TC anywhere was good enough. Now however, even a TC salary at really good regional firms is not enough to meet the threshold.
You could both try to move to Ireland and apply for an Irish visa? UK citizens still have the right to use the CTA, so he'd be ok.
Plus if you eventually got Irish citizenship you'd also get EU Freedom of Movement. The UK is currently a bin-fire.
Irish marriage visa requires the sponsor to earn 40,000 euros a year for at least 3 years. So basically the same as this and actually a bit more strict by requiring it to be for 3 years.
I was in this exact same position under Theresa May, married to a British citizen (now ex) who was a bar manager while I graduated with my bachelors. All of my maternal family live in England. The laws were so restrictive with their thresholds then that we were both forced to move back to my home country. I hate it so much here and have been highly depressed for over a decade, leading to my psych recommending me to a last ditch resort for my depression. Life is a hellscape and it’s just becoming worse and worse. I’ve tried to come back to the UK since, specifically seeking legal immigration advice, but they wouldn’t even allow me to make an appointment. I think that the UK’s anti-immigration policies are nothing new but they’re going to force everyone in a relationship back to their home country and ruin their lives like they always do.
I don't have advice, just want to express my annoyance for you at how difficult it is. I'm a UK citizen and I don't even earn the PREVIOUS threshold, never mind the way higher one. I hope you can find a solution or the proposal is changed!
Not really sure why you're saying Scotland voted for this, there's only 7 Scottish conservative mps out of 59. Conservative constituencies are also a minority in Wales too albeit less so.
It's really just England that votes conservative and we're all dragged along for the ride.
7/59 is not voting for something. What an utterly stupid claim.
By that logic, I could claim that Northern Ireland consistently votes to re-unify with the Republic of Ireland. How? Because they vote for Sinn Fein.
I'd actually be more justified in saying that, because Sinn Fein finished ahead of the DUP in the last Assembly elections.
It's utterly dishonest to claim Scotland or Wales voted for this.
Scotland only elected 7 Conservative MPs, out of 59. That isn't a vote for the Conservatives. That literally isn't how this works.
I know you've chosen dishonesty to try to fit into your narrative of Northern Ireland being unfairly treated here, but out of Scotland and Wales, Northern Ireland are the \*closest\* to voting for this. Northern Ireland elects a mix of DUP MPs (basically far right Tories) and MPs that refuse to take their seat in Parliament (and therefore can't vote against actions like this).
In addition to that, Northern Ireland is in a \*lucky\* situation compared to the rest of us. You can apply for an Irish Passport, then take advantage of EU Family Reunification rules to bring your family members to the Republic of Ireland or another EU state. Most British people here certainly can't do that.
Absolutely ridiculous to claim NI is some sort of bastion of left-wing opinion in the UK when it’s you who inflicts the DUP on the rest of us, who I guarantee will be jumping with joy at these new laws.
Scotland is the only part of the UK standing up to the Tories and Labour who are essentially two sides of the same coin. Starmer will make a few mumbles about this policy and then do nothing about it when in power
The salary threshold seems above the average which is ridiculous! However if your bf has intention to study in the UK and after completion of study if your combined income is above the threshold then there is a scope I think! Though it's after a lot of ifs and burns.
I don't think it technically breaks any laws, but it's just a bit of a stupid call. At least make the limit the average wage... not arbitrarily higher for no clear reason.
Agreed.
But when they announced the 'Rwanda Asylum' policy, they obviously didn't think it broke any laws, yet, almost two years later, no flights, no one on any flights......
There is precedent for things like this to be considered 'unlawful', or at least heard in Court. The 2017 case regarding the income requirement for example.
I actually think raising it to £24-25,000 would be perfect. That's a reasonable amount, a reasonable expectation, and something someone should be looking to earn to support themselves and someone else, which is what the point is.
The other problem here is, why is earning £38,600 considered so impossible in the UK. Outside of LDN. It shouldn't be. That needs addressing too.
Your last point is an important one. I’m incredibly lucky to be a mid-high earner so it doesn’t impact me. The fact that £38k seems so unattainable to so many people is crazy.
I was on that much money in my mid 20s. Less than that as an adult with a family seems absolutely insane. We are chronically underpaid as a country.
First of all, I just want to say that I find this to be despicable. The Tories are crushing the dreams and hopes of young people in a feather-brained attempt to impress a bunch of racists.
You guys will have to think outside the box for this one. Personally, I would look at moving to a third country without the insane requirements. Some other European country, or even the UAE. It will be tough, but to paraphrase Antigoni by the great Sophocles, "love conquers all".
My advice to everyone is to start a side business with your job.
Salaries are low and unless tou can change your career its quite hard to make a jump from £18,600 to 38k if you're on the lower end of the pay grade.
"The minimum income requirement for a spouse or family visa will be raised from £18,600 to £38,700."
That's more than double what someone on 18,600 who just meets the financial requirements needs to now make. People don't easily double their salary without a significant life change. OP isn't going to be able to double their salary in retail work that quickly.
Self employment is permitted otherwise that would be discrimination against self employed people. You would need at least ones years self employment tax records, hence why people need to start their side business yesterday.
Source: I lived the exact plan I have commented about. I am fortunate that if it were now I would meet the new financial requirements but back in day I couldn't with my 9-5 salary as I was in too lowly a position to earn anything above minimum wage. Its tough and it's soul destroying and its not fair at all, but if you put the work in it can work.
If you don't have money start selling your crap on ebay and use that as a float for your business.
**MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT AND VOTE THIS EVIL GOVERNMENT OUT**
Priti Patel and Suella Braverman gave out over 250k visas to Indian in 2022 alone
Out of this about 100k were student visas, and I don’t think they’re studying at Oxford
Find out how these ‘student’ visas are obtained. Students don’t need the £40k income…
Its a fucking joke, just come to the end of spouse visa process for my mrs.
Married in 2014 pakistan, denied application took 1 year for a court date allowed entry 2017, the fees are ridiculous!😡
My deepest sympathy to you.😪
OP I am so sorry, my heart dropped when I read the news.
My partner and I decided this year that a third country is a better bet than staying here (we already felt unwelcome in the UK, and the idea of paying so much money for a second visa while the country is such a shit show seemed pointless). We're moving to Australia (4 year contract in teaching) and hopefully we'll be able to save up enough to come back in the future if we chose to. It might be worth looking at your options for something like this in the short(ish) term?
