You have to earn £38,700 before your overseas partner/spouse can live in the UK

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

It's all just about performative cruelty at this stage isn't it. TBH I think they've hit the limit of how useful it is to them quite a while ago, the problem is that dickhead Starmer will try and prove he can be even worse.

 

[belboid]

My bet is this actually never comes in…

How much?

It will come in on April 8th 2024.

 

[cupid_stunt]

It's going to cause utter fucking chaos in that regard, the new minimum salary for overseas work visas is above the salary of a Band 5 nurse. My daughter and daughter-in-law both tell me that about half of their fellow nurses are non-UK nationals so unless there is an exception for nurses then there are going to be tumbleweeds rolling down the wards.

Both health and care sectors are exempt.

 

[belboid]

Both health and care sectors are exempt.

exempt from the salary level, not from not being able to bring a partner though.

 

[A380]

Can’t see it actually being implemented. It’s just the latest shopping trolly wobble of this scrag end government trying to get a favourable DailybNail headline. The Home Office is currently moribund so trying to get this through and implemented may be beyond them, to say nothing of the civil war the Department of Health and Social Care will start …

But yes mwgdrwg it’s shit for you and your partner. This is partly why I’m a wanky reformist because this kind of shit hurts real people right now. As above, I’d get the admin of getting married done ASAP and have the celebration in your own good time later.

 

[Plumdaff]

Both health and care sectors are exempt.

Good luck recruiting people who can't bring family with them.

 

[The39thStep]

Has there been a response from Labour to this proposal?

 

[StoneRoad]

mwgdrwg
Yes, get the marriage done asap, have the celebrations later.

I'm disgusted with this policy anyway, and doubling the salary requirement is, frankly, obscene.

 

[belboid]

You are allowed to have a wedding planned within the next six months, so not everything would need to be done immediately. But, yeah, get it all applied for and in the system asap.

 

[belboid]

Has there been a response from Labour to this proposal?

Bless.

Something along the lines of - it's a farce that this needs to be done, showing lack of tory investment, they support the scrapping of the 20% 'discount' and ..... uhhh, yeah, they fall very silent after that.

 

[mwgdrwg]

According to actual Government statistics, the average wage where I live is £28,574. So a mere £10,126 below the threshold. I should be fine with a second and third job.

 

[kalidarkone]

Can’t see it actually being implemented. It’s just the latest shopping trolly wobble of this scrag end government trying to get a favourable DailybNail headline. The Home Office is currently moribund so trying to get this through and implemented may be beyond them, to say nothing of the civil war the Department of Health and Social Care will start …

But yes mwgdrwg it’s shot for you and your partner. This is partly why I’m a wanky reformist because this kind of shit hurts real people right now. As above, I’d get the admin of getting married done ASAP and have the celebration in your own good time later.

To an extent this has already been happening, with many overseas nursing staff unable to get visas for their kids, losing their house deposits, having to leave the UK and begin applications for visas again.

This is anecdotal according to a friend who is an estate agent and deals with lots of overseas healthcare staff.

 

[MickiQ]

Both health and care sectors are exempt.

Could have been a bit of a silver lining there since it might have resulted in Middle and Pollyanna getting large and well deserved payrises (thus saving me money as well).
Middle (though currently now on maternity leave) is very chummy with many of the Filipina nurses at the hospital where she worked, Half of them think she's one of them.
She tells us that only a few of them come here with the expectation they will be here for a few years and then go home. Many of them fall into 2 categories a) single, planning to stay here long term and find themselves a husband whilst they're at it or b) already married, keep their heads down and then when settled bring their spouses and children thus also ensuring a steady supply of short order cooks and Amazon delivery drivers as well. Mrs Q has a number of Filipino (they often think she's one of them as well) and Indian children in her classes who are here because one parent came here, did a few years and imported the rest of the family.
I would imagine assuming Plumdaff is correct (and I'm sure he is) it s going to cause those hoping to follow the b route thinking "No fuck it I won't bother" thus greatly reducing the number of candidates.

 

[moomoo]

It doesn't personally affect me but are they mad, I've literally never earned over £20k in my life.

Likewise. It’s madness.

 

[DownwardDog]

You're probably right it is a bit of an oddly specific number to pick as opposed to say £35,000 or £40,000

Obviously just based on the UK median wage.

Having tried and failed to get my Syrian wife UK residency when I was earning shitloads I didn't think they could make it any harder.

 

[likesfish]

This is classic Tory hate immigrants and tough on immigration.
No thought that immigrants might be actual people doing actual jobs and have lives.

Ok the Tory’s won’t give a fuck if the NHS collapses
But the private care homes are still going to need staff etc.

Now personally if your going to import staff it should be above minimum wage so they don’t qualify for help with housing costs because they are paid enough or the employer subsidies accommodation.

