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

[Shardonneigghhh]

My post was moved to politics and activism, so I've amended it and added a poll to make it more suitable for AIBU. Thank you to everyone who already commented or signed the petition.

Can we talk about how the increased income requirement for spouse visas if affecting British citizens with a partner of a different nationality?

The policies it seem we're introduced to reduce the number of migrants, by preventing workers who come to the UK from bringing their family members with them.
This also affects British citizens who with to bring a spouse of family member to the uk to live with them.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9920/#:~:text=The%20spouse%2Fpartner%20visa%20minimum,report%20by%2014%20May%202024.

If someone falls in love with a non British person, and they want to live together in the uk, it is expected that the British person earns enough money to support their spouse without claiming any public funds. You have to evidence this when applying for a spouse visa, along with proving that your relationship is genuine. This minimum income requirement was £18,600, but was increased on April 11th to £29,000, with a further increase expected in 2025, to £38,000 per year.

This means that the British spouse will have to earn £38,000 in order to live together with their spouse in the uk. This income is out of reach for so many people. Basically if you are on a low income, you have no hope of your partner living with you in the uk. Women are often disproportionately affected by this as we learn less money overall, and if there are children to care for this may impact how much they can earn, bearing in mind if the husband is overseas he cannot look after the children while she works.

There is also a visa fee of £1846 and minimum nhs surcharge of £1035 per year (this is paid upfront to cover 3 or 5 years at point of application).

Please consider signing this petition.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/652602

@SummerFeverVenice what is the error?

It really does apply to the income of the uk spouse only. It's been responded to by Parliament. There is a petition with almost £100,000 signatures. People have been writing to their politicians. Many, many British people are affected by this.

-Spouses are living separately as they can't meet the income requirement
-couples with children are forced to live apart
-women are disproportionately affected as we earn less and often have caring responsibilities
-couples who have been living in the foreign spouse's country are unable to meet the uk requirement as the uk spouse cannot get an entry level job earning enough
-same sex couples who cannot safely life in the foreign spouse's country are unable to move to the uk either

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.

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.

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.

@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.

@oOiluvfriendsOo staff shortages in healthcare have increased greatly due to Brexit.
It's the responsibility of the trust to recruit a good calibre of staff, surely? Isn't the issue you are referring to down to poor recruitment, as opposed to immigration policy?

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.

• 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.

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

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

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.

@LlynTegid indeed. It seems that falling in love with someone from another country is now another privilege reserved only for the rich.

It’s a very sensible policy.

@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.

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

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

@iamtheblcksheep can you share why you think so?

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

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 someone brings a spouse, and potentially children, to live with them then they may well end up needing larger accommodation to live comfortably - they might go from a room in a shared house to needing a flat or a even a 2-3 bedroom house. That was really what I meant. If they aren't earning much then there are probably more likely to want/need social housing and/or not be able to afford private rentals in some locations.

I would suggest they live in which ever country they can live most cheaply and which they pass any requirements to live there.

I quoted you because you mentioned the pressure on social housing, and I'm responding by saying there is an increasing perception that newcomers are the reason. I didn't for one second mean you are hostile. As you said in your example, it isn't true, but I suppose it's easier to blame the 'other'.

Surely that would be something anyone would consider when choosing to live abroad though - the implications of returning?
Realistically there need to be some sort of controls.

Hmmm, fair enough.