Don’t increase the income requirement for family visas to £38,700
101,321 people signed this petition to the UK Parliament after it opened on 13 December 2023; it closed on 29 May 2024. The Government responded on 10 January 2024. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 20 January 2025.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Don’t increase the income requirement for family visas to £38,700
Currently the financial requirements to bring your spouse to the UK is £18,600 per year and now the Government wants to more than double it. Most people in the UK don’t make that per year. We believe this policy punishes those who fall in love with someone with a different nationality.
Most people in the UK don’t make £38,700 per year and now may face the choice of a lifetime without their partner or leaving their own country because they fell in love and can’t meet the financial requirement for the family visa.
We believe it's inhumane for the Government to do this to British citizens and others entitled to family visas, and that this policy is punishing people for failing in love with someone who has a different nationality.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 10 January 2024; the petitions site lists the Home Office as responsible. Its summary:
The Government intends to raise the MIR in line with the general salary threshold for skilled workers, but will do so in stages to provide predictability for families, starting in spring 2024.
The opening 360 words of the 483-word response:
The minimum income requirement (MIR) was introduced in July 2012 to ensure family migrants could be supported at a reasonable level, so they do not unreasonably become a burden on the British taxpayer, and to help ensure they can participate sufficiently in everyday life to facilitate their integration into British society. The MIR has not been increased in line with inflation or real wages since its introduction, or been adjusted in light of the rising numbers of migrants using the route.
The Home Secretary, in his announcement to Parliament on 4 December 2023, made clear that the intention is to bring the MIR in line with the new minimum general salary threshold for skilled workers, £38,700. This will ensure people only bring dependants to the UK they can support financially and will apply to all British and settled sponsors under the five-year partner route to settlement.
In spring 2024, we will raise the minimum income threshold for family visas to £29,000, that is the 25th percentile of earnings for jobs which are eligible for skilled worker visas. We will incrementally increase the threshold, moving to the 40th percentile (currently £34,500), and finally to the 50th percentile (currently £38,700, and the level at which the general skilled worker threshold is set) by early 2025.
There will no longer be a separate child element to the MIR, to ensure British nationals are not treated less favourably than migrants who are required to meet the general skilled worker threshold as a flat rate, regardless of any child being sponsored. Other aspects of the MIR will remain unchanged, such as the various ways in which it can be met and the consideration of exceptional circumstances where it may not be met.
This change will not be applied retrospectively to people already on the five-year partner route. Those who already have a family visa within the five-year partner route, or who apply before the minimum income threshold is raised, will continue to have their applications assessed against the current income requirement and will not be required to meet the increased threshold. This will also be the case for children seeking to join or accompany parents.
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 589, came from Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk.
97,638 of the signatures were from the UK and 3,683 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures |
|---|---|
| Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk | 589 |
| Edinburgh North and Leith | 540 |
| Cambridge | 496 |
| Sheffield Central | 461 |
| Bristol West | 453 |
| Hornsey and Wood Green | 408 |
| Manchester, Gorton | 405 |
| Birmingham, Ladywood | 402 |
| Manchester Central | 384 |
| Hackney North and Stoke Newington | 374 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| London | 15,612 |
| South East | 13,260 |
| North West | 10,684 |
| Scotland | 10,260 |
| South West | 8,595 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 8,245 |
| East of England | 8,015 |
| West Midlands | 7,553 |
| East Midlands | 5,819 |
| Wales | 4,342 |
| North East | 3,478 |
| Northern Ireland | 1,134 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 20 January 2025. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/652602.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
5095eb8fe2b0757a… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.