16 November 2011 A minimum salary of between £18,600 and £25,700 before tax should be introduced for UK residents sponsoring a partner or dependent for citizenship, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) recommended today. The MAC was asked to identify a salary that would prevent any sponsor, their spouse or their dependents from becoming a burden on the state. The MAC was asked by the government to consider what the minimum income threshold should be for a British resident sponsoring a spouse, partner or dependent for settlement in the UK under the family route. This was part of the government's review of the family migration routes. Presently the threshold is an annual income of £5,500 after tax, excluding housing costs. This is equivalent to £13,700 before tax and including housing costs. The thresholds are based on the income levels at which a family is not entitled to state benefits or contributes at least as much to the public finances as it consumes in services. A salary threshold of £18,600 would reduce settlement through the family route by 45 per cent, the MAC estimates. A minimum of £25,700 would reduce it by 63 per cent. Chairman of the MAC, Professor David Metcalf CBE, said: 'The current threshold of £5,500 seems low considering the government's desire to ensure new migrants settling in the UK are not a burden on the state. 'Our recommendations are made on a purely economic basis and we recognise that family migration is not determined by economics alone. However our analysis suggests there is justification for raising the pay threshold.' Potential methods for calculating higher salary thresholds to account for child and adult dependants are also set out in the MAC report. Source:- http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/newsarticles/2011/november/30-family-route Look here for the just released MAC report:- http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/s...-route/family-migration-route.pdf?view=Binary
To me it sounds as if EEA route may be unaffected by this latest round of red tape hurdles. And on the whole, makes it kind of prohibitive for many people in low paid employment especially up norfh.......... Where it is the recognised norm being paid a pittance. So, one may just be penalised for living and working in a financially depressed region of the Uk, like the Most of wales, or Liverpool, and some parts of the north east.
Well how about they set the minimum wage in the UK to £18,600 then! If a man is not allowed to bring his wife to the UK because he's too poor to support them on less than that, then he shouldn't be allowed to get married to anyone then, either oversea's or here in the UK, that seems to me to be the direct implication of this. If you need at least £18,600 to keep a family then that is true here in the UK too for all native born UK couples, so let's just ban marriage if you're poor! Let's go a step further and say if you are unlucky enough to lose your job, you have to get divorced, that seems like a fair enough next step. Bloody hell, lets all just go back to serfdom where the Lord of the Manor basically owns us and tells us what we can and cannot do!
Jus primae noctis................ Now that is an old tradition I would like to revive for myself with the newly arrived............:wave:
Personally I haven't gotten around to reading the MAC report yet. However, the MAC notes clearly state that this report is totally based on purely ECONOMIC reasoning.They fully accept that any final decision MUST also take account of moral and legal issues. There's a whole heap of discussions yet to go through. If this report were to be introduced as it now stands there would be a lot of successful Article 8 appeals. I'd say that in principle this is the very definition of disproportionate interference with family life ... This gov't hasn't faired well lately in terms of introducing rules that go against Human Rights (that they actually signed up). Probably the next gov't legal set-back will be related to the English Language test which is currently going through the courts. Looking at the July 2011 consultation document on family migration, it's probably more worrying to see the possibilty that ILR may take a minimum of 10 years from entry into UK of eligible visa's. Notice that FLR would continue to require 24 month renewal. That's a nice little earner. Also there's no benefits payable for at least 10 years, another saving there. Times they are a changin'
This is against the Human Rights Act and everyone knows it! Can the Government tell me that due to my lack of pay (a few hundred a year short) that they can tell me I cannot have a family life? If they think so, then we will see what the courts say - and I WILL take this to court if I have to be the person that gets this nonsense overturned. However, this is currently MP wishlisting their way into the Daily Mails goodbooks and will not likely see the light of day. That said, I might start a letter writing to Liberal Democrat MPs asking them their position on this idea? Could a Lib Dem MP really deny such an obvious human right? We shall see....
Viva la revolution im so pissed at the moment with bloddy jobsworths Guys all your prayers and positive thoughts are asked for for the sucsessfull exit on the 28th of the missus and littly
that was kind of the type of thing I was thinking of But seriously from a purely personal viewpoint, I earn more than this but who is to say I will still be in a job in 12 months time and in 12 months I still won't have settled all of the issues my family have that are keeping us from being together. I'm an IT professional in his early to mid fifties and I could well have trouble finding alternative work in the midst of yet another really serious downturn. I work on Enterprise Resource Planning systems for manufacturing companies and we have two direct threats to our company right now, one is that our customers are very near to the base of the industrial supply chain so any downturn in UK manufacturing output is very quickly reflected in their profits and hence ours and they (the customers) are pretty tight at the best of times, the second is that the supplier of of the legacy development system that our main ERP product is written in has just been taken over, the new owner could shut us down in a heartbeat as our new modern product is no where near ready. So this kind of nonsense is directly applicable to me, Ana and the kids, I mean if anything happened to my job Ana would go out and work she has no problem with that and I would happily look after the kids if I could not find a new similarly paid position. The main reason I need them here is that I just can't afford to keep them in any kind of decent lifestyle over there, the cost of school and healthcare and everything else over there is just crippling these days. I deliberately keep my exact work vague for good reason by the way, as the above kind of issues are commercially sensitive and should not be openly talked about on the web.
oh no i will be applying for spouse visa 2-3 weeks from now, just waiting for my husbands 6th bank statement and payslip. he is not earning 18,600 at the moment but after his rent including all bills and council tax he is left with net disposable of £177-£204 every week. has £3K savings there and me £1K here in the philippines is it enough or does it mean i cant proceed with my application? hope someone will englighten me
Don't worry.. This has not been put forward for a debate yet amongst the MPs. So it is far from law..
Don't worry, it looks as if the financial side of it, has been taken well care of......... If all other requirements are in order I don't see a problem with the appliocation, just because of the money coming in and going out.....
jencha, As others have rightly said, don't worry. These are only suggestions for FUTURE debate and are NOT at all implemented or relevant yet. As far as financial standing is concerned your case looks fine. If you feel you have any real weakness or concerns in your application just ask here and you will always get a prompt answer. I'm sure you'll be OK
Thanks for the reply Kuya, Aromulus and Micawber. If that is so, so far, our doucments are okay. I just wish we get a positive result. I will post later if there is clarification we need. Speak soon, Jen
Take your time and double check everything. The ECO is looking at the application as a whole and making his mental picture. You MUST be compliant with all things the UKBA ask for. Not so difficult really, just needs care and thought. Feel free to ask any questions at all.
I think (please correct me if im wrong !) if i earn £60000 over 5 months but only have (say ) £500 in the 6th month before applying for a visa under the new rules they still decline the application ! so i can earn £120000 a year and STILL be turned down for not earning enough ! ( I actually earn 17100 a year salary and about £1800 overtime and bonuses .. bit the overtime is wintertime and not summer ) Anyone any ideas about this ? (At the moment im looking for a second part time job just to make the 1500 a year spread out over th e 6 months / year ..
I don't know the answer to your question but I would suggest you look on UKBA website and follow all the links on the right of this page... http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/newsarticles/2012/june/13-family-migration They contain very valuable information on the new income rules! There are several exemptions to the new income requirements, meaning that some people (including myself) only have to meet the existing (Income support level) requirements after July 9th!
