UK family visa rules should be relaxed, government review suggests

British workers should be able to bring their family members to the UK more easily, a government review into family visas has suggested.

Under policies brought in by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, British citizens or settled residents who want to bring their partners to the UK are required to show they have a salary of at least £29,000 a year. The Conservatives had planned to further raise the threshold to £38,700, but Labour ordered a review of the requirements, which have been described as a “tax on love” by critics.

In a boost to separated families, the review has now said that an appropriate minimum income requirement (MIR) would be between £23,000 and £25,000 a year.

In a report published on Tuesday, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) said they consider a range of between £21,000 and £28,000 to be reasonable. They added that their modelling of different options “cluster around the region of £23,000 to £25,000”. This would allow most British workers in full-time minimum-wage jobs to qualify to bring their spouses to the UK.

This is however still higher than the previous £18,600 threshold that was in place before the 2024 changes.

The review authors estimated that if the salary threshold was dropped from £29,000 to £24,000 this would increase net migration by up to 8,000 people, roughly 1-3 per cent of projected future net migration.

Rachel Roberts Dos Santos and her two boys, Emanoel and Jaime, have been living apart from her Brazilian husband and stepdaughter because of the income rules. She said the report recommendations sounded promising, but added: “In an ideal world, there would be no price tag on love”.

Ms Roberts Dos Santos said goodbye to her husband Manoel in 2019 for what she thought was six months while she tried to earn enough to meet the salary threshold. When Covid hit she lost her job and was unable to meet the income requirements needed to reunite her family.

“My two boys are registered child models, and one of them earned some money in 2023 and we were able to buy three plane tickets to go and see daddy for the first time in four years. Then last year Manoel was able to come to the UK for six months on a tourist visa, but when he went back it left a massive hole again.”

She is now training to be a project manager with the aim of getting a job above the £29,000 threshold.

The MAC has also recommended that the Home Office consider ways to factor in any job offers that a partner wishing to come to the UK has.

Caroline Coombs, co-founder of Reunite Families UK, said: “We appreciate MAC’s reference to the fact that should the government decide to maintain an MIR, this should be lowered and reflect minimum wages however we firmly believe that there shouldn’t be an MIR given its impact. Any threshold even at minimum wage would still separate many groups of people who just want to be a family here in the UK.”

Chair of MAC, Professor Brian Bell, said the committee’s report outlines “several approaches the government could take, along with the strengths and weaknesses of each.”

Green MP Carla Denyer, who has met with separated families, said: “Minimum income requirements for family visas are a cruel tax on love that tears families apart and puts untold stress on those with the misfortune to simply fall in love with someone who is not from this country.

“The current system is cruel and impractical and should be scrapped.”

But the Conservatives called for Labour to urgently revive the party’s plan to hike the salary threshold to £38,000. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Migration figures remain far too high. It’s time to end ECHR obstruction, raise the salary thresholds, and take back control of who comes into this country. This includes a binding annual cap on immigration set by Parliament, but Labour recently voted against doing this. Only the Conservatives have a credible plan.”