At the end of 2023, Great Britain announced a number of measures aimed at reducing the number of migrants in the country. Among them was a demand to raise the minimum wage for foreigners who plan to move their family to the Kingdom. Recently, the new government suspended these changes. Find out what has changed for expat families in Britain in 2024

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In recent years, the UK government has been actively working on reducing the number of migrants. In particular, they discussed a possible increase in the salary level, which is necessary for obtaining a visa, as well as reducing quotas or imposing more serious requirements on expats.

Among the proposed changes was a proposal to raise the threshold amount required to obtain a family visa. However, the new British government recently suspended this requirement.

What changes to the procedure for obtaining a family visa did Great Britain plan to approve?

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced that the UK government has put on hold a plan to raise the family visa salary threshold from £29,000 to £38,700, which was proposed by the previous government.

This initiative was presented at the end of 2023 and was supposed to become operational in 2025. We talked about the changes proposed by the old government in detail in this article.

The reason for the change in policy and requirements was the record migration figures that Britain has been experiencing in recent years.

It should be noted that the number of visa applications in Great Britain decreased by 25 percent after the stricter rules introduced by the previous government.

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The position of the new government regarding the procedure for issuing a family reunification visa

The new government has instructed the Migration Advisory Committee to review the family visa policy before establishing new rules for the permit. In particular, the body will analyze the impact of banning migrant workers from bringing family members to Great Britain and the feasibility of raising the wage threshold.

Until the review is completed by an independent government body, the current family visa financial threshold of £29,000 will remain in place.

"Family immigration rules, including minimum income requirements, must balance respect for family life while ensuring that the UK's economic well-being is maintained" - Yvette Cooper, UK Home Secretary

How does the new government plan to solve the issue of excessive migration to Great Britain?

According to Cooper, the new government will take a new approach to legal migration, aiming to upskill the local workforce before hiring foreign workers.

In recent years, the number of highly qualified workers from countries outside the EU has significantly increased in the country (from 277,000 in the year until December 2022 to 423,000 in the year until December 2023), however, the new management believes that if the level of skills of the local population, then there will be no need to invite foreign specialists to solve the problems of labor shortage.

Therefore, if you are considering moving to Great Britain for work, it is worth taking care of it now, while the country is relatively open to foreign workers.

We will remind you! Great Britain has always been popular among foreigners as a country for employment abroad, because the country provides wide prospects for those looking for new challenges and professional development. However, finding a job in Britain, especially for a foreigner, can be difficult. We talked about the peculiarities of job search for foreigners in this article.

Igor Usyk - Head of Migration department at VisitWorld

To ensure safe passage to the UK, I advise you to contact a specialist. My colleagues, qualified specialists with legal education, will help you avoid unpleasant situations during migration abroad.

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