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Member of Parliament for Bradford East@DavidWardMP on Twitter and Facebook |
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David Ward MP <>
David challenges Home Office over £26000 income threshold for family visas
April 22, 2012 6:36 PM
Bradford MP David Ward is to challenge Home Office Ministers over proposals to raise the income threshold to bring in a family member from outside to the UK, claiming that the plans were "totally out of step with reality" in Bradford.
Under the plans the minimum income required to sponsor a dependant seeking entry to the UK would increase from £13,700 to between £18,600 and £25,700. The proposals were revealed in a leaked letter from Theresa May to the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg.
David Ward has written a letter to the Home Secretary questioning the proposals and plans to raise the issue with the Home Office Minister, Lynne Featherstone, in a meeting on Thursday.
Commenting, David Ward said:
"Some rise in the minimum income for sponsors may be reasonable but the suggested figures are totally out of step with reality in a place like Bradford. The average income here is only just over £13,000. Under these new rules the vast majority of people in the city would never be able to marry anyone born outside the UK.
"It is obviously right that immigrants into the UK shouldn't be a burden on the state, but there are other ways to achieve that. A new migrant would already have to wait two years before they were untitled to any state support and that period could be extended.
"There are many changes which need to be made to the system, like speeding up the painfully slow application process which can leave people trapped in limbo for years. But these proposals simply cannot be allowed to go forward as they stand. A family life is a basic human right and these plans threaten to seriously undermine that."