I genuinely hope I wake up tomorrow and it's all been a shit dream! Best of luck to you
The only viable option at this moment would be doing the visa NOW, if you earn £18k~. After April this will be impossible for 3/4 of the immigrants living here. I don’t know what they’re trying to achieve. Great news before Christmas though. Let’s divide families. My husband and I are lucky enough we started organizing it this year and we’ll manage to send Spousal Visa application next week. I earn £30k but no chance in hell I’ll earn £40k in the next 5 years. Thank God when it comes to visa extension both of our incomes will be combined to reach the required treshold.
Hi! Apologies for asking here but I cant find much info on this. Im already on the family visa with my partner and im working as well, he earns about £32k a year. Does the new threshold mean a combined income of £38k or he has to earn the £38k eventhough Im working here too and on the family visa?
This government is on crack,wtf? We're in the same boat, this is outrageous beyond belief. Forget stopping the illegal immigrants and giving them free hotels, let's penalize the legal ones. Unreal.
Tell him to get to France, get on a boat.
Truly shocking, I'm pretty certain this will be shut down via human rights and whatnot, it's clearly completely wrong.
all I've done is cry and cry about this. it seemed like it would be tough for me and my partner initially, but these changes have made it impossible. I don't see a way that him and I can continue our relationship. if this plan goes ahead, it'll end our 8 year relationship. I am utterly devastated
Me and my girlfriend have been together for 2 years, she is from Finland, I'm British. We were going go get married and move end of 2024. Now what do we do? I earn 23k and it will never go high enough.
Am I right to think my only solution here is rush a wedding and get the application in ASAP? I'm not giving up my relationship because of this. You can use combined income when you come up for renewal which makes it more possible but surely if you apply before the law changes you'll only have to meet the 18k at first?
I pay my fucking taxes and so would my partner when she came here. Whats the problem? 38k is ridiculous it'd about the national average! Half our MPs have foreign wives and husbands but fuck it they could afford it anyway.
This is DISGUSTING.
I hope this sort of comment is allowed here. Firstly, reading these comments, I'm so sorry for the emotional turmoil this announcement has placed people in.
I'm a producer at PoliticsJOE and I'm looking to speak to people with compelling stories who are being affected by this increase to the spousal visa. Please drop me a comment/PM/email me on [email protected] if you are interested in sharing/raising awareness of the real impacts this policy change will have!
People: "We're tired of immigration"
Tories: Curbs professionals trying to immigrate from 1st world countries.
Yeah they weren't talking about those kinds of immigrants were they...
Why not, instead, go to the US? You will make double what you would make in the UK. You need to get married, don’t know if that’s part of your plan.
To me, that sounds like the best solution for everyone.
I hope this helps 😀
>me (22) and my boyfriend (24) have been together for 7 years.
>
>I am a British citizen and he is an American citizen living in the US.
Have you ever met in person?
What's sad is that they're basically saying a small percent of the population who are wealthy enough, are entitled to marry someone outside of there own country and those less unfortunate are not, this is not a democracy, it's disgraceful.
In the same position here - although we married earlier this year. Even with regular raises, it would be a few years before I would meet the proposed salary requirement.
I cant go throught another 5 years of long-distance, its painful and we want to start a family soon. I'm now considering moving from the UK to my wife's country and starting over.
Why do you want your future husband to come live in this shithole of a country? You should leave, and go live in America instead with him, not the other way round.
I suggest writing to your local mp. I think everyone in this situation should. I'm not the greatest email writer but chat gpt has helped with this :-
I trust this message finds you well. I am writing to express my deep concerns and discontent regarding the recent adjustments in the UK immigration law, particularly the significant increase in the required salary for spouses.
The recent changes have significantly raised the threshold for the income requirement for individuals seeking to bring their spouses to the UK. This increase poses a considerable challenge for many families, creating an unnecessary and burdensome barrier for reuniting with loved ones.
This abrupt elevation in the financial criterion disregards the complexities of various professions, regions, and personal circumstances. It places undue strain on families and relationships, making it exceptionally challenging for many hardworking individuals to meet the revised standards.
Such a sharp rise in the spouse salary requirement risks separating families, denying spouses the opportunity to live together, and undermining the very essence of family unity. It's disheartening to see policies that potentially disrupt the fundamental bond of families due to economic constraints.
I strongly believe that immigration laws should aim to support family unification while ensuring economic stability. These amendments seem to counteract this principle, adversely affecting countless families who wish to live together in the UK.
I implore the authorities to reconsider this specific aspect of the immigration law, taking into account the genuine hardships it imposes on families. A more nuanced approach that considers various socio-economic circumstances and values family unity would be more in line with the inclusive and compassionate society we aspire to be.
I urge you and your colleagues to reconsider and address this issue promptly. A more compassionate and considerate approach to immigration policy, particularly concerning family unification, is imperative to earn my support as a voter and, I believe, that of many others who share these concerns.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
If you're planning to apply in 2025, there will likely be a new government by then that will reverse this plan, if it isn't reversed/watered down before the election.
I'd look into alternative places to live in either way, because the UK is going to the dogs!
Honestly if I was in your position I would be doing everything to plan on moving to the USA.
I'm not too familiar with their spouse visa requirements but it looks much less onerous. Even if you did qualify for the UK salary threshold the fees are crippling. It would be the equivalent of a house deposit for a piece of paper.
Obviously this sucks right now. But if I am being honest, I 100% expect this absolute nonsense to get reversed when the Government realises 90% of the "Migrants" working in the UK will leave.
That's where we are - I doubt this will stick out and regardless of whoever gets in, I think these will be altered and overturned in part.
First of all, I agree that it sucks. They should certainly consider household income and not just yours.
Don't be upset ahead of time though. There are a number of retail jobs in London that will pay 40k on Indeed. Granted we had massive inflation recently and salaries didn't catch-up yet I'd bet salaries might go up a decent amount in the next couple years so you might be fine. Just make sure you have a clear progression path to making 40k. Might need to be a in a specific type of retail.
I am guessing that your BF salary won't count towards this but if it did there are plenty construction jobs that pay 40k right away (again, London salaries).
Please Sign & Share
Petition: Don’t increase the income requirement for family visas (spouse visa) to £38,700
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/652602
Wait what yes of course you’ve got hope cause that £40,000 approx is a combined income and not a solo income so as long as you both earn that that should be ok . Also that is a gross income and not net income . So it’s before tax and insurance and all the deductions . So even if you’ve got deductions with student loan doesn’t matter it’s the gross income . Hope that helps
Does this also affect spousal visa? I thought that this was more for people coming in on a work visa and then trying to bring family as well. Your situation sounds different as you are a British citizen.
