Team Blitz India
In keeping with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plans to reduce immigration, the United Kingdom has announced that the minimum income threshold to sponsor visa for a family member has been increased by more than 55 per cent.
“The final measure in the Prime Minister and Home Secretary’s package to reduce legal migration will see the minimum income required to sponsor someone coming to the UK on a family visa increased from £18,600 to £29,000 from Thursday, April 11,” said the Home Office in a statement.
This will have increased two more times, rising to £38,700 – to meet the new salary threshold for a Skilled Worker visa, it added.
Reforms package
The change is among Home Secretary James Cleverly’s major package of reforms to the immigration system. It came within weeks of announcing them following the unveiling of measures to tighten the student visa route in May 2023.
It means approximately 300,000 people arriving in the UK last year would no longer be able to. The full set of measures which have all been implemented, include ending the ability of nearly all students to bring dependents to the UK and restricting care workers from bringing family members.
Also, care providers are now required to register with the Care Quality Commission if they are sponsoring migrant care workers.
Among the other steps initiated are increasing the minimum salary required for those arriving on the Skilled Worker visa, from £26,200 to £38,700, and replacing the Shortage Occupation List with a new Immigration Salary List, with employers no longer able to pay migrants less than UK workers in shortage occupations.
Graduate Route review
Meanwhile, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has been commissioned to carry out a rapid review of the Graduate route for international students to prevent abuse, protect the integrity and quality of UK higher education and ensure it works “in the best interests of the UK”.
The Home Secretary last month commissioned a review of the Graduate route for international students for any “evidence of abuse” and to ensure it works in the best interests of the UK. According to April 11 statement, the income requirement, which had remained unchanged for more than a decade, helps to ensure families are self-sufficient and not relying on public funds, whilst making a positive impact on the economy.
The sponsoring family member, or in combination with the applicant if they are in the UK with permission to work, must now have an income of at least £29,000 earned in the UK. The requirement can be met in a number of ways, including through savings exclusively or in addition to a lower income, it stated.
