Stark choice under new immigration rules: exile or family breakup

Not sure if this has been posted as of yet but looks like the new rules will be announced next week!! :O

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/08/immigration-rules-couples-stark-choice

Well it's good to know that they'll finally announce something. Wish the Guardian had more to go on then Theresa May's speech and the JCWI dossier though, like some leaked information...

Thanks for the post.

It doesn't really say that the £25,700 for couples without children will definitely be the amount though......well as I understood it anyway.

I wonder how long between announcement and implementation there will be!

It doesn't really say that the £25,700 for couples without children will definitely be the amount though......well as I understood it anyway.

I wonder how long between announcement and implementation there will be!

That's what I was thinking too. All they are really confirming is that that an announcement is finally coming.

Oh well, I guess we'll all see soon.

My husband and I are 2 weeks away from filing. I'm just waiting for one document which should arrive in 6 days time (Fri) and then I have to send him my package of docs, then he will file. Sending it from the UK to the USA takes around 1 week so = 2 wks. I hope that's going to be enough time. I'm getting a little twitchy!

I am finding a little comfort in a couple of things in the linked article. First, that so far the only news source reporting on this is the Guardian-none of the other non-paywall msm outlets are reporting on it-yet.

Second, the way it's worded-in the lines about the proposed maintenance fees, for example, the wording is (my emphasis) '...up to £XXXXXXXXX...'. Does that mean there might be a bit of wiggle room, for say those with owned outright homes, or other considerations like work provided housing (vicars, property managers)? Gives me to think perhaps it does.

I think it means that the only new information the Guardian has it that there'll be an announcement next week. All the "proposals" they mention are just based on previous stories over recent months, including that the income threshold will be somewhere between 18k and 25k. The government do seem intent on it being 25k, but various organisations recently seem to have been putting the true nature of these proposals across to MPs. But there's really no news here, other than that there might be an announcement next week.

The other good news is, people in the Twittersphere etc. finally seem to be waking up to what's going on. Using the "exile" angle is very smart on the Guardian's part.

Also worth mentioning that we've so far heard nothing to contradict the government's statements that anyone already in the UK on the family path will probably be allowed to continue under the old rules.

I see there is an e-petition, but it only has 188 signatures so far, and no information as to who can sign it. I'm not a citizen of the UK-I can't vote. In the US signatures to petitions to the government only carry weight if signed by voters.

I wouldn't have thought of it myself, but a very smart plan by the home office lowering the number of immigrants by sending non EU women unaccompanied to Yemen.

And I guess forcing thousands of British citizens to move abroad every year will cut the net migration figure! Surprised they haven't gone down the "deporting prisoners" route, actually ...

How is the income threshold going to be enforcable for same-sex couples where one of the partners is from a country that doesn't recognise their marriage/CP (e.g. the US?)   They wouldn't be able to use the "you can just move to their country" argument.

How can they tell someone who is already living here that they don't earn enough, when they're clearly already demonstrating that they do?

Surely it's against all sorts of human rights.

I wouldn't have thought of it myself, but a very smart plan by the home office lowering the number of immigrants by sending non EU women unaccompanied to Yemen.

Where do you see that? There is nothing in either the UKBA consultation or the MAC about that, and nothing in the article on the Guardian this morning, either.

There is the recognition that a British woman may have to give up her British life to accompany her Yemeni husband to his homeland.

Did I miss something? Oh dear, perhaps I need another cuppa!

Where do you see that? There is nothing in either the UKBA consultation or the MAC about that, and nothing in the article on the Guardian this morning, either.

The point is that the government's immigration target is for NET migration, i.e. immigrants minus emigrants.   So if they can prevent a non-EEA spouse from moving to the UK, AND make their UK spouse move abroad, it's a double win for them as it reduces the net migration figure by 2.

So my wife earns about £12,000 a year.  She has never claimed any benefits in her life.  I am from the US living in UK now.  I haven't been able to work because I'm here on a fiance visa, I've applied for FLR(M) so that I can work.  I am a software programmer and make considerably more than £25,700 a year normally.

Are they saying that they could refuse my FLR(M) under these new rules?  I have moved here I have nowhere to go in the US.  And they would make my wife leave her job, family and flat?  That doesn't make any sense.  Maybe if she were claiming benefits it would, but she's not.