New minmum spousal income

bollieboy

bollieboy

Well-known member
So government are raising minimum income requirement from £18,600 to £38,700 per annum for anybody wanting to bring a married partner to live in the UK who is not British.

So if your poor do not fall in love with a foreigner. If you are rich, not a problem.
 
bollieboy said:
So government are raising minimum income requirement from £18,600 to £38,700 per annum for anybody wanting to bring a married partner to live in the UK who is not British.

So if your poor do not fall in love with a foreigner. If you are rich, not a problem.
Click to expand...
So most of the industries that we have massive labour shortages will be filled now by people who can only live here on their own as they’ll never reach that salary.

Nice work. That’s been well thought through then?
 
Chunkylad said:
So most of the industries that we have massive labour shortages will be filled now by people who can only live here on their own as they’ll never reach that salary.

Nice work. That’s been well thought through then?
Click to expand...
They have also raised the minimum salary for skill shortage visas to £38,700 also so yes, that's correct.

The OP refers to British people. If you are British and marry a foreigner you will not be able to live together in the UK with your partner unless you earn over £38,700 or they can get a visa by other means.
 
bollieboy said:
They have also raised the minimum salary for skill shortage visas to £38,700 also so yes, that's correct.

The OP refers to British people. If you are British and marry a foreigner you will not be able to live together in the UK with your partner unless you earn over £38,700 or they can get a visa by other means.
Click to expand...
Which makes it even worse
 
Chunkylad said:
Which makes it even worse
Click to expand...
Depending on where you read, the average UK salary is somewhere between £33k and £38k.

Also, according to the BBC the current level of salary needed to move a foreign wife/husband here is just over £26k.

So I don’t think it’s that unreasonable.

End of the day, once you are a resident of the UK you get full access to loads including the NHS.
 
seasideone said:
Depending on where you read, the average UK salary is somewhere between £33k and £38k.

Also, according to the BBC the current level of salary needed to move a foreign wife/husband here is just over £26k.

So I don’t think it’s that unreasonable.

End of the day, once you are a resident of the UK you get full access to loads including the NHS.
Click to expand...

There is that to consider.
 
This is yet another new rule brought in by people with little life experience.

Th rational approach would be to ask, what skills are we short of, like most grown up countries do. Then give visas to those with the qualifications or skills necessary. This could be doctors, nurses, care assistants, fruit pickers, slaughter house personnel. These are the people who keep this country actually going, proof of which is who were necessary workers during furlough.

Instead of which, as always with these folk who are obsessed with status, it is all about salary level.

It is actually suicidal for our copuntry, our NHS and our food production.

(Apologies to those sectors I did not mention, these reflect my personal experience)
 
bollieboy said:
They have also raised the minimum salary for skill shortage visas to £38,700 also so yes, that's correct.

The OP refers to British people. If you are British and marry a foreigner you will not be able to live together in the UK with your partner unless you earn over £38,700 or they can get a visa by other means.
Click to expand...
So cleaners and fruit and veg pickers will be on close to £40,000.
 
It's similar to the Swedish model.

We've got a spousal application ongoing and my Mrs had to prove that she had enough disposable income to support me on arrival and a big enough property to house me. We went for the spousal visa because you have more rights and flexibility once you're there, you are tied to your spouse rather than a specific role so can't be deported on redundancy etc. 12 months on we're wishing we'd have gone for the work visa as I'd have got in much quicker and we're now expecting a child, problem is you can't have two different visa applications ongoing so it would be a gamble to change the application so we've decided to stick with the process.

We do know that our application is water tight so we'll be fine once it's processed but if it did get rejected you'd have to start again, I'm lucky that she is a native speaker because many applications get rejected due to simple mistakes.

One lad I play football with in Sweden is an Afghan refugee and he's had an application to bring his wife and kid over rejected three times so they're still in Afghanistan. He's a lovely fella and it reminds you that there's a family and a story behind these applications, it's not an easy process.
 
seasideone said:
Depending on where you read, the average UK salary is somewhere between £33k and £38k.

Also, according to the BBC the current level of salary needed to move a foreign wife/husband here is just over £26k.

