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<\/p>\nRishi Sunak is facing claims he is ‘putting a price on love’ by hiking the minimum income level for family visas as part of his bid to cut migrant numbers.<\/p>\n
Under a new five-point plan to slash net migration, the Prime Minister is raising the\u00a0minimum income for family visas to\u00a0\u00a338,700 – more than double the current threshold of \u00a318,600 – from next Spring.<\/p>\n
It has prompted claims that poorer Britons will no longer be able to live together with their foreign spouses in the UK.<\/p>\n
Tory former minister Gavin Barwell joined a growing backlash against the move.<\/p>\n
He branded it ‘morally wrong and unConservative\u00a0to say that only the wealthiest can fall in love, marry someone and then bring them to the UK’.<\/p>\n
But No10 today defended the measure and insisted Britons earning less than \u00a338,700 may still live with foreign spouses in the UK in ‘exceptional circumstances’.<\/p>\n
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Under a new five-point plan to slash net migration, the Prime Minister is raising the minimum income for family visas to \u00a338,700 from next Spring<\/p>\n
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Net migration hit a record 745,000 in 2022, although it is estimated to have fallen to 672,000 in the year to June 2023<\/p>\n
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Tory ex-minister Gavin Barwell joined a backlash against the move, branding it ‘morally wrong… to say only the wealthiest can fall in love, marry someone and bring them to the UK’<\/p>\n
The PM’s official spokesman stressed the \u00a338,700 threshold is for a ‘household as a whole’, rather than just one family member’s earnings.<\/p>\n
‘That is just one way that people can demonstrate their ability to support a dependant,’ the spokesman said.<\/p>\n
‘They can also demonstrate this through their level of savings.<\/p>\n
‘If you don’t meet the minimum income requirement, you may also be able to bring a dependant to the UK if you get certain benefits, for example disability living allowance.’<\/p>\n
But the family would still need to demonstrate they could support themselves without relying on public funds, the spokesman added.<\/p>\n
He continued: ‘The family immigration rules contain a provision for exceptional circumstances where there would be unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant, their partner, a relevant child or another family member if their application were to be refused.<\/p>\n
‘Finally, there are other visas that foreign nationals are able to apply for in their own right, be it student or skilled worker for example.’<\/p>\n
Mr Sunak’s spokesman also said that while the minimum income rules for family visas will not apply retrospectively, they will apply when existing visas for foreign spouses come up for renewal.<\/p>\n
‘People always have a set length of time for their visa and will be aware that at the conclusion of that visa time, they don’t have a guarantee that (they can) remain in the country,’ he said.<\/p>\n
‘We think it is right, as a point of principle, that anyone bringing dependants to live in the UK are able to financially support them.’<\/p>\n
It has been claimed that hiking the minimum income level for family visas to\u00a0\u00a338,700 would mean three-quarters of Britons are too poor to marry a foreigner, if they wished to live together in the UK.<\/p>\n
Median gross annual earnings for full-time employees in the UK was \u00a334,963 in April 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).<\/p>\n
It was also pointed out how senior Government figures – including Mr Sunak himself, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick – all married foreign spouses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Barwell, the former Tory MP who was ex-PM Theresa May’s chief of staff in Downing Street, said: ‘It is both morally wrong and unconservative to say that only the wealthiest can fall in love, marry someone and then bring them to the UK.’<\/p>\n
Amid the backlash, SNP MP Stuart McDonald posted on Twitter: ‘They should be revising the income threshold for family visas downwards (or abolishing) – not doubling it!<\/p>\n
‘Many thousands more couples, and parents\/children will be split up by this horrendous anti-family Tory government. This is indeed absolutely appalling.’<\/p>\n
The Best for Britain campaign said: ‘Now only the rich can marry a foreigner. The Government is building walls so high, that they’re locking us all in.’<\/p>\n
Jonathan Beech, managing director of immigration law specialists Migrate UK, said: ‘The most damaging change recommended by the Government from a personal level was the rise in the financial requirement for family visas (partners and children of settled persons).<\/p>\n
‘This has risen from \u00a318,600 to \u00a338,700 where it appears the onus has put the economy first and uniting families a distant second.’<\/p>\n
But Tory former health minister Neil O’Brien defended the move, saying: ‘We’ve had the principle that family migrants pay their own way for over a decade.<\/p>\n
‘Nearly half of working age people get more in benefits than taxes. I think the new threshold set near the average is reasonable. Other countries have stricter rules.’<\/p>\n