The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has been commissioned to review the family visa financial requirements, specifically the minimum income requirement (MIR).
On 11 April 2024, the MIR for family visas was substantially increased from £18,600 per year to £29,000 per year, with a planned future increase to £38,700 per year. Applicants must demonstrate that they or their family member receives the MIR and various sources of work can be relied upon, as well as meeting the financial requirement through other means.
As we touched on in our previous commentary last month, a number of potential changes and reviews were announced by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Yvette Cooper. Overall, the labour government have maintained that they will uphold their overall aim to reduce net migration. In a statement made on 30 July 2024 by Yvette Cooper, she reaffirmed (with regards to the April immigration changes brought in by the Conservative government); “This government supports these changes and will continue to implement them”.
She also announced that the MAC would be commissioned to review a number of key sectors, such as international recruitment and work routes, and the financial requirements regarding family routes. We previously touched on the upcoming MAC review of IT and engineering sectors.
Why has the Home Secretary commissioned a review?
In Yvette Cooper’s statement, it was confirmed that the MIR will remain at £29,000 until the MAC have completed their review into the financial conditions in family applications. In her recent letter to Professor Bell, she maintained that she will “…consider your recommendations and decide whether to implement any of those recommendations”.
The drastic increase of the MIR in April 2024 left many families unable to meet the requirement, and therefore reunite as families. The purpose of the MAC review will be to potentially propose changes to the MIR after in depth analysis.
When can we expect to see the finalised MAC review?
In Professor Brian Bell’s letter response to Yvette Cooper on 10 September 2024, he accepted her request to “review the financial requirements for family visas including the Minimum Income Requirement (MIR) and Adequate Maintenance Requirement”.
As predicted, Professor Bell has also confirmed that the MAC will be inviting stakeholders to participate in the review, in the form of a Call to Evidence. This is welcome news, as many higher education organisations commented last year, that they were not invited to provide the MAC with any information or recommendations as part of the MAC’s rapid review of the Graduate route.
There has also been confirmation that the review will be completed in a nine-month period. The letter stated: “We will provide an update by 1st October 2024 if progress in accessing the data is not made, as any delays in receiving the data will lead to a delay in the publication of our report.” If the MAC can easily obtain the requested data and information that is required to efficiently complete the review, we can expect to see the review around Spring 2025.
Depending on the results of the review and MAC recommendations, we would hope to see a reduction in the MIR and the adequate maintenance requirement in future years. However, it is likely that the MIR will remain at £29,000 for the foreseeable, until at least early 2025.
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