So I don’t think it’s that unreasonable.

End of the day, once you are a resident of the UK you get full access to loads including the NHS.
Click to expand...
You don't. If you are on a spousal visa you are not entitled to claim welfare benefits and you have to pay the NHS surcharge as part of the application to cover the number of years on visa - cost between £624 and £1,035 per person per year.
 
bollieboy said:
You don't. If you are on a spousal visa you are not entitled to claim welfare benefits and you have to pay the NHS surcharge as part of the application to cover the number of years on visa - cost between £624 and £1,035 per person per year.
Click to expand...
Another myth indeed. Resident doesn't qualify you. There are conditions before you can access benefits and the NHS, including ex pats coming back. If you haven't been paying in in a country with reciprocal agreements, you get nothing for up to two years.

Check out Habitual Resident Test in GOV.UK
 
bollieboy said:
You don't. If you are on a spousal visa you are not entitled to claim welfare benefits and you have to pay the NHS surcharge as part of the application to cover the number of years on visa - cost between £624 and £1,035 per person per year.
Click to expand...
It is very revealing how many people just assume we are a "soft touch". The minimum income requirement before this change (which I actually doubt will go ahead) is indeed £18,600. Median salary in the UK for 2023 as per ONS was £29,669. You'd have to be close to the 70th percentile (which is £40,000 exactly as per the ONS) to qualify. It is actually worse than that though because as I understand it only the earnings of the UK citizen qualify so if your spouse has secured a job here those earnings would not count.

I also thought we were supposed to be levelling up hahaha. The 80 percentile salary in 2023 in Blackpool was £35,132 so you'd have to be close to the 90th percentile in Blackpool earnings wise to qualify. So you could have people in London doing exactly the same job who qualify and people in Blackpool who don't.

Glad the moderators deleted one of the earlier posts are here referencing "ting tongs" or whatever it was. I wonder what Simon Sadler would do if someone said that to his face. I think he would laugh very hard at the person saying it.
 
Sven said:
It's similar to the Swedish model.

We've got a spousal application ongoing and my Mrs had to prove that she had enough disposable income to support me on arrival and a big enough property to house me. We went for the spousal visa because you have more rights and flexibility once you're there, you are tied to your spouse rather than a specific role so can't be deported on redundancy etc. 12 months on we're wishing we'd have gone for the work visa as I'd have got in much quicker and we're now expecting a child, problem is you can't have two different visa applications ongoing so it would be a gamble to change the application so we've decided to stick with the process.

We do know that our application is water tight so we'll be fine once it's processed but if it did get rejected you'd have to start again, I'm lucky that she is a native speaker because many applications get rejected due to simple mistakes.

One lad I play football with in Sweden is an Afghan refugee and he's had an application to bring his wife and kid over rejected three times so they're still in Afghanistan. He's a lovely fella and it reminds you that there's a family and a story behind these applications, it's not an easy process.
Click to expand...
Good luck to you Svennis! From my experience with my wife for a UK spouse visa a few years ago it is the kind of process that makes you a bit paranoid. Obviously there has to be a process but only natural to wonder if you missed something. I think in reality if you miss something minor they give you a chance to explain yourself but who knows!
 
Reason said:
It is very revealing how many people just assume we are a "soft touch". The minimum income requirement before this change (which I actually doubt will go ahead) is indeed £18,600. Median salary in the UK for 2023 as per ONS was £29,669. You'd have to be close to the 70th percentile (which is £40,000 exactly as per the ONS) to qualify. It is actually worse than that though because as I understand it only the earnings of the UK citizen qualify so if your spouse has secured a job here those earnings would not count.

I also thought we were supposed to be levelling up hahaha. The 80 percentile salary in 2023 in Blackpool was £35,132 so you'd have to be close to the 90th percentile in Blackpool earnings wise to qualify. So you could have people in London doing exactly the same job who qualify and people in Blackpool who don't.

Glad the moderators deleted one of the earlier posts are here referencing "ting tongs" or whatever it was. I wonder what Simon Sadler would do if someone said that to his face. I think he would laugh very hard at the person saying it.
Click to expand...