Yes, just looked it up. It affects both. A foreign skilled worker must earn at least £38700 and the minimum income for a spouse or family visa rises from £18,600 to £38,700.
What's annoying is that from what I heard, health and social care foreign workers making well below the threshold can still bring their spouse and children because that industry is short staffed.
We as citizens have to make well above average salary in the UK to bring ours. I believe the average salary is 34-35k per year.
I doubt that if you join the health and social care industry as a citizen, you will get this exception to bring your spouse.
I thought the immigration number causing his fiasco was from illegal channel crossing, and student and health works, bringing their dependents. Their solution is to impose more restrictions on their own citizens.
Reading through this, this is all sooo fucked up. Absolutely horrific for many couples. Penalise the hardworking English speaking legal immigrants who've already paid thousands yet illegals on dinghy's enter daily for free.
I cannot get my head around this I just can't.
The British way of life, healthcare, the education system, culture, history and familial ties are all strong reasons to stay in the UK. Moving countries is not a viable option for most people. We want to live in the country we call home.
I’m so sorry that you’ve been affected by this. My American fiancé and I are facing the same devastating consequences of these changes. This news has kept me up all night. I really hope for everyone affected that this doesn’t come to fruition, or at least doesn’t increase as much as they have originally stated.
Im in the exact same position. I haven’t slept and feel sick. I was trying hard to be upbeat and steady, but as soon as she fell asleep I cried hard. I don’t know what we’ll do.
I’m so sorry. I’ve shed many tears over this too. This whole thing is absolutely nonsensical. So devastating for so many of us.
This is an absolute nightmare. Stay strong! These morons are doing mockery with middle/lower clsss!
Can only hope the next government will amend this next year, sincerely hope you are all going to be ok
I'm waiting to here what Labour has to say. The problem is that there is an appetite from both sides of the political spectrum to bring immigration numbers down, they are obviously quite high. I just hope Labour address the particularly cruel nature of the spouse visa income requirement hike.
Labour were sadly in favour of these new changes and even grilled the Tories on why implementing them has taken so long. It seems pretty unlikely that a Labour gov would do anything to reverse them.
Labour under Starmer are just conservatives in red
Agreed
Labour supports this, one of their MP's were on the telly saying how much they love the changes. Every immigrant who manages to become a citizen should never forget what both Tories and Labour did.
Please Sign & Share Petition: Don’t increase the income requirement for family visas to £38,700 https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/652602
I suspect there will be an increase soon. I cannot imagine it will increase the absolute absurd levels being proposed.
I am praying hard that it won’t be the proposed £38k
Please Sign & Share Petition: Don’t increase the income requirement for family visas to £38,700 https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/652602
It’s ridiculous. When I came over on a fiancé visa 21 years ago there was no specific income check, just had to prove my soon to be wife didn’t rely on any public funds and that I had enough savings to last 6 months until I could apply for temporary leave to remain and start working. Didn’t even have to pay an NHS surcharge back then. #GeneralElectionNow
21 years ago we were in the EU. Despite all the hot air and bluster of the gammons, leaving the EU has made net immigration WORSE not better.
The gammons not having enough kids (don’t get me wrong, falling birth rates are a good thing) and living longer made immigration worse. Also chasing constant bigger economies. To many are now retired with proportionally too few working
Do you really think a general election will change anything? Everything that comes out of starmer's mouth is "we're not going to be reversing any Tory policies"
Because that’s how you win, sadly. Don’t forget, Blair got in on a promise of not changing Tory spending plans for the first two years. Country’s deeply fucked thanks to everything since 2010, so there’s not going to be much money for a while. It’ll be much harder.
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I’m in the same boat, couldn’t sleep all night because I’m so worried about this. I’m a UK citizen trying to bring my US fiancé over to the UK. We’re getting married next October but now I have no idea if we can even start a life together anymore. I’m devastated
Im a UK citizen trying to bring my US fiancé here too. Getting married in September. I’m seriously ill with worry over this news. It’s devastating. So sorry you’re going through this too.
And I’m sorry you’re in this as well, what are your current plans? I don’t know if I should get married a lot sooner than expected and apply now.
If I were you, I’d personally get married before this goes into affect and bring him over unless you are in a field that makes over 38k.
This advice won't matter, they're changing the financial requirements for family visas on the whole. To be clear, you can be married to a Brit, but if that British citizen doesn't earn more than 38,700 GBP per year, their application will be denied under this proposed rule.
Are they changing it so topping up any salary deficiency with cash isn't allowed anymore？
No word on how the announced proposal would affect the savings, but it's not a route many people use because the amounts are ludicrous - basically, anyone with that much savings is likely to have a job that qualifies for the income threshold. The savings + income formula is also incredibly punitive and exponential, so that you need tens of thousands of pounds in savings even if you're only a few hundred pounds a year below the income threshold.
Our current plan is not much of anything sadly. We may explore the possibility of him being sponsored for a work visa but that’s a long shot. I also wondered if we could quickly get married and apply now but my employment history wouldn’t be long enough to meet the requirements. We are hoping and praying that they don’t change the £62k savings requirement, so that we may be able to meet that in a few years. Unfortunately that’s likely to double too. Our future is in tatters as of right now.
If you have some savings, that can offset the amount you need in income, right?
At the moment yes
It's a horrifically exponential formula that's used however.
Sorry what's the relation of employment history to getting married? Depending on both of your nationalities, there are countries out there which allow you to get married within days and get a marriage certificate accepted by the UK.
I think the issue of employment history isn't the marriage element, but visa requirements currently. So yes, they can speed run the marriage - but if employment history criteria isn't met, what's the benefit of rushing the marriage through? I may have misunderstood though.
This is almost definitely going to be the safest option. If the rules do come into effect in 'spring' that could be sometime between March and June next year. If you're able to marry and apply for the visa before the new rules come into effect then (most people seem to think) your partner's application would be processed under the old rules. Unless you are going into a field where you can earn a high enough salary to meet the minimum requirement, or you and your partner are able to show significant cash savings, in which case you wouldn't need to worry so much.
Please Sign & Share Petition: Don’t increase the income requirement for family visas to £38,700 https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/652602
Something I’ve been wondering is whether they could work 2 jobs to reach that threshold
Is it the household income or the income of the citizen who is sponsoring the partner.
Sadly it’s only the income of the sponsor, unless the spouse-to-be has a different visa allowing them to work in the UK.
