Rishi Sunak's Minimum Income Requirement Policy For Family Visa Confronts Court Challenge
The plan of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to increase the minimum income requirement (MIR), introduced last years has been facing criticism from the public. The policy wanted the visa applicants to earn a minimum of 29,000 euro annually to bring their family to the country. However, It is argued that the policy would separate family apart and discriminate against children, women and minorities.
The Prime Minister announced the decision to rise MIR in December last year due to pressure over the rising net migration to the country. As per the rule, a family visa is needed for a British as well as settled resident, who want to bring a foreign spouse, or children to live with them in the country.
Notably, the new policy has been challenged in the UK High Court, with a petition for a judicial review was filed by the pressure group Reunite Families UK (RFUK). The application challenged the policy claiming that the move is against the UN convention on the rights of the child.
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The Home Office had officially raised the MIR in April, stipulating that those who apply for visa to bring their family from other countries must have a minimum income of 29,000 euro a year, which will increase to £38,700 next year, according to a report by The Guardian. However, most of the couples are reportedly living earning too little in the UK with their spouses from overseas.
The Home Secretary James Cleverly said that the country has reached a tipping point with mass migration. “There is no simple solution or easy decision which cuts numbers to levels acceptable to the British people,” he said. In 2023 alone, the country welcomed a total of 685,000 legal migrants.
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Challenging the policy, the lawyers argue that it would separate children from parents living abroad, noting that the British sponsor is no longer able to submit the required amount of income or saving.
The new family visa policy was one of the Prime Minister Sunak’s measures to cut down migration in the country.
