Two thirds of foreign wives may be banned from UK

LONDON: Two thirds of foreign wives could be banned from the UK under new plans to stop immigrants becoming “a burden on the state”.

Government immigration advisers say that minimum salary required to bring a spouse to Britain should go up significantly, and may even be doubled, Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.

The proposals could mean more than half of UK's population would not be able to bring in a foreign partner, as they might not earn enough to support them without relying on benefits.

Professor David Metcalf chairman of MAC said a minimum salary of between £18,600 and £25,700 should be introduced for UK residents sponsoring a partner or dependant for UK citizenship.

This minimum, which applies equally to British citizens and immigrants, is currently set at around £13,700.

Some 40,000 foreign wives, husbands and partners were granted visas to join their family in UK last year, but that number would be cut by up to 63% under the proposals.

Government asked advisers to identify salary a worker would need to earn to support a spouse or partner “without them becoming a burden on the state”, Professor Metcalf said.

The minimum salary could be even higher for those who wanted their children to join them from abroad, he added.

The lowest figure in proposed range, £18,600, is income level at which many benefits, including housing benefit, tax credits, are withdrawn, while highest figure, £25,700, represents typical income of a one-adult household.

That would mean that between a quarter and a half of full-time adult workers would be unable to bring their partners to UK - but many others, including unemployed, pensioners, could be prevented too.

MAC's figures show that of 40,000 spouses and partners brought in from outside EU, nearly a third were from India, Pakistan or Bangladesh, while 6% came from the US and 5% from Nepal.

It said while 94% of those based in UK with a spouse abroad wanted their partner to join them, half earned less than £20,100 and three quarters earned less than £30,500.

The Institute for Public Policy Research warned that if the government accepted proposals and went ahead with the policy, “it is likely to be challenged in courts.”

Copyright PPI (Pakistan Press International), 2011