I think you're mistaken regarding the individual, appears it's combined still
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20231205_231729_Samsung Internet.jpg
    Screenshot_20231205_231729_Samsung Internet.jpg
    331.4 KB · Views: 2
RCSeasider said:
I think you're mistaken regarding the individual, appears it's combined still
Click to expand...
All the media reportage has been about UK partners who earn a bit less than 38k. This suggests that combined earnings don't count as the applicant cannot earn officially in the UK until they have the right to work here.
I'm not sure it has all been thought through very carefully. The measures start next April. Between now and then there will be a surge of people who try to get approved by before the new salary threshold. These people will show up in net migration figures around the middle of next year, roughly at the same expected time as the GE. So migration will look even more out of control, not quite the look that the measures intend. Even if the measures work as intended the will not start to show in the figures for about 1 year. And of course what about the fruit pickers and care workers we desperately need. 180000 vacancies already in the care sector.
 
It will be something aimed at brexiteers, who don’t want Johnny Foreigner in their country and is aimed at that voter demographic. The thing is anyone who isn’t totally stupid wil see it for what it’s worth. The tortes are going to get absolutely snotted next year in the election and this should never see the light of day, although they are trying to sneak it in before the election.
 
ElBurroSinNombre said:
All the media reportage has been about UK partners who earn a bit less than 38k. This suggests that combined earnings don't count as the applicant cannot earn officially in the UK until they have the right to work here.
I'm not sure it has all been thought through very carefully. The measures start next April. Between now and then there will be a surge of people who try to get approved by before the new salary threshold. These people will show up in net migration figures around the middle of next year, roughly at the same expected time as the GE. So migration will look even more out of control, not quite the look that the measures intend. Even if the measures work as intended the will not start to show in the figures for about 1 year. And of course what about the fruit pickers and care workers we desperately need. 180000 vacancies already in the care sector.
Click to expand...
I think if both members of the couple already work in the UK then combined earnings count otherwise only the income of the UK citizen counts. I can't quite remember all the details in our case but my wife and I both lived overseas. I think my earnings could be counted because I was on a secondment and my company wrote a letter saying I would be paid this salary when back in the UK. I *think* I could have used a salary from any accepted job offer in the UK as well. Something like that anyway.

You have to renew after 2.5 years and then again after 5 years. For these applications you can definitely use the applicant's income. I see though that the government has said contradictory things about whether these new thresholds will apply to those applying for a renewal. So potentially you could have people who were approved before, live with their spouse in the UK and then would be rejected this time because they don't meet the new income requirement. But nobody knows because the government appears not to know either. Absolute clown show.

UK migrant families left in limbo over new income rules

Government unclear on whether much higher earnings threshold applies both to visa renewals and new applications
www.ft.com www.ft.com
 
Reason said:
I think if both members of the couple already work in the UK then combined earnings count otherwise only the income of the UK citizen counts. I can't quite remember all the details in our case but my wife and I both lived overseas. I think my earnings could be counted because I was on a secondment and my company wrote a letter saying I would be paid this salary when back in the UK. I *think* I could have used a salary from any accepted job offer in the UK as well. Something like that anyway.

You have to renew after 2.5 years and then again after 5 years. For these applications you can definitely use the applicant's income. I see though that the government has said contradictory things about whether these new thresholds will apply to those applying for a renewal. So potentially you could have people who were approved before, live with their spouse in the UK and then would be rejected this time because they don't meet the new income requirement. But nobody knows because the government appears not to know either. Absolute clown show.

UK migrant families left in limbo over new income rules

Government unclear on whether much higher earnings threshold applies both to visa renewals and new applications
www.ft.com www.ft.com
Click to expand...
It's stupid, reactionary, ill thought out policy making on the hoof (IMO).
In short, another day in the life of this government.
The case you point out could throw up some problems - all the stress this uncertainty must be causing is very poor. If you are going to implement an unfair, draconian policy at least work out the details in advance.
 
Utterly ridiculous, if they think English people are going to fill all those jobs, they’re living in another universe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top