If your business can only survive by offering minimum wage and shoving immigrants into portocabins it’s not of value to the uk.

 

[lazythursday]

Could there not be a case that this breaks human rights law under both articles 8 and 12 (right to respect for private and family life and right to marry)?

 

[MickiQ]

Could there not be a case that this breaks human rights law under both articles 8 and 12 (right to respect for private and family life and right to marry)?

There is currently an £18,600 limit as been for years, I can't imagine that argument hasn't already been tried.

 

[ska invita]

My bet is this actually never comes in…

i remember thinking that when they brought it in...it already exists! changing a threshold number in a computer is easy by comparison .

Could there not be a case that this breaks human rights law under both articles 8 and 12 (right to respect for private and family life and right to marry)?

i doubt it as it already exists just with a different financial threshold.

 

[likesfish]

Could there not be a case that this breaks human rights law under both articles 8 and 12 (right to respect for private and family life and right to marry)?

I think you could argue that you need to support your own family not rely on the state to support you.
But if your working full time arguing your too poor to be allowed a foreign partner is a cunts argument.
No you could make an argument that a mimimum wage job only entitles you to say a two year unaccompanied work visa but a qualified nurse etc should be entitled to being their family.

 

[Gromit]

This policy will ever so very slightly reduce inward migration whilst increasing a brain drain of outward migration.

I despair of short sighted xenophobic Britain.

I swear we are just short step from becoming nazi Germany and starting deathcamps.

 

[nogojones]

Has there been a response from Labour to this proposal?

Yeah. They're floating the idea of the threshold being set to £39,950 instead

 

[ska invita]

its the same with moving out of Britain to the EU post-Brexit - only for those with the money ... different thresholds depending on the country. Free movement had some downsides (which could be negated by the right policies IMO), but freedom to move in/out of the UK is now a matter of wealth.

 

[steeplejack]

They won't be able to introduce this overnight. The port-addled hypertensive nonentities currently in Westminster are about to have their usual six weeks Christmas holiday.

I suspect this is 'red meat' for the right wing press to get them to stop frothing at the mouth over immigration for a bit. Something Is Being Done, even if nothing much is.

But good advice on the thread to get your marriage sorted out as soon as possible- once she is in the country she can't easily be kicked out again if you have followed all the rules and meet the current income threshold.

I say this as someone who has a non-EU spouse whom we spent 7.5 years and north of ten grand to get to UK citizenship status from an initial fiancé visa. I'd like to say it's unbelievable they're doing this, but it really isn't. It's also really, really stupid of them.

I absolutely hate these shits with every fibre of my being, and the amoral civil service catchfarts at the Home Office who implement their every whim without question.

 

[lazythursday]

There is currently an £18,600 limit as been for years, I can't imagine that argument hasn't already been tried.

Yeah I guessed that - but a salary that is out of reach for most people must change the balance of legal arguments. I wouldn't be surprised if someone like the Good Law Project attempts to make that case.

 

[MickiQ]

Yeah. They're floating the idea of the threshold being set to £39,950 instead

I think a Labour Govt might not have introduced the policy in the first place or put the threshold up but now it has been introduced I don't think the chances of them repealing it or even lowering the threshold are all that great tbh.

 

[MickiQ]

Yeah I guessed that - but a salary that is out of reach for most people must change the balance of legal arguments. I wouldn't be surprised if someone like the Good Law Project attempts to make that case.

Then I wish them the very best of luck as I am sure do you
however this :-
Human rights: family and private life
does say that Article 8 isn't absolute and immigration control is a valid reason for rejecting it. I suspect what will happen is that individuals will win their cases based on Article 8 because the rules have been applied too rigorously (let's face it whilst we have come to expect petty minded meanness as standard from our rulers, they're not even effective at being bastards) but there won't be any kind of ruling that will overturn the general principle.

 

[danny la rouge]

Has there been a response from Labour to this proposal?

“We’ll do this too, but it’s not our fault”.

 

[The39thStep]

its the same with moving out of Britain to the EU post-Brexit - only for those with the money ... different thresholds depending on the country. Free movement had some downsides (which could be negated by the right policies IMO), but freedom to move in/out of the UK is now a matter of wealth.

To retire or working?

 

[danny la rouge]

Couples 'devastated' by migration visa rule changes

New rules will make it harder for British citizens to live in the UK with a foreign partner.

www.bbc.co.uk

Well, I am getting married in the spring. Now my soon to be wife can't live here. Hardly anyone earns £39K in North West Wales. Well, fuck.

Really sorry to hear this is directly affecting you. I hope you manage to circumvent it somehow.

The current threshold is already an insult to people on low incomes.

The increasing nastiness is depressing.