The £29,000 rule for sponsors probably not increasing

The £29,000 rule for sponsors probably not increasing

You may remember that some while ago, in 2024, the minimum earnings requirement for sponsors under Appendix FM (Appendix Family Members) increased quite dramatically from £18,600 per year to £29,000. 

The increase was not as big as it looked, because it had not been increased since 2012. But it was still fairly substantial and, to make it worse, the Government of the day (which was, of course, the Conservative Government) announced plans to increase this further to £38,700 – which would have been a really huge increase. 

But then the General Election came and the further increase never happened. 

The New Labour Government decided to refer this matter to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which is a body set up by the Government to analyse and provide advice on such issues.

Now the MAC has produced its report, and the good news for migrants is that it has advised that the proposed increase to £38,700 would be just too much (and surely they are right). They gave detailed reasons for this and they also proposed various different possible ways and schemes for calculating the figure. On the whole, they seem to think that even the figure of £29,000 is rather too high. Apart from anything else, they say that that figure is high by international standards. 

And they advised that the current rule about child dependants – there is currently no extra financial requirement for children included in applications – should not be changed. 

And another recommendation they made makes a lot of sense: that the salary figure should be updated for inflation on a regular basis. The 12-year gap between 2012 and 2024 seems peculiar to say the least. 

The opinions of the MAC are not binding on the Government, but it seems safe to say that the proposed increase to £38,700 will not be happening; the MAC was very definite about this. Perhaps the figure might even fall but – bearing in mind the current political mood – we are not putting any money on this. 

Oliver Westmoreland

Senior Immigration Lawyer