We cannot afford to bring my spouse to the UK!

The UK family migration rules require a minimum income of £18,600 for sponsoring a spouse or partner. This increase to £22,400 to include one child and an additional £2,400 for each further child.

The consultants at BIC have heard many heart-breaking stories over the past years of the devastating effect the financial requirement had on many families. Fortunately, in many instances BIC were able to assist.

Some pointers, to lessen the impact of the financial requirement is as follows;

• If an application is submitted in the UK, the £18,600 can be made up from the income of both parties. It should thus be easier for the couple to fulfill the financial criteria.
• The income of an applicant or sponsor working in the UK in salaried or non-salaried employment or self-employment may now include income from work undertaken overseas.

Another alternative to consider for desperate families and partners are the so-called Surinder Singh Route. This route entails the following:

The British national in the family has to exercise his/her EU treaty rights. These treaty rights can be exercised by working or being self-employed while being resident anywhere in the European Economic Area, aside from the UK, with his/her non-EU family member (which may be a spouse, civil partner, child under 21, dependent child, or dependent parent/grandparent).

To take advantage of the Surinder Singh route, the UK Home Office requires the British national, together with their non-EU family member, to be able to demonstrate that they have based the “centre of their life” in the EEA country in which they were resident and in which the exercise of treaty rights occurred. The UK Home Office does not specifically prescribe a minimum time that must be spent in the EEA country, but very short periods of residence/work in an EEA country would generally not allow eligibility under this route.

After exercising this EEA treaty right, the family can gain access to the UK, and are covered by European law. They do not need to apply under the UK Family Migration Route, and only need to apply for the EEA family permit. As the EEA Family Permit has no specific minimum financial requirement attached to it, it ceases to be necessary to evidence the £18,600 income threshold that is required under the usual Family Migration route.

It is, however, important to keep in mind that there are very strict requirements for the Surinder Singh route, and should you consider this route; we highly recommend that you first speak to one of our expert UK Immigration Consultants.

www.bic-immigration.com or info@bic-immigration.com