Rishi Sunak says family visa salary threshold will rise in 2025 following anger from Tory MPs
Rishi Sunak has said the higher threshold for a family visa will rise in 2025 after he came under fire from Tory MPs for rowing back on plans to introduce it next spring.
The prime minister said the government was “increasing the salary threshold significantly” to £38,700 in “early 2025” – a change from the original plan laid out by Home Secretary James Cleverly earlier this month.
The threshold for a family visa – which applies to Britons who wish to bring family members to the UK – was due to rise from £18,600 to £38,700 next spring in a bid to reduce legal net migration, which hit a record high last year.
But on Thursday night the Home Office quietly watered down the measure, saying the threshold would first be raised to £29,000 from the spring, and then increased in “incremental stages” – though no timetable was set for when the top figure would be introduced.
Tory MPs on the right of the party immediately criticised the change, with David Jones, deputy chairman of the right-wing European Research Group, telling the PA news agency it was a “regrettable sign of weakness” while Jonathan Gullis, a Conservative former minister wrote on X that it was “deeply disappointing and undermines our efforts”.
Robert Jenrick, who quit as immigration minister over the government’s stalled Rwanda plan, was also among the critics, with a source close to him saying: “The whole package needs to be implemented now, not long-grassed to the spring or watered down. More measures are needed, not less.”
Speaking to reporters while visiting ambulance workers in Lincolnshire, the prime minister insisted the government was doing “exactly as we said” in terms of raising the salary threshold for a family visa, but that the process would happen in “two stages”.
He confirmed that the threshold would increase from £18,600 to £29,000 from next spring before going to the “full amount” in early 2025.
“So it’s exactly what we said we’re doing, we’re just phasing it over the next year or so,” he added.
Earlier this month Mr Cleverly outlined a five-point plan to reduce legal migration after net migration hit a record-breaking 745,000 in the year to December 2022.
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Rishi Sunak is spotted buying several boxes of mince pies
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.
Mr Cleverly told the Commons last month the government would “increase the skilled worker earnings threshold by a third to £38,700 from next spring, in line with the median full-time wage for those kinds of jobs”.
The original plan was criticised by immigration researchers at The Migration Observatory at Oxford University, who 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”.
Labour’s shadow international development secretary Lisa Nandy said the backtracking was “just another example of the tail wagging the dog” and accused the government of “running scared of its own back benches”.
Asked whether the party would allow the rise to go ahead if it wins the next election, Ms Nandy said Labour had been “clear all along that immigration policy has to be aligned with skills” to address shortages here in the UK.
As well as seeking to reduce legal migration, the government has made stopping small boat crossings in the Channel a core part of its strategy to reduce illegal migration.
To achieve that aim, the government wants to deport asylum seekers who arrive in the UK by irregular means to Rwanda.
Mr Sunak saw off a rebellion over the plan earlier this month, but further battles are likely to await him in the new year as right-wing Tories demand the bill goes further while those on the moderate wing have warned Mr Sunak that he risks losing their support if he significantly alters the bill to placate the right.
As well as deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda, the government has sought to manage the high number of people arriving by small boat by housing them in former military bases – including the Catterick Garrison in his own constituency of Richmond.
However, there have been reports in the Times that the Home Office had assessed the garrison as unsuitable for a large asylum facility.
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The prime minister confirmed the Home Office assessment but said it was still his intention to use a military base in his constituency to house refugees from Afghanistan.
He said it was “not right” to suggest his constituency was different from any other constituency when asked why plans for the garrison had reportedly been scrapped.
“More generally taking a step back, stopping the boats is a massive priority of mine,” he said.
“It’s something I said I wanted to do because that’s ultimately the best way to relieve pressure on hotels and other areas and local communities.”
A US federal judge has agreed to pause a lawsuit filed by 18 state attorneys general and the crypto lobby group DeFi Education Fund against the Securities and Exchange Commission after all parties said new SEC leadership could make the action moot.
Kentucky District Court Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove ordered a 60-day stay on the case on April 16, noting a mid-March filing from the SEC that “this case could potentially be resolved” due to a leadership transition at the regulator.
He added that the parties must file a joint status report within 30 days.
Paul Atkins, a Wall Street adviser who has held board positions with crypto advocacy groups, was sworn in as the new SEC chair earlier this month, replacing acting chair Mark Uyeda and taking over from Gary Gensler.
The 18 attorneys general, all hailing from Republican states, filed the lawsuit with the DeFi Education Fund against the securities regulator in November, alleging that the SEC exceeded its authority when targeting crypto exchanges with lawsuits, accusing the regulator and then-chair Gensler of “gross government overreach.”
The plaintiffs included attorneys general from Nebraska, Tennessee, Wyoming, Kentucky, West Virginia, Iowa, Texas, Mississippi, Ohio, Montana, Indiana, Oklahoma and Florida, among others.
