Rishi Sunak accused of 'putting a price on love' by hiking minimum income level for family visas in bid to cut migrant numbers - but No10 insists poorer Brits can still live together with their foreign spouses in the UK in 'exceptional circumstances'

Rishi Sunak is facing claims he is 'putting a price on love' by hiking the minimum income level for family visas as part of his bid to cut migrant numbers.

Under a new five-point plan to slash net migration, the Prime Minister is raising the minimum income for family visas to £38,700 from next Spring.

It has prompted claims that poorer Britons will no longer be able to live together with their foreign spouses in the UK.

Tory former minister Gavin Barwell joined a growing backlash against the move.

He branded it 'morally wrong and unConservative to say that only the wealthiest can fall in love, marry someone and then bring them to the UK'.

But No10 today defended the measure and insisted Britons earning less than £38,700 may still live with foreign spouses in the UK in 'exceptional circumstances'.

The PM's official spokesman stressed the £38,700 threshold is for a household as a whole, rather than just one family member's earnings.

'That is just one way that people can demonstrate their ability to support a dependant,' the spokesman said.

'They can also demonstrate this through their level of savings.

'If you don't meet the minimum income requirement, you may also be able to bring a dependant to the UK if you get certain benefits, for example disability living allowance.'

But the family would still need to demonstrate they could support themselves without relying on public funds, the spokesman added.

He continued: 'The family immigration rules contain a provision for exceptional circumstances where there would be unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant, their partner, a relevant child or another family member if their application were to be refused.

'Finally, there are other visas that foreign nationals are able to apply for in their own right, be it student or skilled worker for example.'

Mr Sunak's spokesman also said that while the minimum income rules for family visas will not apply retrospectively, they will apply when existing visas for foreign spouses come up for renewal.

'People always have a set length of time for their visa and will be aware that at the conclusion of that visa time, they don't have a guarantee that (they can) remain in the country,' he said.

'We think it is right, as a point of principle, that anyone bringing dependants to live in the UK are able to financially support them.'

It has been claimed that hiking the minimum income level for family visas to £38,700 would mean three-quarters of Britons are too poor to marry a foreigner, if they wished to live together in the UK.

Median gross annual earnings for full-time employees in the UK was £34,963 in April 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It was also pointed out how senior Government figures - including Mr Sunak himself, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick - all married foreign spouses. 

Mr Barwell, the former Tory MP who was ex-PM Theresa May's chief of staff in Downing Street, said: 'It is both morally wrong and unconservative to say that only the wealthiest can fall in love, marry someone and then bring them to the UK.'

Amid the backlash, SNP MP Stuart McDonald posted on Twitter: 'They should be revising the income threshold for family visas downwards (or abolishing) - not doubling it!

'Many thousands more couples, and parents/children will be split up by this horrendous anti-family Tory government. This is indeed absolutely appalling.'

The Best for Britain campaign said: 'Now only the rich can marry a foreigner. The Government is building walls so high, that they're locking us all in.'

Jonathan Beech, managing director of immigration law specialists Migrate UK, said: 'The most damaging change recommended by the Government from a personal level was the rise in the financial requirement for family visas (partners and children of settled persons).

'This has risen from £18,600 to £38,700 where it appears the onus has put the economy first and uniting families a distant second.'

But Tory former health minister Neil O'Brien defended the move, saying: 'We've had the principle that family migrants pay their own way for over a decade.

'Nearly half of working age people get more in benefits than taxes. I think the new threshold set near the average is reasonable. Other countries have stricter rules.'