Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the minimum earnings threshold needed for a spouse to apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK on (a) people on low incomes and (b) family life.

It is right that family migrants coming to settle in the UK and their sponsor should be able to support themselves and any dependants. The minimum income threshold under the family Immigration Rules for sponsoring a non-European
Economic Area national spouse or partner and any dependent children to come to or remain in the UK aims to prevent burdens on the taxpayer and promote integration. Its level reflects advice from the independent Migration Advisory
Committee on the income which means a family settled in the UK will generally cease to be able to access income-related benefits. Under the minimum probationary period of 5 years before a spouse or partner can apply for
settlement under the new family Rules implemented on 9 July 2012, applications for indefinite leave to remain in the UK which have to meet the minimum income threshold will not be made before 2017. In its 11 July 2014 judgment in MM and Others the Court of Appeal upheld the lawfulness of the minimum income threshold and found that it strikes a fair balance between the interests of those affected and the community in general.