Why You Should Not Wait to Apply for Your UK Spouse Visa and Family Visa
Our Spouse Visa Solicitors have been reading about the planned legal challenges to the government's decision to increase the income requirement for the Spouse Visa and Family Visa from £18,600 to £29,000 per year.
Our Immigration Solicitors are already being asked if it is ‘safe to wait’ as Family Visa applicants hope that the legal challenges will be successful and open the door for them.
In our opinion, it is not safe to wait. In this blog, our Spouse Visa Solicitors explain why and detail your options. Nothing beats legal advice tailored to your circumstances so we are encouraging anyone who is contemplating making a Family Visa application to call us.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Lawyers and Spouse Visa Solicitors
For expert Family Visa immigration law advice call London-based OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Will the Family Visa financial requirement rule changes affect you?
The rule changes will affect you if your sponsoring partner earns between £18,600 to £29,000. You may also be affected if your sponsor earns just over £29,000 but you want to come to the UK accompanied by your dependant non-British children. That is because under the current immigration rules your sponsor needs to earn over £18,600 a year to sponsor dependent children. At present a sponsor needs to earn £18,600 to sponsor their partner and an additional £3,800 a year for the first child and a further £2,400 a year for each additional child.
If your sponsor receives an eligible state benefit you are unlikely to be affected by the immigration rules changes as the eligibility and receipt of the benefit ensures you meet the financial requirement for the Spouse Visa. That is unlikely to change though it is possible that at some point the UK government could tweak the list of eligible passporting benefits.
If your sponsor does not earn over £29,000 but has significant cash savings you may escape the impact of the immigration rule changes. At present, you or your sponsor (or a combination) need at least £65,000 in cash savings to be able to wholly rely on savings to meet the Family Visa financial requirement. The figure of £65,000 is likely to rise but Immigration Solicitors do not know by how much as the figure has not been announced.
Therefore, if your sponsor or you meet the income and financial requirements for a Spouse Visa or Family Visa now then we would encourage you to apply for your Family Visa now.
The impact of the Family Visa immigration rule changes
The newspapers contain stories of families who will be devastated by the changes to the Spouse Visa financial requirement. The Migration Observatory has provided stark statistics to highlight the impact of the Family Visa changes. 2 key statistics are:
- Just under 70% of British employees working in the UK earn less than the new Family Visa income threshold of £38,700
- Just over 75% of British women working in the UK earn less than the new Family Visa income threshold of £38,700
Accordingly, from these statistics, we can work out that those most affected by the immigration rule changes will be women who want to sponsor partners and those working part-time in the UK (perhaps because they have childcare or other caring responsibilities or their ill health means they can only work on a part-time basis).
Challenging the Family Visa immigration rule changes
Immigration Solicitors have previously tried to challenge the financial requirement for the Spouse Visa arguing that the current arbitrary financial requirement of £18,600 is unfair to families as it penalises those who are not high earners or whose earnings are limited through ill health or who are retired. Many argue that even though their sponsor does not earn £18,600 per year they could still maintain a spouse on a Spouse Visa without recourse to extra benefits because their financial needs are modest. For example, the sponsor is retired and lives mortgage-free or rent-free with family. Those arguments will increase in numbers and volume when the Family Visa income requirement rises from £18,600 to £29,000.
There has already been a court case to challenge the £18,600 financial requirement for Family Visa applicants. The 2017 Supreme Court case relating to an entry clearance refusal and judicial review appeals is referred to as R (on the application of MM (Lebanon) (AP) (Appellant) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) [2017] UKSC 10.
The affected visa applicants argued that the £18,600 financial requirement was contrary to common law and infringed human rights.
The Supreme Court was asked to rule on a general basis that the £18,600 Spouse Visa financial requirement was incompatible with Article 8 human rights and the right to family life. The Supreme Court said the fact that the financial requirement of £18,600 would create significant hardship to the reunification of some families did not mean it was unlawful under common law, or that it was discriminatory or incompatible with Convention rights.
These arguments and others can be used again in any general challenge to the Spouse Visa immigration rule changes as well as by individual appellants. The arguments may be more influential now that the UK government has doubled the Family Visa income threshold leaving more families ‘out in the cold’ and unable to reunite their family.
Whilst a general claim on behalf of all those who might be affected by the immigration rule changes might succeed, Spouse Visa Solicitors warn against waiting to see if you can apply for your Spouse Visa or your Family Visa before the rule changes are brought into force.
Therefore, if you are thinking that a Spouse Visa, Partner Visa, Dependant Visa or Family Visa may be your preferred route into the UK then take specialist Spouse Visa legal advice before the rule changes and get your Family Visa application submitted.
Exceptional situations and Family Visa applications
The current immigration rules allow for the Spouse Visa financial requirement to not be met in exceptional cases. Spouse Visa Solicitors anticipate many more of these arguments after Spring 2024 as so many more people will fall foul of the income threshold. That is why if you do not meet the financial requirements under the current rules, you should consider an application now rather than wait until after the rules change.
Next steps
Our specialist Immigration Solicitors are friendly and approachable. We are here to help you navigate the changing Spouse Visa rules and assist you in achieving your goal of reuniting your family.
Our individual immigration expertise is recognised in the 2024 Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Lawyers and Spouse Visa Solicitors
For expert Family Visa immigration law advice call London-based OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Related Posts
UK Net Immigration Figures for 2023
OTS Solicitors Celebrates its Inclusion in the 2024 Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession