Christmas is fast approaching, and yet multinational families living in the UK are still left in shambles. This depressing scenario was set off earlier this month when the home secretary, James Cleverly, announced that the government is planning to implement a new income threshold of £38,700 for Britons who plan to bring over their foreign partners or family members to live in the UK.
Naturally, the citizens didn’t take the news well, expressing their qualms that perhaps the government is taking it too far.
But it seems that the government has no plans to go back, even in the face of widespread criticism and online reports about the negative effects this would have on their society in the long run.
Keen on curbing the net migration figures, which shot up to as much as 745,000 last year, British PM Rishi Sunak has sought to bring this number down before the end of his term. No new word, however, has since surfaced. According to EIN, the home office confirmed that there has been no official decision yet on how the £38,700 minimum income requirement for a spouse or family visa will apply to renewals.
‘Reunite Families’ to take legal action
First reported by The Guardian, ‘Reunite families’, a campaigning and support group for those affected by immigration policy, has signaled its intention to fight the new policy.
According to the piece, the organization has gotten in touch with the Leigh Day law firm and asked them to provide them with advice on any legal options they may have for contesting the new law.
They further stated that, as a first step, they are requesting additional information on the policy from the home secretary.
Caroline Coombs, co-founder and CEO of Reunite Families, has also spoken out on the situation, detailing that she has never seen their community so ‘galvanized and upset’, that the threshold was a ‘horrendous shock’ for tens of thousands of British citizens and their loved ones, and that declaring it just before Christmas and leaving people in the dark is just ‘utterly cruel’.
Under the current threshold of £18,600, three-quarters of UK residents can afford to bring a family member from abroad, as per the Migration Observatory. However, the Guardian’s analysis shows that if the new threshold goes into effect, over 60% of UK residents will not be able to reach it.
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