The Reunite Families group plans to take legal action against the new minimum income requirement of £38,700 for spouse and family visas (Report, 17 December), which the government has now said it will phase in, with the threshold first rising to £29,000 (Report, 21 December). Most of the reporting on this has rightly focused on families being separated. But two aspects that have been largely ignored – the situation of pensioners and Ireland.
First, pensioners: my wife (an EU citizen) and I gave up any thought of returning to live in the UK after Brexit because the income threshold is far above my small occupational pension, and even when I get the state pension, my income will be nowhere near the new requirement.
The government’s own statistics show that the proposed income threshold is more than twice the median single pensioner income of £349 a week (only the UK partner’s income is considered for new applications). The great majority of pensioners would thus be unable to move with their non-UK/non-Irish spouse to the UK.
Second, as the same rules apply to Irish citizens, someone with a non-UK/non-Irish spouse cannot move with them within Ireland from south to north unless they meet the new threshold. Although strictly speaking not a breach of the Good Friday agreement, it contravenes its spirit.
The logic of the income rule is in any case questionable. We are told that it is to ensure we do not become a drain on public funds, but this is already prevented as spouse and family visas exclude entitlement to state benefits.
Gordon Reid
Boardee, County Cork, Ireland
• Apart from the sheer nastiness of the minimum-salary rule, it highlights the growing north-south divide. In Cumbria, where I live, the median salary in 2022 was below £28,000. I know of cases in Cumbria were hospitality staff are separated from spouses under the old rules. The opportunities for most people in Cumbria reaching the new salary are virtually nil. Apart from the inhumanity of separating spouses and leaving children without a mum or dad, it will be another nail in the coffin for the struggling hospitality industry.
Patricia Gibson
Kendal, Cumbria
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