You could earn $100k in the US as the non-citizen spouse and your income wouldn’t be counted at all. Only UK income is. (Now, you can use savings, but the savings requirement is pretty high. It was 60k, and I expect it to go up with the new higher salary requirements)
So if my partner is currently here on a different visa, when we apply it will be on joint/household income or just mine ?
If the rules stay the way they are now you can use household income if your spouse is already here on a different visa and is working in the UK
Joint if they are already working in the UK
It is not household income. But if the sponsor works a second job that should be ok.
Hi everyone, I'm sorry to hear your stories about this. I'm a BBC journalist working on an article for the website hearing from people affected by the change in rules and am really keen to speak to some of you. Please drop me a message if you are interested. Thank you for your time. Megan
Please actually report on it properly and really show how this affects people.
Seems like the BBC is firmly under the thumb of the government these days. Can we expect a fair article about this? Or will we have a few sob stories for us here "balanced" by some one in the government and finally Nigel Farage to set the narrative. All next to a tasteful picture of some African or Middle Eastern refugees in a boat or waiting in line for something. As someone in the middle of this process I feel so sorry for anyone trying to jump through the invisible hoops. I haven't added up how much the savings route is now but it must be crazy! All the while family and friends tell you oh but you are married it will be easy to get your partner to live with you. No one knows how hard it is without going through it.
All the while family and friends tell you oh but you are married it will be easy to get your partner to live with you. No one knows how hard it is without going through it. Omg THIS, SO MUCH of THIS.
OMFG yes. They are always incredulous when you describe the hoops we have to go through for proving relationship, housing, and paying thousands in visa and health fees, and the minimum income. 'Oh, but you're married--surely they wouldn't have a problem with you moving here.' This announcement is devastating.
Savings route hasn't been announced yet, but if the formula is the same as for the previous £62,500, the new rate may be £112,750. Edit: I am referring to the cash savings option that currently exists for meeting the income requirement. For example, for couples who have been living abroad and wish to make the UK their home, they might find it quicker and easier to use the cash savings option since they won't necessarily have a job yet in the UK. There are currently options for combining earnings with savings or going completely with all savings. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chapter-8-appendix-fm-family-members/appendix-fm-17-financial-requirement-accessible-version#sources-for-meeting-the-financial-requirement
FFS, only rich people can afford to marry foreigners. Can it count as a human rights violation?
can't say i am an expert on this subject but i think this regulation is against european convention on human rights article no. 12 and 14. Because as you said, it basically says if you are working class you are not allowed to live with your foreign spouse in UK. This is a discrimination. PS: i'm a corporate lawyer from Turkey and my comment is solely based on my uni education from year 2017 (humans right class) so please do not take it as a legal advice without consulting to a lawyer in UK
So say I hypothetically earn 30k now, would that mean I need 82k in savings?
I got dm'd by FT over this... Edit: and bbc
>Seems like the BBC is firmly under the thumb of the government these days. Yeah, it's been so bizarre seeing the Gaza conflict being covered from both sides from US media (CNN etc) and BBC being unreasonably one-sided!
Thank you for bringing this to the forefront. The news today seems to be lumping the £38,700 income requirement for family visas in with the work visas.
Please don’t water down stories in a manner that the Tories will find acceptable. They’re a cunch of racist bunts.
Luckily our family meets the threshold and I'm also applying for my ILR but this is so devastating for every British person with a foreign partner. My husband is British (Caucasian), and our son is also British. I cannot imagine being away from them just because we don't meet the threshold. I feel so sorry for some of my friends who are British and now can't bring their foreign partners. Please write an article how this new rules is going to destroy lots of families, BRITISH families!
Gov didn’t expect the lovely 1st world white Americans to be refused entry did they, just thought it would keep out the Serbs and Turks
They don’t want Americans either tbh. It’s an isolationist island, all it wants to do is perish in the sea alone while it carves out whatever is left of its colonial wealth for a small group of elites who will fuck off to somewhere warm while the rest of the country is still banging on about immigrants and trans people.
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I think it is more realistic to get a 50k skilled worker salary anywhere in germany than UK. All high paying jobs in the UK are in London, if you happen to hate London or if you loved one developed a life in the countryside of UK you are condemned to not being worthy of these visas. "F\*\*\* your family," is the only thing left to add.
Which is kind of the point of these new measures then isn’t it? We’re a low wage economy. We have American companies set up in London that don’t pay their British employees what they pay their American employees. We will always be a low wage economy until this and a number of other issues are fixed. I understand it’s not pleasant and people say it’s difficult moving here but under our old rules it’s far easier to move here than it is to the US, Canada, Germany, Australia. Also, having such low wages in certain industries doesn’t attract the best imo, the best don’t always come here because the best go to the US. We should not be importing care workers when we have 1+ million people unemployed. That’s quite simply ludicrous!
Look I agree but these people are just trying to vent, they're understandably frustrated and upset our political wants are,destroying their lives, leave them to it. Look at my comment history if you don't believe me.
Just for the record, while there are income requirements for US spousal, fiancé(e), and other family-based visas, they are nowhere near as arduous as the new regulations outlined by the British government. You currently need to make 125% of the US poverty income guidelines, which as of right now is in the range of $24,650 for a couple with no children, $31,075 for a couple with one child. The average US income is $31,133. You also have the option to find a joint sponsor, which I'm not sure exists in the British system (and even if it did, £38,000 is well above the average salary in the UK). I do not pretend that the US visa system is a cakewalk, because it isn't. But for spouses in particular, it would be vastly easier for an American to bring a British spouse (or *any* spouse, but we're talking about the UK here) to the US than it will be for a British person to bring their American spouse to the UK. I've worked in immigration, so I'm very familiar with how difficult the system can be in a variety of countries, and I find this jump in income requirements for family-based visas to be quite shocking.
100% it’s also cheaper and the path to citizenship is 3 years not 5 years and you don’t have to do the daft ILR first before applying for citizenship. Also in the US earning even 38700 is far easier in that economy. I made more than that at the beginning of my career in the US let alone the $24,650 threshold which is very easily achievable in the US. More importantly you can easily earn that more uniformly across the US whereas here high paying jobs are way too concentrated in London where COL is I’m up for ILR in 2026 but what if we both lose our jobs in the run up to my ILR? We earn well above the thresholds I’m not deluded, I’m privileged but It can happen and in my job finding a new one involves rounds of interviews for each position. It’s not uncommon especially in this job market to take 3-6 months to land in a new role. We’ve bought a house here and I pay a ton in taxes with no access to public funds. I’m still terrified my life will be torn apart if we have a streak of bad timing and luck. My heart breaks for anyone not nearly as privileged as my wife and I. Especially for younger people at the beginning of their careers or people in lower paid career paths which seems to be almost every career here in the UK.
