UK visa rules have torn our family apart and will make things much worse for others like us | Megan Dobson Sippy

Six years ago, still holding back tears with my 15-month-old daughter strapped to my chest, I waved to my husband at the airport in Bengaluru, India, and boarded a plane back to the UK. I wasn't sure when I would see him again, or when I would see his child.

Despite being the foreign spouse of a British citizen (we had been married for over five years at the time) and the father of our British children, he had no right to accompany us when we moved to the UK. This was despite protests from friends and relatives who were convinced that we had not done our research properly.

The minimum income threshold to apply for a spouse visa was introduced by Theresa May in 2012, but public awareness of the policy was as low then as it is now, except among those directly affected. It was set at 18,600 per year, but the devil was in the details.

Upon further investigation, we realized that we would need to complete six months of consecutive pay stubs proving our income before submitting our visa application. I had a job offer in the UK paying above the threshold, and my husband was already earning above the threshold in India, but this meant a best-case scenario of a nine-month gap for relocating the family out of his home. to my country after considering the visa processing time.

In the end, our time apart approached a year. The husband missed her daughter's first sentence, her transition out of the cot, and her second birthday. In the process, she forgot the Hindi language he had lovingly sung and spoken since birth.

I wasn't sure when I would see him again, or when I would see his child. Maegan Dobson Sippy and her husband are getting married. Photo: Dushan Nadanasivam

Essentially commuting to a full-time job to meet the income requirements as a single parent meant I also got to see her a lot less and my mental health spiraled out of control. All that time was spent wondering if we had made the right choice.

In all of this, we were the lucky ones. Our support was cumbersome and expensive, but went smoothly. Then, the basic cost for a 2.5-year spouse visa was about 1,500. It is currently at 1,846.

After some lobbying, our local councilor wrote to the Home Office supporting our application despite voting in support of the policy. Crucially, my mother stepped in to care for her daughter and encourage me emotionally.

Eventually we were reunited. After six years and three visas, her husband obtained an indefinite stay permit and she finally found some stability. Tragically, there are couples who now find the prospect of living in the same country as their child, who has been separated from one of the parents for more than 10 years, just not realistically possible. Now there will be more.

On April 11, the new income threshold for spouse visas will be set at 29,000. The baseline will more than double the original rate, rising to about 34,500 by the end of this year and about 38,700 by early 2025. It is part of Home Secretary James Cleverly's plans to reduce immigration. The new standards mean around 50% of employed UK citizens will not be able to afford to have a foreign spouse, a figure that will rise to 70% by 2025, according to Migration Observatory research.

The Home Office will say this is to ensure integration and avoid burdens on taxpayers. This is not true. People on spouse visas already have access to public funds, pay an annual NHS surcharge and provide their spouses with the best possible support as they adapt to life in the UK. Meanwhile, separated families are struggling financially and emotionally, and are collateral damage from a policy that even the lawmakers who voted for it cannot understand.

I am writing this early in the morning, having just finished working my husband's night shift to care for our second child, who is suffering from an ear infection. Night wakings and poor children are still a feature of much of family life. But we are in it together, and we have never lost the sense of how precious and essential it is.

Family belongs together. A spousal income standard unmatched in any other country means our government is working against this basic and most sacred right.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/09/uk-visa-rules-families-income-threshold The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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