Do you think the new £38K income visa threshold for UK spouse visas is fair?

[zendeveloper]

It is set at the same level as for work visas.

Feels completely crazy to me, but then, I am also an immigrant (although the changes don't affect me), so probably too sensitive to the topic. Would be interesting to hear MN opinion.

I agree @Crispedia and I would add that there are several tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of over 50s that are willing to work, and looking for it, but employers just don't want to employ these people. That is a shocking waste of talent and work experience!

The only thing that is growing is our population. Economically we are hardly growing at all which is why we are struggling to fund our public services.

@fetchacloth / yes. To grow any public spending now we need to change our economy into one with more contributors and greater contribution. Otherwise we will stagnate economically. Immigration is about the economy. We don't have it because it's nice to be diverse.

I wonder if there have been any challenges to the rules on gender discrimination grounds? We also know that women are more likely to be taking on caring responsibilities within a family, which makes it more difficult to meet the income thresholds.

Good question.

I think the average wage is fair. £18k was way too low as few could support themselves without social housing or benefits on that low income.

It should be 100k. But we need to fix lots of other problems with the British economy/workforce as well.

I have read this thread with interest but also, it has made me very sad. Some of these comments are very hurtful and I have found myself thinking... damn, I really wish we didn't choose the UK as our home because I am clearly not welcome.

My British wife and I have just finished a five year old path so I could become a permanent citizen. In that time, we have spent £8k+ in visa applications and processing fees and £3k+ in additional NHS fees (on top of what I already pay in my taxes).

I was not allowed to stay in the country while our first visa was being processed, so we were separated for months. After it was granted, I got a job within THREE days of arrival and have worked ever since. We have NEVER applied for benefits. If we did, my visa would be cancelled and I would get deported. I have since opened my own company which has been successful and earn a very good wage.

But it's the small things that make the entire process ridiculous. As part of my first visa application, we had to pay a legal firm to MEASURE my wife's apartment to make sure there was enough room for me to live there (?!?). When we purchased our first property, only ONE bank were willing to lend to us because of my immigration status, so we just had to take their rate. When COVID hit, I was so scared that any hint of government help to keep my business running would impact my next visa, I did not apply and struggled through.

We have put off having children because we were always scared the rules would change and suddenly we wouldn't meet the requirements. In return, I am looked at as a burden and some kind of leech on British taxpayers. In reality, I have paid double for services like the NHS and now I can't even get a doctors appointment.

So, am I the problem? Or is it because this country refuses to pay its citizens a decent wage and actually invest in services, like the NHS, that are so important apparently?

Absolutely wild.

I agree.

Once kids are at school your DH could get a full time job. Then between you you'd earn enough.

I agree. Tory's keep saying work pays but often if you have 2 DC and disabilities benefits pay more.

This is literally false. HumanBurrito has to earn the threshold solely to apply for the visa. Her European husband is ineligible to contribute to the threshold as he wouldn't be legally allowed to work in the UK.

So, no. They probably can't ever move home.

There is so much ignorance on these threads. I despair of ever being able to have an intelligent, informed discussion about immigration because so many people are completely clueless about the current system.

It's another fabulous Brexit dividend. Of course I should have seen it coming when I moved to Europe twenty-odd years ago, well over a decade before the Brexit vote.

I hope your child marries a foreigner. You will never see your grandchildren as these draconian rules mean your child could never return to his own country to raise his family.

Indeed. Confidently spouting about immigrants on work visas being able to access benefits as soon as they enter. They can't.

Not everyone can work full time if they have dependents or possibly both partners working part time. Lots of variables. The point is most people I know earn nowhere near £34k or whatever the figure was.

Apologies, £38k.

@Weegie91 we too have paid thousands for the NHS immigration surcharge over and above our NI contributions. Number of GP appointments my husband and I have been able to get between us in that time? I'll give you a clue, it's less than one...

You are clearly not welcome here, and your spouse was clearly wrong to marry someone from further than the next parish.

People are paid an absolute pittance doing care jobs which is completely wrong. Lots work in retail in the area I live, or supermarkets. All low paying jobs.

£38k is therefore a really high salary in some parts of the UK.

It’s is unnecessarily high, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.

The immigrants I know who wish to bring their spouse here, will get a second job or enough overtime to attain that income.

It’s what they already do to help finance their family overseas, so they will figure it out.

This is exactly what they want to stop; people on very low-wages bringing families over. That’s the whole point of this announcement. It’s not by chance that many people won’t be able to come over at this figure.

Exactly. How can we be a burden on the NHS if we never even use it?

What about those who can't? It's a 70 hour week on minimum wage. How do you do that with caring responsibilities? Not everyone has scope to unskill either.
It's also not just immigrants bringing their immigrants spouses over. It's British citizens bring their spouses over. The parents of British kids.