Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on implementing the proposed increase in minimum income requirements for spouse and partner visa applications.

From 11 April 2024, we will raise the minimum income threshold for Family visas to £29,000, that is the 25^th percentile of earnings for jobs which are eligible for Skilled Worker visas. We will incrementally increase the threshold, moving to the 40^th percentile (currently £34,500), and finally to the 50^th percentile (currently £38,700, and the level at which the General Skilled Worker threshold is set) by early 2025.

The Government will publish an Equality Impact Assessment on this change in due course.

A fact sheet and an impact assessment can be found on GOV.UK at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fact-sheet-on-net-migration-measures-further-detail

and

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts-accessible.

The Government engages regularly with business sectors, including through a number of its advisory groups, when developing its policies and which will continue to strike the balance between reducing overall net migration and ensuring that businesses have the skills they need to support economic growth.