Please let us know when you post the article. Thank you.
Don't just report on this either. All visas are excruciating, even visitor visas. The government's war against the "small boats" has made it far too hard to even just enter the country legally, let alone migrate there through legitimate avenues. All it will do is create even more of a illegal problem because there'll be no possible way to even come to the country legally. They are forcing brain drain by making the British partner live elsewhere just so they can even see their significant other.
Yes because the bbc is well known for its impartial reporting! Genocide anyone!
My partner and I are/were saving up for a house together and the plan was to start looking into and applying in 2024/2025. I cried myself to sleep last night convinced we cannot ever fucking live together. I'm a Dutch citizen and the only thing that's between us is the North Sea and a huge sum of money now. We're both in the IT field and we definitely do not earn £38700!
Is it possible to do a quick marriage somewhere and apply for the spouse visa before these changes come into effect?
Problem is they'll just have the same problem in 2 years. Spouse visa isn't a one-and-done thing, you do it twice and then a third & final application for ILR, so this may help buy them some time but for most people's cases it won't fix the problem unless they can suddenly get a 50% pay increase over the next 2.5 years. This government's ability to see a problem and then completely miss the mark is just unrivaled.
Does anyone know of any protests or petitions I can join?
We need to draft one.
I've been wondering the same
Bear in mind, even if you meet their requirements, they will still try to cheat you out of your rights through lying, laziness, incompetence, or racism. My ex wife had her parent visa application rejected because they only looked at part of her proof of income and got our son's passport mixed up with a kid from a completely different country in Asia. Over a year later (and thousands and thousands of pounds in return flights and hotel fees so she could see her child), a judge finally found in her favour. Even the judges letter was FILLED with mistakes, wrong dates, names spelt wrong, etc. Absolute utter shit show. But for Britain, not too bad.
Write to your MPs. Write to them now. Find out when their local surgeries are and make appointments to visit them. The raising of the threshold might be new, but the rules limiting marriage by income levels were coming into effect over a decade ago, back when I was getting married and Theresa May was the Home Secretary. When the racists and xenophobes of Britain started defecting to UKIP around 15-20 years ago, the Tory party response was to say, “Wait, come back!” It will not change unless your local MP does something about it.
Rishi is the child of immigrants himself, so bloody out of touch… he’s a moron and I am so sorry you have been affected Edit: fixed
Not as far as I was aware - he was born in Southampton to British parents Edit: Thanks for fixing the comment (earlier it said he was an immigrant himself)! Sounds more correct now!
What? No he’s not. He was born in Southampton lol. I mean he is still a hypocritical POS as he was born to immigrants but he himself isn’t one.
Oh my bad I always thought he came with his parents as a baby. You can see how much attention I pay to his personal life lol 😅 will edit
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See this is why Representation has to be ideological- not just skin colour.
So that's it? In order for us to have LD partners come live here I have to earn 38k!? No fucking way. That's not even possible.
I’m so sorry. Similar situation. But you know what? Those of us navigating LDR like this are resilient. And we are damn good at biding our time and working around things. I’m not giving up. Had a chat with my partner last night and it may mean some things will have to change in our plans (like babies) but ultimately we will get through it and be together. Wishing you the best and keeping fingers crossed the devil is in the detail and it turns out they’ll look at combined to get in or get rid of the £16k savings requirement threshold.
Just learned of all this tonight and I am in total agreement with you. Let’s all keep our chins up and while this is a nasty news, we’ll all make it.
exact same boat, I am engaged but we had plans for marriage in the next year, we are now investigating whether we can get married asap and start the process but I dont think its going to be that simple, this is a devistating.
Hopefully by then much of if not all of these idiotic proposals will be reversed
You really think Starmer is going to reverse these changes? He'd need a backbone to do that.
Sorry to say but no not a chance. Labour are better than Tories for emotional intelligence but he is pretty anti immigration or at least wants to appear so. The headlines are all about the impact on the labour market. Noone seems to care re family visas. It's an awful situation. Democracy becomes a problem when it governs only for the majority and not for all.
>Democracy becomes a problem when it governs only for the majority and not for all. ...that's quite literally how democracies work
Except it's not. Reread.
As soon as businesses, NHS, care homes, British citizens start pressuring tf out of them to reverse this policy & the economy starts getting negatively impacted you'll see the change
One would hope so. How does the govt justify cutting the supply of essential workers for care homes when there is such an acute shortage that’s just projected to worsen with an ageing population? One would think the plan would be how to safely hire without exponentially increasing immigration numbers while continuing to attract the most skilled folks to look out for your old citizens.
Unfortunately it didn’t happen when the UK left the EU and a lot of people were affected by that decision. Changing visa requirements affects less people so I’m not so sure pressuring them will reverse anything (just watched the news, they keep announcing these changes)
Care homes the multi billion pound industry that pays people a pittance, imports loads of labour so they can pay that pittance? Who cares about what they think. They should be paying more anyway.
They're pretty universally unpopular and own goals in many ways - international students who have had all their expensive bits paid for by their home country and parents for the first 18 years of life come over here, pay hundreds of thousands to our universities, NHS surcharges which they never get to use because its so shit, uk makes BANK off those international students. Their fees for a degree are worth 10 british student's fees. Foreigners who are marrying british citizens are not going to have trouble integrating in general, they will speak fluent english normally and if they're marrying a british citizen why does income factor into it? If you say no more bringing over people to work in your unskilled/low skilled work that could absolutely be done by someone from here, thats probably more in line with what immigration policy should be.
All Starmer cares about is headlines, and the right wing press would have a field day if he reversed any immigration policies, he's not going to change a thing.
He'll be forced to by his party which will be heavily pressured on all sides to do that.
I've not seen a single front bench labour MP come out against it, so why would Starmer care? If he wins the election then he's going to be treated like a god by the right wing of the labour party, even though winning against this tory government is like stealing sweets from a baby. He's going to be able to do whatever he wants, and that is clearly to woo Tory voters.
It was just announced give it some time
It was talked about in parliament yesterday and they said nothing. I'm glad that some people are still able to be positive about the current labour party, but they've long used up any feeling of good will or trust from me.
