Home Office rows back on plans to hike family visa salary threshold to £38,700

Published

5 months ago

December 21, 2023

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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 state that the earning threshold Britons need to bring foreign family members will now only increase to £29,000 in the spring – while no timeline has been 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.

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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.

When later asked by Sky News if a timeframe had been set for the threshold’s rise to £38,700, a Home Office spokeswoman confirmed that it had not but added dates would be announced in due course.

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.

“This is why the government announced a plan to decisively cut net migration and ensure the system is fair and works for the people of this country.

“It is vital that British workers are not undercut and that we ease the strain on our public services. The measures I have announced prioritise those who will contribute significantly to our economy, whilst cracking down on those who seek to take advantage of our kindness.

“Today, I have provided further detail about how these measures will be applied and when they will be introduced.

“This plan will deliver the biggest ever reduction in net migration, with around 300,000 fewer people coming to the UK compared to last year, delivering on our promise to bring the numbers down.”

But Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: “You have to wonder who is in charge at the Home Office, or if anyone is.

“It was clear to everyone else that the raising of the earnings threshold was unworkable.

“This was yet another half thought through idea to placate the hardliners on their own back benches.

“James Cleverly needs to put down the spade and stop digging. Decisions like this should be made by experts and politicians working together.”

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the climbdown was “more evidence of Tory government chaos on immigration and the economy”.

Mr Cleverly unveiled the salary change as part of a five-point plan to reduce legal migration after net migration hit a record-breaking 745,000 in the year to December 2022.

Other measures announced in the plan include a ban on care workers bringing over their families and raising the minimum salary for a skilled worker visa from £26,200 to £38,700.

Leading immigration researchers at The Migration Observatory at Oxford University warned the new family visa rules could leave British citizens with a foreign partner facing greater restrictions on who they can live with than migrant workers.

It said the plan to hike the family visa salary threshold to £38,700 could mean that “in some circumstances, British workers would face more restrictive rules on family than migrant workers in the same job”.

During Prime Minister’s Questions last week, Labour MP Sir Stephen Timms warned that the marriage plans of “thousands of couples” had been “dashed” by Mr Cleverly’s announcement.

Politics

Rishi Sunak apologises to infected blood scandal victims and says it is ‘day of shame for British state’

Published

2 hours ago

May 20, 2024

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Rishi Sunak apologises to infected blood scandal victims and says it is 'day of shame for British state'

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has offered a “wholehearted and unequivocal” apology to the victims of the infected blood scandal, saying it was a “day of shame for the British state”.

Mr Sunak said the findings of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s final report should “shake our nation to its core”, as he promised to pay “comprehensive compensation to those infected and those affected”, adding: “Whatever it costs to deliver this scheme, we will pay it.”

The report from the inquiry’s chair Sir Brian Langstaff blamed “successive governments, the NHS, and blood services” for failures that led to 30,000 people being “knowingly” infected with either HIV or Hepatitis C through blood products. Around 3,000 people have now died.

The prime minister said for any government apology to be “meaningful”, it had to be “accompanied by action”.

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Speaking in the Commons, Mr Sunak called it a “calamity”, saying the report showed a “decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life”, as he condemned the actions of the NHS, civil service and ministers – “institutions in which we place our trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way”.

The prime minister said they “failed this country”, adding: “Time and again, people in positions of power and trust had the chance to stop the transmission of those infections. Time and again, they failed to do so.

“I want to make a whole-hearted and unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice.”

Pointing to key findings in the report – from the destruction of documents through to failures over screening – Mr Sunak said there had been “layer upon layer of hurt endured across decades”.

He also apologised for the “institutional refusal to face up to these failings and worse, to deny and even attempt to cover them up”, adding: “This is an apology from the state to every single person impacted by this scandal.

“It did not have to be this way. It should never have been this way. And on behalf of this and every government stretching back to the 1970s, I am truly sorry.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also apologised for his party’s part in the scandal, telling the Commons: “I want to acknowledge to every single person who has suffered that in addition to all of the other failings, politics itself failed you.

“That failure applies to all parties, including my own. There is only one word, sorry.”

In his report, released earlier on Monday, Sir Brian issued 12 recommendations – including an immediate compensation scheme and ensuring anyone who received a blood transfusion before 1996 was urgently tested for Hepatitis C.

He also called for compensation – something Mr Sunak said would come and would be outlined in the Commons on Tuesday.

But speaking to Sky News’ Sarah-Jane Mee, he warned the “disaster” of the scandal still wasn’t over, saying: “More than 3,000 have died, and deaths keep on happening week after week.

“I’d like people to take away the fact that this is not just something which happened. It is happening.”

Sir Brian said what had happened to the victims was “no accident”, adding: “People put their trust in the doctors and the government to keep them safe. That trust was betrayed.

“And then the government compounded the agony by repeatedly saying that no wrong had been done.”

But he hoped the report would ensure “these mistakes are not repeated”.

He told Sky News: “We don’t want another 30,000 people to go into hospital and come out with infections which were avoidable, which are life-shattering, which were no accident.

“And we don’t want the government to end up being defensive about them – but instead to be candid [and] forthcoming in the ways which I’ve just suggested.”

Politics

SEC rumored to be reconsidering spot Ether ETF denial, say analysts

Published

3 hours ago

May 20, 2024

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SEC rumored to be reconsidering spot Ether ETF denial, say analysts

ETF analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas said they had increased their odds of the SEC approving a spot Ether exchange-traded fund from 25% to 75%.