AIBU to think the spouse visa income requirement should not be increased to £38k per year?

Its inhumane and people lack understanding of it. There are many brits abroad now unable to return to the uk as they have no hope of their spouse joining them. Married couples should have the option to live in either of their countries.

If other countries all had similar requirements then where should low income, mixed nationality couples and families live?

I have a friend whose wife has to pay for the NHS surcharge even though she works for the NHS as a nurse…😒

@LlynTegid Tbf, Jeremy Hunt’s wife was already living and working in the UK when they met.

@savoycabbage Ah, so what did you end up doing?

We used our privilege.

I was friends with the sister of an MP. She put me in touch with him and he assigned me a 'senior parliamentary assistant' and he helped us put together a load of documents. Letters from my family and our friends here in the uk, letters from dh's previous employers. Photos of dh in a kilt at beautiful weddings. All of this was taken to the Home Office and dh got a visa.

It’s a very sensible policy.

Ironic given who the Chancellor of the Exchequer is married to, and the Prime Minister, and whom the previous male Prime Minister 'bonded over a love of Shakespeare' with.

Sorry, in reference to where we will 'put' them.

@savoycabbage Ah, so what did you end up doing?

• I suppose the assumption is also that your DH would no longer be earning a high income though when he moved to the UK, because he’d leave his job? What did you end up doing?

We had this situation when we moved to the US, my DH’s home country. He went ahead of us and started a new job so he could prove that he had income over there to sponsor us.*

No question was ever asked about dh's job or his income. Not for a spouse visa.

We have lots of different cultures, hard working people, no issues there.
The last intake from a certain country has given us a huge amount of uninterested, inept, unsafe workers some only there until they can move on to something better paid. So staffing levels will decline once again.

I totally get your point about NHS recruitment. It seems the recruitment process is no longer as tough as it was even just pre covid.

@savoycabbage I suppose the assumption is also that your DH would no longer be earning a high income though when he moved to the UK, because he’d leave his job? What did you end up doing?

We had this situation when we moved to the US, my DH’s home country. He went ahead of us and started a new job so he could prove that he had income over there to sponsor us.

Well the consequences are that Visa applications for NHS roles have apparently fallen off a cliff. The answer is to pay nurses and carers a liveable wage to support a family though irrespective of where they come from.

I am minded to agree with the policy despite its disadvantages. It will create key worker shortages which should drive up demand and associated salaries. I do think it will protect British born women from exploitative marriages to some extent. At a minimum they need to be educated and earning a decent salary to bring over an overseas spouse so the motivation / demand to educate women properly may improve in families where it's not valued.

Or the NHS will find other locations to recruit desperate healthcare workers from cheaply. Hard to know.

The government imo are causing the feelings towards 'non locals'.
I know of 12 council tenament flats, an entire building, that the residents were forced to move out of as they were 'being demolished'. Forced out because these people were happy in their homes.
Those fully furnished flats are now housing immigrants.

Where I work (hospital) we have had so many permanent and bank staff coming from overseas lately. There majority of these people have no interest in the job, and some even admit to that fact. They ignore patients buzzers, ignore requests to go to the toilet, will seek out the easiest patient for morning wash/shower etc, put patients at risk regarding mobility issues, will not listen when core staff try to offer advice which is crucial with regards to diet and mobility eg.
They seem to have a walking pace that they under no circumstances can go any quicker, not ideal in an emergency.
I could go on and on.......

Filling staff gaps with people who don't want to work is of no benefit to the rest of us.....it makes our day harder and staff morale is even lower than it was before.

No one can get bank shifts esp at night. There are very few on the app at any one time, yet the wards are full of bank staff. Night shift bank shifts are full of the new arrivals. How are they getting the shifts when non of the rest of us can as they haven't gone on the app.
These are some reasons why people aren't very welcoming.

I've signed the petition even though this particular aspect doesn't affect me and dp. What is causing us alot of stress and financial problems is having to find almost £5000 including the scandalous Ihs even though dp is paying Ni through his wages.

Isn't brexit wonderful. Having a terrible impact on families

I think it’s fair, as two people living on less than that will be a struggle in many places in th4 uk, and they shouldn’t be able to claim benefits.

Thank you, but I think that is an error in the briefing. The Gov appendix FM states
15. In respect of paragraph 13(b) and paragraph 13(d), the provisions in this paragraph also apply:
(a) In order to evidence the level of gross annual income required by Appendix FM, the person must meet the requirements in paragraph 13(b) or paragraph 13(d)(i); and
(b) The person must also meet the level of gross annual income required by Appendix FM on the basis that their income is the total of:
(i) The gross income from salaried employment in the UK or overseas earned by the person in the 12 months prior to the date of application;
(ii) The gross amount of any specified non-employment income (other than pension income) received by the person or their partner in the 12 months prior to the date of application;
(iii) The gross amount received from a UK or foreign State pension or a private pension by the person or their partner in the 12 months prior to the date of application; and
(iv)The person cannot combine the gross annual income at paragraph 15(b)(i)-(iii) with specified savings in order to meet the level of income required.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-fm-se-family-members-specified-evidence

The level has been set to cover the costs of the principle plus a dependent. £38,000 to support two people is realistic. The tax on that sum is their contribution to roads and infrastructure, policing, defence, local & central government, water, sewerage, power, housing etc.

That's what is costs for the principle to support their spouse without relying on benefits so it needs to be that high. . How else would they survive?

If the person migrating here has skills that are in short supply here, they could get a skilled worker visa of their own.

It also protects vulnerable individuals with British passports from being used by unscrupulous partners simply to get a visa.