Immigrant relatives face five-year wait to claim benefitsFamily members from outside Europe who come to join close relatives settled in Britain are expected to be denied access to welfare benefits for up to five years under further plans to cut annual net migration to be detailed on Wednesday.
The immigration minister, Damian Green, is to announce new measures the government hopes will ensure that those who come to the UK through the family migration route integrate more fully into British society. They are expected to include a tougher English language test for those applying to come to Britain on a family visa.
Ministers also want to reform article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to family life and currently prevents deportation in some cases of close family members who have been living illegally in Britain.Home Office ministers regard the squeeze on family migration as a key part of their drive to bring annual net migration to the UK down to the "tens of thousands, instead of hundreds of thousands" by the time of the next election.
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In advance of consultation, the Migration Observatory said the changes were limited in their impact because international human rights legislation restricts the government's ability to prevent family unification.
"Family migration has been a target for successive UK governments, to the extent that it is now largely limited to the nuclear family. The majority of family migrants are spouses," says an Observatory briefing.
"The government could attempt to increase the level of financial support that needs to be proved for a family member to be brought to the UK or demand higher levels of proof that the family member will integrate, but these policies could run into legal challenges. Equally, the government could prevent fiancées from being included as family members, but even this would only deliver limited change."
