United Kingdom: MAC Publishes Family Visa Financial Requirements Review

• Recommendations. The MAC instead presented a range of options for the minimum income requirement and suggested reforms to the current financial requirement rules. Key suggestions (among others) included:
  • Allowing combining savings with self-employment income, removing the current restriction on combining savings with self-employment;
  • Allowing UK job offers or remote work roles to count toward the minimum income requirement for non-UK entry clearance applicants;
  • Using a simplified formula to calculate annual income; and
  • Maintaining a flat minimum income requirement for all families, regardless of the number of children.
• It rejected as ‘incoherent’ thresholds under the Skilled Worker route as the appropriate minimum income requirement (the government previously proposed this approach).
• It suggested that the focus be on the GBP 23,000–GBP 25,000 range, which it considered achievable for most full-time UK workers.
• It also recommended annual reviews of minimum income requirements.

The MAC’s recommendations are only effective if the government formally accepts them. Until then, employers are bound by current immigration rules. However, the MAC’s recommendations are highly influential and most of its recommendations are typically accepted by the government shortly after they are made.

If the government accepts the MAC’s proposals for the minimum income requirement, this could potentially result in reduced thresholds for family visas; and its related reforms to the system could make it easier to meet the minimum income requirement.

It is now up to the UK government to decide which of the minimum income requirement ranges it will choose. It is likely that the minimum income requirement will not be as high as was expected under the last government. We will report on related developments.