New immigration rules would have taken everything away overnight

I am also one of what I suspect are thousands of people who will be impacted and devastated by the UK Government’s new visa rules this week.

On Monday, the UK Government announced plans to crack down on immigration in an effort to reduce the record numbers of migrants who entered the country in 2022. Aside from tightening rules for Health and Social Care visas, the government also increased the price of loving someone from a different country.

The financial requirement for a spouse visa - the amount of money that a couple must earn - will go from £18,600 to £38,700 per year starting in Spring 2024.

The cruel truth is that if the new rules were in effect two years ago, my entire life would be different. I would not have been able to move to the UK, and I probably would have lost the love of my life due to a government rule that will practically be changed overnight with little warning.

I am lucky, but those who are following in my footsteps are facing a long and difficult road. To go back to the beginning, I was born and raised in the United States; and I had every intention of going home at the end of my one year masters programme. My heart had other plans. I fell in love with my British partner and ever since we have continuously jumped through hoops to stay together.

It’s hard to explain the rules of the UK immigration system in simple terms, and they change depending on individual circumstances.

However, I was required to apply for my UK family visa from outside the country. Any money I was making in America did not count towards the UK financial requirement so the responsibility to meet it fell solely on my British partner’s shoulders. At the time, we were 25 years old in the middle of a global pandemic and struggled to make the £18,600 per year requirement.

Now, that figure is increasing to £38,700 per year - more than double the national minimum wage and more than the median salary for full-time workers in the UK. It makes me feel sick to imagine what we would have done if that was the case two years ago. We would have had very few options for remaining together unless one of us won the lottery or fell into an absurd amount of money.

Minimum wage in the UK is estimated to be around £18,964 per year. If my partner and I were both working minimum wage jobs - a real possibility in today’s job market - we would just miss the new financial requirement by about £1,000. Would I be forced to divorce my partner and return to the USA over such a small difference?

I already pay more for NHS care as part of my visa than most native born Brits - and the government has already decided to increase those fees. I pay my taxes like everyone else, I contribute to the economy and in many ways I’m proud of where I live and the life I’ve built for myself in my chosen home.

It just feels unfair that the Home Secretary can take all that away from people practically overnight.

Danyel VanReenen is the Local Democracy Reporter with the Fife Free Press