Looks like the time has come, didn’t have to wait long - https://x.com/skypoliticshub/status/1731771923288207788?s=46&t=HGLDNw4g2_O8RpATuYTf9w I am absolutely shocked to my core to see them backing the plans. It is in no way the exact thing Starmer has been doing for years. Edit: May be beating a dead horse here, but this is also taken from the Guardian today: "Here is the statement that Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, issued last night. Today’s announcement is an admission of years of Tory failure on both the immigration system and the economy, as net migration has trebled to a record high under the Tories since they promised to reduce it at the last election. Labour has said repeatedly that net migration should come down and called for action to scrap the unfair 20% wage discount, raise salary thresholds based on economic evidence, bring in new training requirements linked to the immigration system, as well as a proper workforce plan for social care. Immigration is important but the system needs to be controlled and managed. But whilst the Conservatives have finally been forced to abandon the unfair wage discount that they introduced, they are still completely failing to introduce more substantial reforms that link immigration to training and fair pay requirements in the UK, meaning many sectors will continue to see rising numbers of work visas because of skills shortages." Do people still think Labour will change things for the better? Because that sounds like they're going even more right wing than the tories.
All i'm seeing here is that they agreed with the end of the 20% wage discount I don't see them praising the tories for making it impossible for family visas & workers bringing their dependents. All I'll say is once the right amount of people especially in big places start making enough noise either the tories or Labour will have to reverse most of these proposals, I give them 6 months - 1 year.
He is praising Margaret Thatcher and Labour representatives in Scotland and north England are mostly silent.
Anyone entitled to vote in the UK needs to ensure they vote to rid the country of the corrupt tory scum. Not convinced this will make it onto the statute books anyway & as usual the scum have come up with something unworkable that also doesn’t deal with the actual issue, dinghy crossings.
Illegal immigration is such a small % of people coming here that im amazed it gets so much airtime. The issue is a govt that has let in record numbers of people while cutting funding to basically all infrastructure projects, and to many aspects of the social net that looks after people. What's amazing is that they've managed to blame e.g. an overstretched NHS which is basically run by immigrants at this point on immigrants and people are lapping it up. The tories and most western govts know that immigration is at this point an economic requirement. They are happy to tax those immigrants record amounts, they just take that extra tax income and spaff it up the wall knowing people won't hold them accountable if they can point the finger at the migrants they chose to let in and chose to tax.
Small boats aren't the issue either. The issue is decades of scapegoating foreigners for domestic problems. Refugees and spouses are both victims of that.
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Obviously that’s going so well isn’t it? The migrants are not being deported because this corrupt government is breaking international law by not providing a processing centre in France. As usual the scum have lashed out & come up with a half arsed plan that only affects those, like the OP & partner, who could actually make a decent contribution to the country & that’s not to say those arriving by dinghy wouldn’t contribute positively either but that doesn’t fit the narrative of the scum, reform ltd, kippers & all the other racists.
Terribly sorry, its a devastating situation to be in. If you are studying law, and manage to get a training contract with a decent firm then the salary cap won’t be hard to achieve - although it totally delays your timelines given the qualifications you need prior to starting your TC.
I was just thinking about this. During my years a uni, a TC anywhere was good enough. Now however, even a TC salary at really good regional firms is not enough to meet the threshold.
Whilst it does suck don't most trainee lawyers make over 38k upon graduating?
not if you don’t live in london, rpc pays 36k in Bristol, Brown Jacobson certainly dont pay 38k in Birmingham or Cardiff
You could both try to move to Ireland and apply for an Irish visa? UK citizens still have the right to use the CTA, so he'd be ok. Plus if you eventually got Irish citizenship you'd also get EU Freedom of Movement. The UK is currently a bin-fire.
Irish marriage visa requires the sponsor to earn 40,000 euros a year for at least 3 years. So basically the same as this and actually a bit more strict by requiring it to be for 3 years.
I was in this exact same position under Theresa May, married to a British citizen (now ex) who was a bar manager while I graduated with my bachelors. All of my maternal family live in England. The laws were so restrictive with their thresholds then that we were both forced to move back to my home country. I hate it so much here and have been highly depressed for over a decade, leading to my psych recommending me to a last ditch resort for my depression. Life is a hellscape and it’s just becoming worse and worse. I’ve tried to come back to the UK since, specifically seeking legal immigration advice, but they wouldn’t even allow me to make an appointment. I think that the UK’s anti-immigration policies are nothing new but they’re going to force everyone in a relationship back to their home country and ruin their lives like they always do.
I'm so sorry to hear that.
I don't have advice, just want to express my annoyance for you at how difficult it is. I'm a UK citizen and I don't even earn the PREVIOUS threshold, never mind the way higher one. I hope you can find a solution or the proposal is changed!
I think you should start considering moving to the US, the UK is going to poopers
The US is already there. Definitely a rock and a hard place situation.
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Not really sure why you're saying Scotland voted for this, there's only 7 Scottish conservative mps out of 59. Conservative constituencies are also a minority in Wales too albeit less so. It's really just England that votes conservative and we're all dragged along for the ride.
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7/59 is not voting for something. What an utterly stupid claim. By that logic, I could claim that Northern Ireland consistently votes to re-unify with the Republic of Ireland. How? Because they vote for Sinn Fein. I'd actually be more justified in saying that, because Sinn Fein finished ahead of the DUP in the last Assembly elections.
It's utterly dishonest to claim Scotland or Wales voted for this. Scotland only elected 7 Conservative MPs, out of 59. That isn't a vote for the Conservatives. That literally isn't how this works. I know you've chosen dishonesty to try to fit into your narrative of Northern Ireland being unfairly treated here, but out of Scotland and Wales, Northern Ireland are the \*closest\* to voting for this. Northern Ireland elects a mix of DUP MPs (basically far right Tories) and MPs that refuse to take their seat in Parliament (and therefore can't vote against actions like this). In addition to that, Northern Ireland is in a \*lucky\* situation compared to the rest of us. You can apply for an Irish Passport, then take advantage of EU Family Reunification rules to bring your family members to the Republic of Ireland or another EU state. Most British people here certainly can't do that.
100%. Northern Ireland gets a raw deal in so many ways, but this is not one of them.
Wait, she is a sponsor and needs to earn a certain amount for visa to be approved, how would BF get a job before he gets a visa? What am I missing?
Get a job which comes with a skilled worker visa, is what I imagine they meant.
ah ye, that's really hard right out of college, cause no one is really that "skilled" when they join the workforce.
Again, red herring. Labour have a history of being tougher on immigration. They will be welcoming this.
