Monday 19 September 2011

UK Marriage Visa and Settlement Changes are Due

The UK Immigration Minister, Damian Green has confirmed in a speech that the UK Govt is tackling the issue of UK marriage Visa and Settlement route. In the speech he stressed the importance of looking at abuse of the Marriage and Settlement Visa into the UK.

Currently there is a consultation on this issue and also on preventing these visa applications bypassing UK Immigration Laws which is possible at the moment.

Recent Reports Have Shown:

About 20% of UK Marriage Visa Sponsors were either unemployed or had an income below that of the national minimum wage.

37% of these sponsors were living with either other family or friends

In 2009 2,6 million pounds was spent on telephone translation services and 400,000 GBP on document translations

Two thirds of a sample of marriage visa applicants that were approved in 2009 had never visited the UK before making the permanent move.

The UK Govt is currently undertaking a consultation on assessing the changes that should take place:

there needs to be a more clear defined definition on what makes up a real marriage and help identify shame or fake marriages

introduce a new minimum income threshold for those sponsors in the UK looking to sponsor a family migrant

extension of the period from 2 to 5 years in order to apply for settlement, this too should help curb the abuse of the marriage visa and settlement routes

all marriage visa applicants under the age of 65 need to show that they have a basic understanding of everyday English.

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