Foreign wives face migration curb - you have got to be kidding me. : (

Publius · November 2011

rpic81:
aMrsin09:
rpic81:
On the surface, I don't think it's that big of a deal. You need to prove that if you're bringing someone into the country, that you can support them, and that you won't require government assistance if you now need to support a two-person household instead of one.
But there are too many questions left unanswered here. How many people actually go on the dole as a direct result of bringing in a foreign spouse. And how many spouses come over and contribute to the household income?
I don't think you should be allowed to be on the dole AND bring your spouse over. If you can't support yourself, you can't support a family.
Agreed. However, I also agree that there should be exceptions. The refugee one mentioned above is a good example. I'm a journalist, so maybe I'm being petty here, but I think it was a bad article. It raised more questions than it answered.

I'd assume this is just for familial sponsored visas and doesn't apply to refugees because they are a different type of immigration. A refugee isn't going to have a close family member sponsoring them, they are going to be applying on the basis of their refugee status, so the income of their non-existent UK spouse is irrelevant, kwim?

vrichardson · November 2011

My problem with this article stems from the implication that legal immigrants are a burden to the government. While I understand and even agree with the reasoning behind proving one's financial ability to provide for one's spouse I can't but help think its a load of crap. There are too many of us who, provided the legal right to work, contribute just as much financially to our family's success. In regards to the NHS, every immigrant who works pays for NHS service via taxes, and even more if they are paying for private health insurance. Illegal immigrants who sneak into the country cost so much more. An even bigger cost to the UK are immigrants from the European Union who come to the UK and claim child benefits for children who do not live within UK. 40,000 spouses compared to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. I guess I just feel like they're picking on us.

Tofumonkey · November 2011

bridebahama:
I think the aim of the limit is b/c that it is when most benefits stop. The Brit right now can bring the spouse over and live in a council tax paid for by taxpayers so even though we as foreigners aren't entitled to benefits, you still are getting the benefit of council housing. Also if your spouse isn't working and getting income support, that money is still being used to support you.

This is a big part of it. It's also safeguarding the vulnerable - this would stop the currently very large problem of people selling British marriages to mentally disabled people in the UK to secure visas and citizenship. It would also put a stop to the very real problem of people on benefits and living in council housing bringing over their foreign spouse, who joins them in their council house and neither have any motivation or need to work to support themselves, thus these foreign spouses are not contributing to the communitiest that they are living off of.

Furthermore, ?18K is very reasonable to me - this is not just people coming in to the UK, but also for people who are already here. There are thousands and thousands of migrants working here under previous and current immigration categories that make less than ?18,000/year - who are earning ?3000 a pop to marry a foreign student so that the student will obtain settlement through their work permit "spouse". Migrants earning over ?18K/year are less often involved in dodgy immigration marriages.

I could go on and on, but the reason that some of you are feeling "picked on" is because there are no other immigration categories that they can legally reduce at this point. They've promised to cut annual migration to the UK from the 100,000's to the 10's of thousands, but can only do so in certain categories.

First, they cut off the Tier 1 highly skilled visa - because it was too easy to qualify and too many Tier 1 migrants turned out to be working the counter at Sainsburys. So they could cut that one off at the knees.

Then they killed off Tier 1 post study work ( after getting a degree here you can work for 2 years).

Then they tightened the noose on Tier 2 (work permits) so that it's near freaking impossible to get a new work permit into the UK unless you meet some very, very specific criteria.

So, they effectively stopped letting economic migrants into the UK. You know, the ones that work and pay taxes, form companies and create jobs. The migrants you actually want. Idiots.

Then, they turned their sights on foreign students. You know my industry, I could go on about this for days. The UK has already lost 3 billion pounds this year alone on killing off foreign students, and has greatly damaged the reputation of one of the UK's primary exports - education. How clever.

Now, they've turned their sights onto family migration, because it's the only one left that they can.

Are any of these categories actually the problem? Well, sure, a bit. A couple of terrorists got in on student visas. (not the reason they are cutting this down, though. ) A few highly skilled migrants worked low skilled jobs (erm... that British people don't want and won't do), some work permit holders have taken up jobs that British people may have wanted to do (but not on the terms that the company could/would offer) and some foreign spouses live off UK benefits. Yeah, that sucks. But are those problems nearly as bad as the ones caused by the massive influx of migration into the UK from the EU - credited for the housing crisis and current rental nightmare? The benefits immediately given to EU persons in the UK who come here as job seekers and also live in council housing? The crime committed by EU migrants far outweighs the crime committed by economic migrants to the UK. And then we come to Asylum seekers and refugees, who arrive usually illegally in the UK and are immediately housed by councils and on Asylum benefits while awaiting a decision on their application which takes generally up to 3 years (during which they aren't allowed to work. Just collect benefits) - at which point 90% of cases are refused and they enter a long, long period of appeals - also while on benefits.

But they can't cut back on the problem immigration, because those people have human rights.

Foreign wives face migration curb - you have got to be kidding me. : (

Re: Foreign wives face migration curb - you have got to be kidding me. : (

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