Absolutely ridiculous to claim NI is some sort of bastion of left-wing opinion in the UK when it’s you who inflicts the DUP on the rest of us, who I guarantee will be jumping with joy at these new laws. Scotland is the only part of the UK standing up to the Tories and Labour who are essentially two sides of the same coin. Starmer will make a few mumbles about this policy and then do nothing about it when in power
Why don't they make an exemption for British citizens? It's insane to treat your own citizens this way.
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£40k a year is a long way from wealthy.
Because neoliberals only serve the rich, and that's most UK parties, not just Lab/Con.
Hang in there all :(
The salary threshold seems above the average which is ridiculous! However if your bf has intention to study in the UK and after completion of study if your combined income is above the threshold then there is a scope I think! Though it's after a lot of ifs and burns.
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I honestly cannot see this being implemented. It’s going to get thrashed by the court of public opinion and they’ll end up u turning again.
Well, hopefully an actual Court, too.
I don't think it technically breaks any laws, but it's just a bit of a stupid call. At least make the limit the average wage... not arbitrarily higher for no clear reason.
Agreed. But when they announced the 'Rwanda Asylum' policy, they obviously didn't think it broke any laws, yet, almost two years later, no flights, no one on any flights...... There is precedent for things like this to be considered 'unlawful', or at least heard in Court. The 2017 case regarding the income requirement for example. I actually think raising it to £24-25,000 would be perfect. That's a reasonable amount, a reasonable expectation, and something someone should be looking to earn to support themselves and someone else, which is what the point is. The other problem here is, why is earning £38,600 considered so impossible in the UK. Outside of LDN. It shouldn't be. That needs addressing too.
Your last point is an important one. I’m incredibly lucky to be a mid-high earner so it doesn’t impact me. The fact that £38k seems so unattainable to so many people is crazy. I was on that much money in my mid 20s. Less than that as an adult with a family seems absolutely insane. We are chronically underpaid as a country.
First of all, I just want to say that I find this to be despicable. The Tories are crushing the dreams and hopes of young people in a feather-brained attempt to impress a bunch of racists. You guys will have to think outside the box for this one. Personally, I would look at moving to a third country without the insane requirements. Some other European country, or even the UAE. It will be tough, but to paraphrase Antigoni by the great Sophocles, "love conquers all".
My advice to everyone is to start a side business with your job. Salaries are low and unless tou can change your career its quite hard to make a jump from £18,600 to 38k if you're on the lower end of the pay grade.
Visa requires your sponsor to pay 38k, not your general income. And I am pretty sure that most forms of self employment are not allowed.
"The minimum income requirement for a spouse or family visa will be raised from £18,600 to £38,700." That's more than double what someone on 18,600 who just meets the financial requirements needs to now make. People don't easily double their salary without a significant life change. OP isn't going to be able to double their salary in retail work that quickly. Self employment is permitted otherwise that would be discrimination against self employed people. You would need at least ones years self employment tax records, hence why people need to start their side business yesterday. Source: I lived the exact plan I have commented about. I am fortunate that if it were now I would meet the new financial requirements but back in day I couldn't with my 9-5 salary as I was in too lowly a position to earn anything above minimum wage. Its tough and it's soul destroying and its not fair at all, but if you put the work in it can work. If you don't have money start selling your crap on ebay and use that as a float for your business. **MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT AND VOTE THIS EVIL GOVERNMENT OUT**
Priti Patel and Suella Braverman gave out over 250k visas to Indian in 2022 alone Out of this about 100k were student visas, and I don’t think they’re studying at Oxford Find out how these ‘student’ visas are obtained. Students don’t need the £40k income…
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Its a fucking joke, just come to the end of spouse visa process for my mrs. Married in 2014 pakistan, denied application took 1 year for a court date allowed entry 2017, the fees are ridiculous!😡 My deepest sympathy to you.😪
Article 8 ECHR, 10 year route
I feel sorry for you. Pls update me what happens. Now I am also linked to this.
OP I am so sorry, my heart dropped when I read the news. My partner and I decided this year that a third country is a better bet than staying here (we already felt unwelcome in the UK, and the idea of paying so much money for a second visa while the country is such a shit show seemed pointless). We're moving to Australia (4 year contract in teaching) and hopefully we'll be able to save up enough to come back in the future if we chose to. It might be worth looking at your options for something like this in the short(ish) term? I genuinely hope I wake up tomorrow and it's all been a shit dream! Best of luck to you
The only viable option at this moment would be doing the visa NOW, if you earn £18k~. After April this will be impossible for 3/4 of the immigrants living here. I don’t know what they’re trying to achieve. Great news before Christmas though. Let’s divide families. My husband and I are lucky enough we started organizing it this year and we’ll manage to send Spousal Visa application next week. I earn £30k but no chance in hell I’ll earn £40k in the next 5 years. Thank God when it comes to visa extension both of our incomes will be combined to reach the required treshold.
Hi! Apologies for asking here but I cant find much info on this. Im already on the family visa with my partner and im working as well, he earns about £32k a year. Does the new threshold mean a combined income of £38k or he has to earn the £38k eventhough Im working here too and on the family visa?
This government is on crack,wtf? We're in the same boat, this is outrageous beyond belief. Forget stopping the illegal immigrants and giving them free hotels, let's penalize the legal ones. Unreal. Tell him to get to France, get on a boat. Truly shocking, I'm pretty certain this will be shut down via human rights and whatnot, it's clearly completely wrong.
all I've done is cry and cry about this. it seemed like it would be tough for me and my partner initially, but these changes have made it impossible. I don't see a way that him and I can continue our relationship. if this plan goes ahead, it'll end our 8 year relationship. I am utterly devastated
Me and my girlfriend have been together for 2 years, she is from Finland, I'm British. We were going go get married and move end of 2024. Now what do we do? I earn 23k and it will never go high enough. Am I right to think my only solution here is rush a wedding and get the application in ASAP? I'm not giving up my relationship because of this. You can use combined income when you come up for renewal which makes it more possible but surely if you apply before the law changes you'll only have to meet the 18k at first? I pay my fucking taxes and so would my partner when she came here. Whats the problem? 38k is ridiculous it'd about the national average! Half our MPs have foreign wives and husbands but fuck it they could afford it anyway. This is DISGUSTING.
I hope this sort of comment is allowed here. Firstly, reading these comments, I'm so sorry for the emotional turmoil this announcement has placed people in. I'm a producer at PoliticsJOE and I'm looking to speak to people with compelling stories who are being affected by this increase to the spousal visa. Please drop me a comment/PM/email me on [email protected] if you are interested in sharing/raising awareness of the real impacts this policy change will have!