“Without Congressional authorization, the SEC has sought to unilaterally wrest regulatory authority away from the States through an ongoing series of enforcement actions,” the lawsuit stated.
DeFi groups drop case against IRS over killed broker rule
Meanwhile, the DeFi Education Fund, Blockchain Association, and Texas Blockchain Council dropped their lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service on April 16.
“The parties hereby stipulate to voluntary dismissal of this action without prejudice because the case has become moot,” stated the filing.
The lawsuit, filed in December, argued that the so-called IRS DeFi broker rule went beyond the agency’s authority and was unconstitutional.
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On April 11, President Donald Trump signed a bill to revoke the rule that would have required DeFi protocols to report transactions to the IRS.
It comes as the SEC has paused or dropped several high-profile lawsuits against crypto companies this year under its new leadership.
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Panama’s capital city will accept cryptocurrency payments for taxes and municipal fees, including bus tickets and permits, Panama City mayor Mayer Mizrachi announced on April 15, joining a growing list of jurisdictions globally that have voted to accept such payments.
Panama City will begin accepting Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Circle’s USDC (USDC), and Tether’s USDt (USDT) stablecoin for payment once the crypto-to-fiat payment rails are established, Mizrachi posted on the X platform.
Mizrachi said previous administrations attempted to push through similar legislation but failed to overcome stipulations requiring the local government to accept funds denominated in US dollars.
In a translated statement, the Panama City mayor said that the local government partnered with a bank that will immediately convert any digital assets received into US dollars, allowing the municipality to accept crypto without introducing new legislation.
Panama City joins a growing list of global jurisdictions on the municipal and state level accepting cryptocurrency payments for taxes, exploring Bitcoin strategic reserves to protect public treasuries from inflation and passing pro-crypto policies to attract investment.
Related: New York bill proposes legalizing Bitcoin, crypto for state payments
Municipalities and states embrace digital assets
Several municipalities and territories around the globe already accept crypto for tax payments or are exploring various implementations of blockchain technology for government spending.
The US state of Colorado started accepting crypto payments for taxes in September 2022. Much like Panama City said it will do, Colorado immediately converts the crypto to fiat.
In December 2023, the city of Lugano, Switzerland, announced taxes and city fees could be paid in Bitcoin, which was one of the developments that earned it the reputation of being a globally recognized Bitcoin city.
The city council of Vancouver, Canada, passed a motion to become “Bitcoin-friendly city” in December 2024. As part of that motion, the Vancouver local government will explore integrating BTC into the financial system, including tax payments.
North Carolina lawmaker Neal Jackson introduced legislation titled “The North Carolina Digital Asset Freedom Act” on April 10. If passed, the bill will recognize cryptocurrencies as an official form of payment that can be used to pay taxes.
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As digital assets gain mainstream adoption, establishing a legal framework for stablecoins is a “good idea,” said US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
In an April 16 panel at the Economic Club of Chicago, Powell commented on the evolution of the cryptocurrency industry, which has delivered a consumer use case that “could have wide appeal” following a difficult “wave of failures and frauds,” he said.
Powell delivers remarks at the Economic Club of Chicago. Source: Bloomberg Television
During crypto’s difficult years, which culminated in 2022 and 2023 with several high-profile business failures, the Fed “worked with Congress to try to get a […] legal framework for stablecoins, which would have been a nice place to start,” said Powell. “We were not successful.”
“I think that the climate is changing and you’re moving into more mainstreaming of that whole sector, so Congress is again looking […] at a legal framework for stablecoins,” he said.
“Depending on what’s in it, that’s a good idea. We need that. There isn’t one now,” said Powell.
This isn’t the first time Powell acknowledged the need for stablecoin legislation. In June 2023, the Fed boss told the House Financial Services Committee that stablecoins were “a form of money” that requires “robust” federal oversight.
Related: Stablecoins are the best way to ensure US dollar dominance — Web3 CEO
Support for stablecoin legislation is growing
The election of US President Donald Trump has ushered in a new era of pro-crypto appointments and policy shifts that could make America a digital asset superpower.
Washington’s formal embrace of cryptocurrency began earlier this year when Trump established the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, with Bo Hines as the executive director.
Hines told a digital asset summit in New York last month that a comprehensive stablecoin bill was a top priority for the current administration. After the Senate Banking Committee passed the GENIUS Act, a final stablecoin bill could arrive at the president’s desk “in the next two months,” said Hines.
Bo Hines (right) speaks of “imminent” stablecoin legislation at the Digital Asset Summit on March 18. Source: Cointelegraph
Stablecoins pegged to the US dollar are by far the most popular tokens used for remittances and cryptocurrency trading.
The combined value of all stablecoins is currently $227 billion, according to RWA.xyz. The dollar-pegged USDC (USDC) and USDt (USDT) account for more than 88% of the total market.
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