Government Rows Back on £38,000 Family Visa Earning Threshold Hike

The government has rowed back on plans to raise the minimum income needed to bring foreign family members to live in the UK. On Thursday, the government confirmed they will increase the threshold to £29,000 in the spring, instead of £38,700. The threshold will now be “increased in incremental stages to give predictability.” Home Secretary James Cleverly had announced in early December the increase from £18,600 to £38,700 as part of a package of measures to curb legal migration. This was part of plans to curb immigration abuse, net migration as well as restricting dependants of students. Record Figures The UK’s population has grown by the equivalent of a Birmingham-sized city in the past two years, figures show. Office for National Statistics said a record of 745,000 more people moved to the UK than those who moved away last year. It was revised up from a previous estimate of 606,000....