In 2012, the government introduced some new measures with regards to
the immigration rules. One of which is the Minimum Income Requirement
(MIR), which specifies the minimum amount of yearly income a person
should earn to qualify as a sponsor for their non-European UK spouse
visa application.
The MIR is £18,600.00 for the spouse only, and goes up to £22,400.00 for the spouse and one child. Then £2,400.00 for the second child and each one after that. Since then, the government has been challenged about this new requirement, but unsuccessfully.
Of course the money can be raised not just from the salaried income, but from a number of other options like savings and so on. I am having trouble deciding if this is fair or not. As a sponsor, you have to make sure you take care of your spouse for 5 years without any access to the public purse. Can that be done on a salary less than £18,600.00?
Well lets see... £18,600.00 / 12 months = £1,550.00 - £143.33 tax = £1,300.23
Rent for a studio flat in my part of the UK is lets say £450 plus utility bills of about £150 leaves us with about £700. Lets say we want a few commodities like a mobile phone, internet, etc, which leaves us with £600. Food wise me and Natasha spend about £200 - £250 a month (we have no takeaways at all) which leaves us about £350.
£350 for day to day eventualities is just about enough but not enough to save much. So is £18,600.00 enough?
Well, lets look at another statistic. According to the Mirror http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk-average-salary-26500-figures-3002995 the current average UK salary is £26,500.00. In the same article though, the Mirrior states that "...Four in five new jobs are in sectors averaging under £16,640 for a 40-hour week..." which means that on average, four in five britons fall below the government requirement. So should the government lower the bar? Would that be responsible of them?
What do you think? Leave your comments below.
If you find these articles useful, please like them on Facebook, Google+ or you can even tweet about them. Buttons are provided at the top of the page or below the comments. Thanks.
The MIR is £18,600.00 for the spouse only, and goes up to £22,400.00 for the spouse and one child. Then £2,400.00 for the second child and each one after that. Since then, the government has been challenged about this new requirement, but unsuccessfully.
Of course the money can be raised not just from the salaried income, but from a number of other options like savings and so on. I am having trouble deciding if this is fair or not. As a sponsor, you have to make sure you take care of your spouse for 5 years without any access to the public purse. Can that be done on a salary less than £18,600.00?
Well lets see... £18,600.00 / 12 months = £1,550.00 - £143.33 tax = £1,300.23
Rent for a studio flat in my part of the UK is lets say £450 plus utility bills of about £150 leaves us with about £700. Lets say we want a few commodities like a mobile phone, internet, etc, which leaves us with £600. Food wise me and Natasha spend about £200 - £250 a month (we have no takeaways at all) which leaves us about £350.
£350 for day to day eventualities is just about enough but not enough to save much. So is £18,600.00 enough?
Well, lets look at another statistic. According to the Mirror http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk-average-salary-26500-figures-3002995 the current average UK salary is £26,500.00. In the same article though, the Mirrior states that "...Four in five new jobs are in sectors averaging under £16,640 for a 40-hour week..." which means that on average, four in five britons fall below the government requirement. So should the government lower the bar? Would that be responsible of them?
What do you think? Leave your comments below.
If you find these articles useful, please like them on Facebook, Google+ or you can even tweet about them. Buttons are provided at the top of the page or below the comments. Thanks.
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