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MAC Review of Family Visa Financial Requirements – Fairer Alternatives Proposed
On 10 June, MAC released its review of the Family Visa financial requirements. This review comes not long after the release of the Government’s Immigration White Paper, which outlined many proposed changes to the immigration rules.
Currently, the financial requirements of a Family Visa require a couple to have a combined income of £29,000, unless the partner in Britain receives disability or carer benefits, or if you got your visa before 11 April 2024 and are extending it.
In the review, MAC rejected the idea of the previous Conservative Government to match the minimum income requirement of the visa to salary thresholds, and have provided some alternative solutions to update the financial requirements that we will cover below.
Read to the end to see the ways in which we can help you with your Family Visa application.
MAC’s findings
To be able to make their recommendations, MAC first carried out some research into how difficult people find it to reach the financial requirements. They did this through Call for Evidence, where people are invited to share their views and experiences.
Many of the people who responded did so because they were impacted by the 11 April 2024 increase to the income requirement, which was set to a minimum of £29,000.
Many respondents believed that the existing requirement was too high, stating that:
- Many people in the UK have full-time jobs that do not reach the requirement.
- Younger people find it harder to earn an income that high, so their partners will not be able to join them in the UK.
- Older people cannot meet the requirement if they rely on pension income.
- Women and primary carers are impacted because many cannot work full-time to be able to meet the threshold.
In a survey carried out by MAC, they found that before 11 April 2024, 73% of people reported that it was very or fairly easy for their partners to meet the financial requirements. In contrast, after that date, 60% of people reported the same, which is a drop of 13%.
Additionally, in the survey, 20% of people reported that their partners had difficulties applying before 11 April 2024. Meanwhile, after that date, the number of people reporting difficulties increased to 29%.
Finally, 2% of people reported that they could not meet the requirements at all before 11 April 2024, which increased to 4% after that date.
What are MAC’s recommendations?
Following the findings of its research, MAC has provided various options for the financial requirements of the Family Visas.
These include:
- Allow savings to be combined with income gained from self-employment.
- Create a simpler formula to calculate annual income.
- Introduce a flat minimum income requirement that applies to all families, regardless of how many children that they have.
- Make job offers in the UK, or income from remote work roles, count towards the minimum requirement for non-UK applicants.
Additionally, they recommended that the minimum income requirement for UK partners should be in the range of £23,000 to £25,000 a year, as these are common salaries in the UK that most people will be able to attain.
Finally, MAC recommended that the financial requirements are reviewed on an annual basis.
Future impact
Although MAC exists to advise the Government on what to do regarding immigration policy, it does not have the direct power to introduce new policies itself. It is simply an advisory, albeit influential body.
The Government could choose to ignore the recommendations of MAC, though they usually follow some of the guidance that MAC provides.
We will keep you updated on if these recommendations go into effect or not, and of any other updates that are made to the immigration rules.
How we can help
With the ever-changing immigration rules and suggestions to update them, it can be difficult to keep track of what is happening and what might impact your visa application.
Luckily, our team of immigration experts is here to help you with every step of your Family Visa application, or other immigration issues and applications.
If you would like our assistance, then you can book a free 10-minute assessment with a member of our team, which allows us to see if we can help you or not. After this, you can book a longer, paid consultation that lasts either 30 minutes, or an hour. This can be with one of our immigration specialists, or with our Principal Solicitor, Nathan Woodcock. Whoever is assigned to your case will be there to answer any of your questions and support you along the way.
Get in touch with us today for our immigration expertise.
Ready for assistance?
If you have any questions, or want to book an appointment with one of our legal experts, contact Woodcock Law today. Call us on +44 (0)20 7712 1705 or email info@woodcocklaw.co.uk.
