Home Office appeals decision on family income threshold

The Home Office has announced that it is appealing against a recent High Court judgment on minimum income threshold for people sponsoring family members to live in the UK.

Changes to family migration rules, including the introduction of a minimum income threshold, were brought in last July. According to the Government, they were designed to ensure non-EEA spouses/partners and children of British citizens, or those settled here, coming to live in the UK, would not become reliant on the taxpayer for financial support as well as being able to integrate effectively.

The income threshold was set, following advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee, at £18,600 for sponsoring a spouse/partner rising to £22,400 for those also sponsoring a child and an additional £2,400 for each further child.

The High Court judgment supports the basis of the approach and agrees it is appropriate to set a clear, national income threshold to prevent burdens on the taxpayer and promote integration, says the Government.

However, the High Court concluded that some of the requirements of the income threshold rules may have a disproportionate impact on family life in some cases. The Home Office is appealing this decision.

Pending the outcome of the appeal, where an applicant does not meet the minimum income threshold and there is no other reason to refuse it, the application will be put on hold. The Home Office says it will continue to grant applications that meet the current immigration rules and refuse those that fail on other grounds.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0.

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