UK government has taken several measures to reduce legal migration into the country. Now, the income required to bring family to the UK has been increased as a final measure to reduce legal migration. The Home Secretary has delivered on his promise to transform the UK’s immigration system, cut unsustainable and unfair levels of migration, and ensure those arriving here do not burden the taxpayer.

The final measure in the Prime Minister and Home Secretary’s package to reduce legal migration will see the minimum income required to sponsor someone coming to the UK on a family visa increased from £18,600 to £29,000 from April 11 – an increase of more than 55%.

By early 2025, this will have increased 2 more times, rising to £38,700 – to meet the new salary threshold for a Skilled Worker visa.

Yash Dubal, Director, A Y & J Solicitors, London, UK says, “The minimum income required to sponsor someone coming to the UK on a family visa has been increased. This rise will have a significant impact on anyone who is now applying to bring a partner or spouse to the UK on a family visa. The sponsor must now earn at least £29,000 a year and this will rise to £34,00 later this year and to £38,700 early 2025. I expect many will be applying the soonest to get their visas approved while the lower rates are still in force, considering they rose this month already from £18,600.”

The UK government had already unveilied some measures to tighten the student visa route in May 2023. It means approximately 300,000 people arriving in the UK last year would no longer be able to.

The full set of measures, which have all been implemented, include:

  • Ending the ability of nearly all students to bring dependants to the UK
  • Restricting care workers from bringing family members
  • Requiring care providers to register with the Care Quality Commission if they are sponsoring migrant care workers
  • Commissioning the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to carry out a rapid review of the Graduate route for international students to prevent abuse, protect the integrity and quality of UK higher education and ensure it works in the best interests of the UK
  • Increasing the minimum salary required for those arriving on the Skilled Worker visa, from £26,200 to £38,700
  • Replacing the Shortage Occupation List with a new Immigration Salary List, with employers no longer able to pay migrants less than UK workers in shortage occupations

The staged approach to increasing the income requirement gives predictability to families, enabling them to plan accordingly, whilst ensuring that anyone coming to the UK to be with their family or loved ones is supported financially.

The government has been clear that family life cannot be established in the UK at the expense of taxpayers, and migrants joining their family must integrate into society and play a full part in British life.

The income requirement, which had remained unchanged for more than a decade, helps to ensure families are self-sufficient and not relying on public funds, whilst making a positive impact on the economy.

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 £29,000 earned in the UK. The requirement can be met in a number of ways, including through savings exclusively or in addition to a lower income.