James Tapper
James Cleverly’s mother was a foreign-born NHS worker. Now he is making it harder for people in her situation to stay in Britain
Would James Cleverly’s parents have been forced to choose between separating or leaving the UK had they been subject to the new immigration rules the home secretary announced on Monday 4 December?
Many of the millions of people in the UK whose partners or parents were born overseas have been asking themselves a similar question over the past few days.
Cleverly’s decision means that a British citizen who wants their non-UK partner to live with them in Britain will need to earn a salary of at least £38,700 for six months before applying.
Only the Briton’s income counts for the first application and even under the old requirement of £18,600 a year thousands of families were exiled from the UK or had children separated from a parent for months or years.
The home secretary’s father, Philip, was training to become a surveyor when he met Evelyn, who was working as a nurse at Lewisham hospital in south London, some time in the 1960s.
She was born in Sierra Leone and became a teacher before moving to the UK in 1960.
She trained as a nurse, then qualified as a midwife in 1965. The home secretary was born in 1969 and his mother later went on to be a manager at Lewisham hospital’s maternity unit.
For a couple in similar circumstances when the rules come into force in April 2024, there are some potential problems.
A student from Sierra Leone can move to the UK on a student visa for the duration of their course, and then switch to a health and care worker visa or a skilled worker visa.
After five years, they could apply for indefinite leave to remain.
So the nurse would not need to rely on the income of the newly qualified surveyor – so long as she remained in a job.
But if this new couple had a baby and decided that a year of parental leave was not enough, then they may need to apply for a family visa.
Yet a newly qualified surveyor can expect to earn only £25,000 a year, according to the National Careers Service, well below the new threshold.
Someone who earns less than £38,700 may still be able to get a family visa.
They may have enough savings to top up the requirement – someone relying solely on savings used to be able to qualify if they had £62,500, and the new figure has not yet been announced.
Home Office officials may also be able to grant visas in “exceptional circumstances” – although there is no guarantee.
Source: The guardian