The Home Office has rowed back on plans to increase the salary threshold for Britons wishing to bring a family member to the UK following a backlash.
Home Secretary James Cleverly told the Commons earlier this month that the threshold for a family visa would rise from £18,600 to £38,700 by “next spring” in a bid to reduce the number of people coming to the UK.
But documents released by the Home Office suggest that the earning threshold Britons need to bring foreign family members will now only increase to an initially lower figure of £29,000 in the spring – while no timeline is set out for when the higher threshold of £38,700 will be introduced.
Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom confirmed the change in answer to a written parliamentary question on Thursday.
Lord Sharpe said the current threshold of £18,600 allows 75% of the UK working population to bring their foreign family members to join them but that increasing the threshold to £38,700 would reduce that figure to 30% of the working population.
The minister said: “In spring 2024, we will raise the threshold to £29,000, that is the 25th percentile of earnings for jobs which are eligible for skilled worker visas, moving to the 40th percentile (currently £34,500) and finally the 50th percentile (currently £38,700 and the level at which the general skilled worker threshold is set) in the final stage of implementation.”
He said the minimum income requirement would be increased in “incremental stages to give predictability” and that in spring 2024, it would be raised to £29,000.
No date for when the threshold would rise beyond £29,000 was given in Lord Sharpe’s answer.
Mr Cleverly said following the update that he still believed the government’s plans would reduce net migration by 300,000 people a year.
“I have been clear that current levels of migration to the UK are far too high,” he said.
“The British people are, rightly, frustrated and want to see action.
“It is vital that…
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2023-12-21 17:45:00
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