The UK government’s plan to increase the family visa threshold from £29,000 to £38,700 [approximately N80 million] has been shelved, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced.
Home Secretary affirmed that no further adjustments to the policy will emerge until the independent review is completed.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak initiated the policy which was to take effect in 2025 to address unprecedented surge in immigration figures.
However, the new administration has decided to delay the implementation of the proposed increase until Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) completes a thorough review of the family visa policy, ensuring a more informed decision.
Until the review is completed, the current threshold of £29,000 will remain in place.
The government has tasked MAC with evaluating the impact of restricting migrant workers from bringing family members to the UK and the implications of increasing wage thresholds.
The new government, under Cooper’s direction, plans to reassess its approach to legal migration. The objective is to enhance the skills of the local workforce before turning to foreign recruitment. Cooper criticized the recent rise in legal migration levels, citing it as indicative of failures in addressing labor market shortages. Non-EU long-term migration surged from 277,000 in the year to December 2022 to 423,000 in the year to December 2023.
“This is why we are setting out a different approach – one that links migration policy and visa controls to skills and labor market policies – so immigration is not used as an alternative to training or tackling workforce problems here at home,” Cooper stated.
