Immigration and Asylum
The Department unexpectedly announces an interim increase to just £29,000, with no timetable given for the planned full increase to £38,700
The Home Office has made a U-turn on its much-criticised plan to soon raise the minimum wage for British nationals bringing foreign family members into the UK, saying the threshold will initially be raised to £29,000 instead of £38,700.
The revised proposal, announced unexpectedly and without fanfare in a parliamentary response, said the threshold would be raised “gradually”, still eventually reaching £38,700, but gave no timetable for when this would happen.
The lack of detail and suddenness of the policy change led opposition parties to condemn a lack of consultation, with Labor saying the policy was in “chaos”.
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While £29,000 remains above the average UK working salary and is still well above the previous minimum wage of £18,600, ministers appeared to have at least partially given in to anger over the £38,700 threshold, which was announced as part of a wider crackdown Legal migration issue earlier this month.
Below the £18,600 threshold, 75% of people could afford to have family members join them; If it were set at £38,700 only 40% could afford it, in the North East of England only 25% would be able to afford it.
Because such visas represent a small proportion of total legal migration, the original change was expected to add only about 10,000 to an overall planned 300,000 reduction in annual migration numbers, while taking what many said would be a heavy toll on families that they would be forced to live separately.
Reunite Families, a campaign group for people affected by immigration rules, had instructed lawyers to find ways to challenge the changes, which some have described as “punishment for falling in love”.
The revised policy, announced in a written parliamentary response from Conservative peer and deputy home secretary Andrew Sharpe, says the minimum income requirement will be increased “in gradual steps to ensure predictability”.
This would start next spring with the increase to £29,000, which is considered the 25th percentile of earnings for jobs eligible for a skilled worker visa. This would subsequently rise to the 40th percentile, currently £34,500, and then to the 50th percentile, now £38,700 – the new minimum threshold also for a skilled worker visa.
However, the response did not provide any details as to when the £29,000 switch would take place. When asked when this would happen, Interior Ministry officials referred to a statement and information sheet that also did not specify this.
James Cleverly insisted the revised program would still meet the government's target of reducing net migration by 300,000. Photo: Jordan Pettitt/PA
The ambiguity appears to be an attempt by James Cleverly to assuage some of the anger without angering MPs on the right of the Conservative Party by abandoning the new threshold entirely. In a statement, the home secretary said he had “provided further details on how these measures will be applied and when they will be introduced,” without acknowledging the partial U-turn.
He insisted the revised plan would still reduce annual net migration by 300,000, adding: “I have made it clear that the current level of migration to the UK is far too high.” The British people are rightly frustrated and wants to see action.”
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: “This is further evidence of the Tory government’s chaos on immigration and the economy.”
“Under their watch, net immigration has tripled as skills shortages have gotten worse, and they still have no real plan to link the immigration system to training or workforce planning. They have not consulted anyone about their new proposals and have not taken into account the impact of the drastic spousal visa changes on families next year, so it is no surprise that they are now backpedaling in a hurry.”
Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman, said: “You have to ask yourself who is in charge at the Home Office or whether someone is in charge.” It was clear to everyone else that raising the earnings limit was unworkable.
“This was another half-thought-out idea to appease the hardliners on their own backbenches. James Cleverly needs to put down the spade and stop digging. Decisions like this should be made jointly by experts and politicians.”
The earlier shift straight to £38,700 came as part of a wider crackdown after Conservative MPs were angered when data published in November showed net immigration was 745,000 in the year to December 2022, partly due to a surge in foreign skilled workers , who came to work in the NHS and care homes.
The plan put forward by Cleverly increased the minimum salary for a skilled worker visa to £38,700, while the rule allowing the most in-demand professions to be hired at 20% below the usual rate would be scrapped.
Although it was praised by many Tory MPs, some experts warned it risked causing further chaos in the already strained health sector and damaging the UK's long-term growth prospects.