Meeting a partner, choosing to start a family and raising children should be cherished and celebrated parts of the human experience. However, due to the harsh requirements of Britain’s ‘Minimum Income Requirement’ (MIR) policy, these basic rights are being denied to thousands of people.
The UK has some of the harshest family visa requirements in the world, and the ‘MIR’ Policy in particular is causing misery to those families caught up in its net.
In 2012, the Tory government introduced this ‘spouse migration policy’, that requires British and settled residents to meet a ‘Minimum Income Requirement’ in order for their non-British partner to move permanently to live with them in the UK. This minimum income threshold was originally set at £18,600 per year in 2012, but was raised to £29,000 per year by the Tories in April 2024.
In effect, this means that workers earning less than £29,000 are unable to sponsor their partner for a visa which would allow them to move to the UK. This is regardless of their marital status, whether or not they have children, and even the earning potential of their partner. Those affected are being denied the right to a family life.
Fall in love at your peril
A recent report by non-profit organisation Reunite Families UK highlights the anguish and pain which is being caused by this policy. Working class families are being divided across international borders, children separated from their parents, and couples unable to start families because of not being able to settle in their home country with their partner.
Thanks to the support of Paul Hamlyn Foundation @ReuniteDivFamil launched our 3-year research into the impacts of the UK’s spouse/partner visa rules with a presentation in Parliament.
Read the report:https://t.co/ZJmfAVOzs8
— Reunite Families UK 🧡 (@ReuniteDivFamil) June 25, 2025
Raj who met his wife Anya from America, and are currently going through the visa process, shared with The Communist:
“The cost of the visa application, lawyer fees, the NHS surcharge and all the other paperwork they require of you was together more than the cost and stress of our wedding! By the end of the process, it will have cost us over £10,000. It feels like we are punished, taxed double and squeezed of every penny just for wanting to be together!”
We are often told that the wonders of capitalism provide us with ‘freedom’ and ‘choice’. But where is the freedom and choice for working class couples to live their lives together, having had the ‘misfortune’ to have met and started a relationship while being residents of two different countries?
Tearing families apart
The report, which surveyed those affected between 2022 and 2025, found that the separation caused by this policy was having severe mental health impacts on those affected, including stress, anxiety, and depression among both adults and children.
Those interviewed talk of the policy destroying their family life and a sense of hopelessness that they will ever be able to meet the income threshold and reunite their family. Children separated from their parents faced distress, confusion and anger.
By separating partners, the policy also denies parents the ability to split the cost of things like housing, bills and amenities.
It is therefore no surprise that two thirds impacted by the policy reported suffering increased financial pressures. And because they are statistically less likely to be higher earners, the rules disproportionately affect women, those with additional support needs including disabilities, and ethnic minorities, further entrenching inequality.
In order to try and meet the income in any way they can, many affected single parents reported working excessive hours under significant financial, social and emotional strain while trying to hold their family together across borders.
Disgustingly, over half of children reported that their mental health had deteriorated. One mother heart-breakingly reported: “My son is nearly seven now, and he’s still never met his father.”
Another spoke of their children “crying all the time” due to the separation caused.
Others affected find themselves effectively ‘exiled’ from the UK by the policy. Despite wishing to return to Britain for a number of reasons, for example to care for elderly family members, to send their children to school in the UK, or to live with their friends and family, they are forced to remain in another country to avoid the family separation which would result from moving.
Right-wing hypocrisy
The MIR policy has an obvious class bias. While the rich and powerful can move around the world at will, it seems this same luxury is not afforded to working class families.
Migrants already face a punitive regime in Britain, and this policy is intertwined with other factors, such as high visa fees, the requirement to pay an Immigration Health Surcharge (£1035 per year), the complexity of the application processes, and inaccessible legal advice; all of which punish lower income migrant workers and restrict their freedom of movement.
The likes of Nigel Farage love to tell us that the housing crisis, our crumbling NHS, and our strained public finances are all the result of immigration. But in reality, British capitalism relies upon
hyper-exploited migrant workers, the Home Office squeezes them of every penny, and then shamefully subject them to political attacks as the cause of all the societal ills the capitalist system produces.
Farage and the Tories also love to talk about family values, but it is them and their policies which are ripping families apart.
As Marxists, we refuse to fall for their lies which end up punishing those who have fallen in love and want to start a family. They are not to blame for Britain’s social decline – it is the billionaire class and their system which are.
Abolish immigration controls
Free movement already exists for the rich. Immigration controls in practice only exist for the working class. They sow division amongst workers, weaken the labour movement by creating a layer of workers without full democratic rights, and pit us against each other.
Taken together, this undermines the international class struggle against the capitalist class – which is the real cause for the misery in our society. For these reasons we oppose the government’s immigration controls.
The MIR policy shows class-based immigration policies have a devastating human impact on those affected.
Capitalism, and the system of national borders and immigration controls which serve the capitalist class, must be torn down and replaced by an international socialist planned economy; where artificial scarcity and mass inequality can be thrown into the dustbin of history.
On this basis we could genuinely meet the needs of all workers, allow for freedom of movement for all, and put an end to controls and divisions which sever families and those we hold dearest.
