“The government is prepared to sacrifice the rights of British citizens who fall in love across borders,” a rights campaigner told Euronews.
“This whole affair has made me very angry“, protests Katharine Ward, “because these are the most intimate things in people’s lives: who you love, where you live… And now a government announcement has deprived you of all control over these things.“.
“There is absolutely no justification for this“.
Like tens of thousands of Britons across the country, Katharine Ward reacted to new rules relating to family visas announced by the government last Monday.
From April 2024, British citizens or people already based in the UK will need to prove they earn £38,700 per year (€45,233) so that their foreign partner can live with them.
Only 27% of the population earns at least this amount, according to figures from theBritish tax administration (HM Revenue and Customs).
Katharine and her Jordanian partner live together in London. They came after the Covid pandemic to be closer to Katharine’s elderly parents, but she now fears that their joint income will not reach the threshold set. To further complicate the situation, Katharine’s job is under threat and the couple face the grim prospect of separating or returning to Jordan together.
She considers herself lucky that they do not have children.
“It’s a huge source of stress“, she told Euronews, explaining that since the announcement of this change she regularly burst into tears and could not concentrate, her mind thinking “desperately” to how she could fix the situation.
“I can’t imagine spending months in this uncertainty, waiting to find out if these huge changes in our lives are going to happen or not“.
For her partner, who she says made huge sacrifices to be with her in the UK, the announcement of the new rules was a blow.
“Politicians keep sending the message that if you are here as a migrant, you are not welcome, you are a burden on society. Even if it is not true, I think this message is well anchored in people’s minds“.
Britain’s Conservative government announced the controversial change as part of a wider package of measures to reduce net immigration, which has reached record levels in recent years. Ministers say this measure will allow families to better provide for their needs.
While the poorest families risk being forced into exile or separated from their children and loved ones, Katharine said the policy went against the right’s supposed support for traditional valuessuch as marriage and family.
Observers noted that these rules constituted a de facto ban on the majority of Britons marrying foreign nationalswith 73% of the population not being able to reach the set income threshold.
According to openDemocracythe government ignored the recommendations of its own Migration Advisory Committee, which called on it to lower the minimum income requirement, while neglecting the benefits that migrants bring to the UK.
Others point out that the new income threshold of £38,700 – up from £18,600 (€21,644) currently – means that marriage to a non-British citizen is now only possible for high earners.
“Why does the right to fall in love and build a life with the person of your choice depend on the amount of your income?” says Josephine Whitaker-Yilmaz, head of policy and public affairs at Praxis, a UK-based migrant rights group.
_”_This is a fundamental error“
According to the Office of National Statistics, the median gross annual salary for full-time employees in the UK was £34,963 (€40,867) in April 2023.
ADVERTISEMENTGovernment expects family visa change to reduce net migration by 10,000 people per year. Family visas represented a net migration of 39,000 during the 12 months preceding June 2023.
Affirming that this policy demonstrates a “callous contempt“for people’s lives, Josephine Whitaker-Yilmaz adds that it could have effects”extremely harmful” on the mental health of the people concerned, in particular children separated from their parents.
At the same time, it could push people to become undocumented immigrantsif they want to stay with their family while not being able to renew their visa.
Cal said, it would still be possible to legally challenge these changes, which may contravene the right to family under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Josephine Whitaker-Yilmaz adds that these changes would disproportionately affect women and young people who tend to earn lower wagesworrying about what would happen to those affected in the weeks and months to come.
ADVERTISEMENT“These government policy choices have fundamental consequences on people’s lives. What we hear is a real feeling of helplessness in the face of the government, but also real anger“.
