14 February 2024 , 18:16
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Thousands of couples could be spending their last Valentine’s Day together as Tory immigration rules threaten to split them up.
Laws coming into force this Spring will dramatically increase the earning bracket required for a UK visa. The threshold required will rise by 50% from £18,600 a year to £29,000. This limit will rise again in 2025 to £37,000 - double what it is today.
Anyone earning below this amount - estimated to be some 70% of overseas workers - will no longer be able to have their family join them to live in the country. Campaigners say it could affect nurses, teachers and police officers among other key professions.
The ‘Cost of Loving Crisis’ billboards are all over London and are drawing attention to the issue.A new campaign, called the Cost of Loving, has created an online calculator that allows international couples to see if they are affected by the plans. Billboards across London feature QR codes that lead to a love calculator where couples can enter their names, nationality and incomes and work out whether they will be able to stay together under the new law changes. The advertising initiative is being run alongside a petition which calls for the Tories to scrap the plans to raise the pay threshold to its the upper limit of £37,000 next year.
According to the Migrant Integration Policy Index, which measures how easy it is for families to reunite, the UK is second to last on a list of 56 countries.
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The campaign features Rishi Sunak as love angel Cupid.Joe Wade, Founding Partner at Don’t Panic, the people behind the new campaign, said; “The Conservative government is literally putting a price on love in this country - and they’ll split up families by doing so. We don’t want people in Whitehall governing love, so we hope to capture the hearts of the British public this Valentine’s Day, and urge them to sign the petition calling to stop the government raising the earning bracket.”
A Home Office spokesperson told the Mirror: "The current levels of migration to the UK are far too high. That is why the government announced a plan to cut the number of migrants coming to the UK by 300,000 a year – the largest reduction ever.
“We have a longstanding principle that anyone bringing dependants to live in the UK must be able to financially support them. The Minimum Income Requirement ensures that families are self-sufficient instead of relying on public funds, with the ability to integrate if they are to play a full part in British life.”
A link to the campaign and petition can be found here.