New Delhi: The United Kingdom has hiked the minimum income requirement for sponsoring a member on a family visa thus further tightening the criteria for immigration. As per the salary thresholds announced by the government, the applicants must have a minimum annual salary of GBP 29,000 (British Pounds) to qualify. This marks a significant 55 per cent increase from the previous threshold of GBP 18,600.
The Rishi Sunak government announced the hike last year as part of its staged plan to align the family visa salary threshold with that of the Skilled Worker visa, and it came into force on April 11. “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 GBP 29,000 earned in the UK. The requirement can be met in several ways, including through savings exclusively or in addition to a lower income,” the UK Home Office stated.
The move, according to the Home Office, marks the final measure in Prime Minister Sunak’s package to reduce legal migration and “ensure those arriving here do not burden the taxpayer”.
“We have reached a tipping point with mass migration. There is no simple solution or easy decision which cuts numbers to levels acceptable to the British people,” Home Secretary James Cleverly said.
“I promised action and we have delivered at remarkable speed. We’ve acted to cut unsustainable numbers, to protect British workers and their wages, to ensure those bringing family to the UK do not burden taxpayers, and to build an immigration system fit for the future – and one the public can rightly have confidence in,” the Home Secretary was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The government announced its tightened immigration policy after official data showed that legal net migration to Britain reached a record high of 745,000 in 2022.
