MAC calls for urgent reform as Family Visa Rules are harming British Children

Introduction & Historical Context of Income Requirements

On 10 June the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) published a 96-page report following its review of the family visa rules, and specifically the minimum income required for partners of British citizens and settled persons to come to the UK on a long-term basis.

This threshold was set at an annual income of at least £18,600 (or a specific level of cash savings, calculated by reference to a complex formula) in 2012. In 2024, the previous government increased the level drastically to £29,000, with the intention of increasing it further.

Impact on Families & Children

Worryingly, the report notes the “significant negative impact” of the minimum income requirement on families, highlighting that “the impacts on British children separated from one of their parents are particularly concerning.” In its investigations, the MAC found evidence of children experiencing mental health issues, poor parental/child bonding and feelings of rejection. 

This poses a huge problem for the Home Office. On the one hand, it is under intense political pressure to reduce net migration, and relaxing the family visa rules could leave it open to criticism. As the MAC report notes, anyone living in the UK will necessarily have a fiscal impact on the country, both in terms of the taxes they may contribute and the public services and/or state benefits they may need.  On the other hand, it is clear that any immigration policy which fails to minimise the risk of harm to children is morally reprehensible and, it would be hoped, politically insupportable. In many ways, finding a balance between the economic wellbeing of the country and the individual wellbeing of the families affected is an impossible trade-off between the practical and the ideological. Unless there is no minimum income requirement at all, there will always be those who fall on the wrong side of the line. 

Proposed solutions and a call for simplification

The report suggests various measures which could sensibly be used to set a new minimum income requirement, with a range between £21,000 - £28,000 considered justifiable. Several of these measures produce a potential minimum income threshold of £23,000 - £25,000; a level most British workers in full-time minimum-wage jobs would be able to meet. 

The measures are split based on two categories: (i) Economic wellbeing of the Family and (ii) Economic wellbeing of the rest of the UK. When considering the family wellbeing, measures such as Living standards and Benefits threshold are considered, making it more focused on household income. Whereas the latter considers the fiscal impact and average income or earning, focusing less on the private family life and more on public finances. The figure that the Home Office eventually decides on will be indicative of the relative importance it places on economic wellbeing versus family reunion, a difficult balance to strike. However, we will likely have to wait until the autumn for the details of the government’s comprehensive new family visa policy, which it promised in its recent White Paper would be published by the end of the year.

The MAC also recommends introducing greater simplicity in the rules around how income is evidenced, and greater flexibility for families with children to ensure that families are not separated simply in order to tick an administrative box (for example, while one parent works in the UK to build up the required number of payslips).  This would all be extremely welcome, and would hopefully mean the process is less stressful for applicants, their sponsors and families.

The MAC report recommends: “The Home Office should review all the arrangements as a whole to ensure that separation of children from parents is minimised where possible.”  We couldn’t agree more.