Theresa May states £18600 Income Threshold

To a certain extent you make a valid point.
I too took the test and failed to make the required grade.

However, when you read the relevant chapters of the book and after making some practice sessions you very soon remember the correct answers. Especially as it's multiple choice which tends to act as a sort of prompt.

The downside of this is that it often comes down to rote learning which really doesn't help anyone to understand "Britishness" or British History and culture. Certainly doesn't help integration imo

Just my 2 centavos

Yep, this is exactly the point. You can only really know it by living it, not learning stuff stated in a book.

well its done now,

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16245435

wonder if these changes are with "imediate effect"

dont really see how these are true exactly though,

"Overall, the reforms are expected to save the taxpayer £570m in health costs over the next decade, £530m in benefit claims and £340m in education costs, the Home Office said.

Mrs May said that, taken with the Government's other immigration reforms, she expected to see net migration fall from 250,000 to the tens of thousands."

well apart from that last line lol.
no idea how though, as I thought that people who come into the UK are still entitled to NHS treatment, even though nothing else in terms of state benefits.. and same with education.

but it seems.. what they take with one hand, they giveth with the other,

"Illegal immigrants living in the UK for 20 years will be able to apply to settle in the country on human rights grounds, despite a new immigration crackdown."


But this system seems to be massively flawed.

I heard about a local case of a british person who went abroad and got married there and brought his wife back here.

He lives permanantly on state handouts, because he is considered not able to work (because he damaged his liver from alcohol abuse) which quite frankly is his own fault, but it doesnt change the face he is living permanantly on state benefits and does not work.

He also has a criminal record, and has commited some kind of repeat and / or series driving offences because he lost his licence for 3 years after some kind of drink driving offence.. and even ended up in belmarsh prison... so not exactly a model citizen, especially when belmarsh prison is considered one of the higher security prisons in the country where the more serious criminals go.

Yet with his criminal background, and living on state benefits he was able to easily get his wife to the UK within 12 months from outside of europe.

and yet.. other people who have not commited crimes against society, clean record.. honest law abiding citizens who do work hard for their income and do not claim off the state in any way are penalised and told now they are essentially exciled if they cant reach the income requirement.

nope you need 75%

I just got 63% lots of wild guesses re numbers of teenagers devorce etc 6 mins

number 5 i put proof of id for job app wrong

Incorrect. The correct answer was a curriculum vitae. Information on this topic can be found on page 76 of the 'Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship' Handbook.

which is cobblers

We're not alone according to Wikipedia: "A sample test taken by 11,118 British citizens had a pass rate of only 14%"

beats me Kuya

The right might make political capital by being "anti-European" but the reality is short of a fiscal meltdown that takes the community down internaly we cant afford to leave

£18,600 sounds reasonable to me.
Better than the rumoured £26,000

I think it is reasonable to expect someone who wants to bring a spouse over here to have a reasonable income.
People should be happy that the threshold is not as big as it could have been.

Why bring party politics into it?

I think the principle of having a definitive financial test that does not rely to some extent on ECO discretion or submitting Budget Explanations and/or relying on third party sponsors is a good principle.

Personally though, I don't see that gross income means affordability.
I still maintain that it's disposable income that remains the best indicator.

The government had other interests. In being seen to having plans to reduce family migration and at the same time to be seen to limiting any access to public funding for as long as possible.

From a government that has always stated to be "family friendly" this does not seem to fit.

It's just a pity that they can't find any way to limit/control the EU flow into UK.
As I've said before, someone from Greece or Spain can come to UK, then bring a non-EEA family member to join them all for free with no constraints at all then have access to public funds.
Yes of course this is recipricol but UK has a much more friendly welfare support and so much broader too.

Sorry all, sounding off again.
Still.....................................

I think all the political parties are as bad as each other!
I can appreciate you are miffed with your wife coming over soon, but I still think the threshold is reasonable and could have been worse forcing you and others to go the EEC route.