Hundreds of Pak immigrants in UK face rejection, long delays

LONDON: The Court of Appeal here has upheld the lawfulness of the minimum income threshold at £18,600 under the new family migration rules, which means that thousands of Pakistani applicants seeking to enter Britain through family route will face difficulties and long delays in family reunions.
Pakistan and India are amongst the top five countries from where the highest number of spouse visas is applied each year to settle into Britain.The minimum income threshold for British citizens to sponsor a non-European Union Area spouse or partner or child to come and live in the UK was introduced in July 2012. It aims to ensure that family migrants do not become reliant on the taxpayer for financial support and are able to integrate effectively. The minimum income threshold was set at £18,600 for sponsoring a spouse or partner, rising to £22,400 for also sponsoring a child and an additional £2,400 for each further child.
Immigration law expert, Farhan Farani of the Farani Javid Taylor Solicitors, commented that the Court of Appeal’s decision to allow the Home Office’s appeal against the challenge to the £18,600 threshold will leave thousands families “in limbo and many more unable to apply to bring their families to the United Kingdom.”
Farah Farani said that the Home Office had stated that the policy behind the requirement was for the betterment of the United Kingdom’s economy and this argument was accepted by the Court of Appeal.
“It was also largely accepted that immigrants on a higher income would be able to integrate into the United Kingdom’s society with more ease. The decision will most likely be challenged in the Supreme Court; however, this is little help to the thousands of families who are separated and will have to wait for many more months until the final outcome in the Supreme Court.”
He said the judgment will have huge impact on those applications which were put on hold. The judgment will mean that from the 28 July, the 4,000 individuals whose applications are currently on hold, pending this judgment, will now receive a decision. These are cases which met all the requirements apart from the minimum income threshold and now stand to be refused.
“The implication of the judgment will be that all British spouse visa applications which are on hold for failure to meet income threshold will be refused. Those British families who do not meet the requirements will be banned from making applications in future as well. These decisions will attract right of appeal and the main course will be to win these appeals under Article 8 of ECHR (right of family life),” he added.
Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire said that the Court of Appeal has comprehensively upheld the lawfulness of this important policy.“We welcome those who wish to make a life in the UK with their family, work hard and make a contribution, but family life must not be established in the UK at the taxpayer’s expense and family migrants must be able to integrate.
The minimum income threshold to sponsor family migrants is delivering these objectives and this judgment recognises the important public interest it serves.”The aim of the new rules to help reduce immigration and the Home Office has said that family visas issued have fallen by more than a quarter in the last four years but this is causing immense strain on the families affected, said Farhan Farani.