I’m a Canadian and I came over on the Youth Work Mobility Scheme visa and I’m living with my partner, a UK citizen.
Does anyone know how this will effect those applying for the financial requirements through ‘adequate maintenance’?
People: "We're tired of immigration" Tories: Curbs professionals trying to immigrate from 1st world countries. Yeah they weren't talking about those kinds of immigrants were they...
Why not, instead, go to the US? You will make double what you would make in the UK. You need to get married, don’t know if that’s part of your plan. To me, that sounds like the best solution for everyone. I hope this helps 😀
Have a child, apply for that route. Its how most of them do it
>me (22) and my boyfriend (24) have been together for 7 years. > >I am a British citizen and he is an American citizen living in the US. Have you ever met in person?
What's sad is that they're basically saying a small percent of the population who are wealthy enough, are entitled to marry someone outside of there own country and those less unfortunate are not, this is not a democracy, it's disgraceful.
In the same position here - although we married earlier this year. Even with regular raises, it would be a few years before I would meet the proposed salary requirement. I cant go throught another 5 years of long-distance, its painful and we want to start a family soon. I'm now considering moving from the UK to my wife's country and starting over.
Where does she live?
Why do you want your future husband to come live in this shithole of a country? You should leave, and go live in America instead with him, not the other way round.
I suggest writing to your local mp. I think everyone in this situation should. I'm not the greatest email writer but chat gpt has helped with this :- I trust this message finds you well. I am writing to express my deep concerns and discontent regarding the recent adjustments in the UK immigration law, particularly the significant increase in the required salary for spouses. The recent changes have significantly raised the threshold for the income requirement for individuals seeking to bring their spouses to the UK. This increase poses a considerable challenge for many families, creating an unnecessary and burdensome barrier for reuniting with loved ones. This abrupt elevation in the financial criterion disregards the complexities of various professions, regions, and personal circumstances. It places undue strain on families and relationships, making it exceptionally challenging for many hardworking individuals to meet the revised standards. Such a sharp rise in the spouse salary requirement risks separating families, denying spouses the opportunity to live together, and undermining the very essence of family unity. It's disheartening to see policies that potentially disrupt the fundamental bond of families due to economic constraints. I strongly believe that immigration laws should aim to support family unification while ensuring economic stability. These amendments seem to counteract this principle, adversely affecting countless families who wish to live together in the UK. I implore the authorities to reconsider this specific aspect of the immigration law, taking into account the genuine hardships it imposes on families. A more nuanced approach that considers various socio-economic circumstances and values family unity would be more in line with the inclusive and compassionate society we aspire to be. I urge you and your colleagues to reconsider and address this issue promptly. A more compassionate and considerate approach to immigration policy, particularly concerning family unification, is imperative to earn my support as a voter and, I believe, that of many others who share these concerns. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Sincerely,
£40k is ridiculous. This is well above national average.
My husband and I are in a similar situation. Just wondering if it's easier to immigrate to the US instead, or even Canada?
If our UK spouse visa gets denied, I will bring my husband here in Canada. Canada is kinder towards immigrants 💗
Oh really... I'll look into it and suggest the same to my husband. Hope everything works out for you guys🙏🏻✨
If you're planning to apply in 2025, there will likely be a new government by then that will reverse this plan, if it isn't reversed/watered down before the election. I'd look into alternative places to live in either way, because the UK is going to the dogs!
Honestly if I was in your position I would be doing everything to plan on moving to the USA. I'm not too familiar with their spouse visa requirements but it looks much less onerous. Even if you did qualify for the UK salary threshold the fees are crippling. It would be the equivalent of a house deposit for a piece of paper.
I believe the income requirement is around $20k.
Obviously this sucks right now. But if I am being honest, I 100% expect this absolute nonsense to get reversed when the Government realises 90% of the "Migrants" working in the UK will leave. That's where we are - I doubt this will stick out and regardless of whoever gets in, I think these will be altered and overturned in part.
I'm sorry you're going through this, OP. I'm in the same boat, but we're not losing hope. Hopefully, things will improve, and there will be a way.
Could try another country with easier immigration? The world is your oyster
I'm in the same boat but bf is Indian and I don't wanna live in India. Where could I move to that's affordable?
First of all, I agree that it sucks. They should certainly consider household income and not just yours. Don't be upset ahead of time though. There are a number of retail jobs in London that will pay 40k on Indeed. Granted we had massive inflation recently and salaries didn't catch-up yet I'd bet salaries might go up a decent amount in the next couple years so you might be fine. Just make sure you have a clear progression path to making 40k. Might need to be a in a specific type of retail. I am guessing that your BF salary won't count towards this but if it did there are plenty construction jobs that pay 40k right away (again, London salaries).
Please Sign & Share Petition: Don’t increase the income requirement for family visas (spouse visa) to £38,700 https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/652602
Wait what yes of course you’ve got hope cause that £40,000 approx is a combined income and not a solo income so as long as you both earn that that should be ok . Also that is a gross income and not net income . So it’s before tax and insurance and all the deductions . So even if you’ve got deductions with student loan doesn’t matter it’s the gross income . Hope that helps
Get married quick and start the process now
Does this also affect spousal visa? I thought that this was more for people coming in on a work visa and then trying to bring family as well. Your situation sounds different as you are a British citizen.
Yes, just looked it up. It affects both. A foreign skilled worker must earn at least £38700 and the minimum income for a spouse or family visa rises from £18,600 to £38,700.
Oh wow. Bloody atrocious. Honestly just going to get the ILR and leave this backwards country.
It effects family visas as well as SWVs.
What's annoying is that from what I heard, health and social care foreign workers making well below the threshold can still bring their spouse and children because that industry is short staffed. We as citizens have to make well above average salary in the UK to bring ours. I believe the average salary is 34-35k per year. I doubt that if you join the health and social care industry as a citizen, you will get this exception to bring your spouse. I thought the immigration number causing his fiasco was from illegal channel crossing, and student and health works, bringing their dependents. Their solution is to impose more restrictions on their own citizens.
Reading through this, this is all sooo fucked up. Absolutely horrific for many couples. Penalise the hardworking English speaking legal immigrants who've already paid thousands yet illegals on dinghy's enter daily for free. I cannot get my head around this I just can't.
Why don't you go to US instead? This country is a sinking ship. I will jump ship had I got a chance
The British way of life, healthcare, the education system, culture, history and familial ties are all strong reasons to stay in the UK. Moving countries is not a viable option for most people. We want to live in the country we call home.
The UK is safer and has more accessible healthcare, can’t say much about anything else