New visa rules could destroy thousands of families like mine. Who benefits?

My name is Katharine, I work for a charity and live in London, where I am from, with my husband. He is a software developer currently setting up his own business. We live comfortable, normal lives.

The home secretary’s new requirements for spouse visas might destroy our family.

My husband and I met in Jordan when I moved there to work for an American NGO supporting Syrian and Iraqi refugees. We were introduced by friends and have been together ever since.

After years in Jordan, returning to the UK wasn’t an easy decision. Being close to my family was the main motivation for me wanting to come back; during the pandemic, I was very scared that something would happen to my ageing parents and that I wouldn’t be able to get to them.

My husband, whose whole family is in Jordan and who had an established career over there, left his life behind to follow me here. He had mixed feelings about it, but decided to move here for me and my family’s sake.

This wasn’t an easy decision, nor an easy process. We had to rely on a solicitor in the UK to put together all the documents needed to get a visa for him as the spouse of a British citizen. It took around a year for us to get the papers he needed to be able to move here.

At the time, the financial requirement was that I earned £18,600 or had £62,500 in savings, which I comfortably met.

After moving to the UK we bought a house together and started building a new life.

For my husband, this is a completely new place. He’s made some friends, he likes the green – he’s from the desert and has never lived in a place with grass. When we’re not working, we go for walks in Epping Forest and spend time with my family. We rescued a street cat and my husband has turned into an excellent and devoted cat dad.

We lived a happy, tranquil life. That changed last week.

In his drive to bring down the number of people moving to the UK, home secretary James Cleverly announced that the minimum income threshold to sponsor a partner’s visa will rise to £38,700 – up £20,000 from the current level.

It’s such a massive increase that we may no longer meet the criteria for my husband’s visa. My income is just below the required level, and what’s more, my contract is due to come to an end in March – if it isn’t extended, there’s no way that I would meet the new threshold.

My husband’s visa is up for renewal in June, so this leaves us very little time to find an alternative.

The government has suggested it knows better than me who I should be in love with

There are very few details available on the specifics of this policy. We don’t know yet to what extent it will apply to people who are already here, or if we will be able to combine our incomes to meet the threshold or use our savings to make up for the shortfall in income.

We are left completely in limbo, not knowing whether we will have to uproot our lives once again.

I am so enraged. I would have never thought I’d be treated this way in the country of my birth, where I am a citizen. I have the right to fall in love, get married and live with my partner, no matter where they are from. Can those rights really be taken from me because I don't make £38,700 a year? Are they privileges only afforded to the rich?

Where you live and with whom are some of the most fundamental choices in people’s lives. The government has suggested it knows better than me who I should fall in love with. It’s so insulting and beyond unfair.

I, like thousands across the UK, might soon be forced to decide whether to live with the person I love or be near my family. So many partners will have to be separated. Entire families will be split up. So many grandparents in the UK won’t be able to be a part of their grandchildren’s lives.

Most people in the UK earn below the new threshold. The home secretary is telling us that unless we’re rich, we can’t live with our families. Who does this policy benefit?

This piece was written with the support of migrant rights charity Praxis. Katherine’s surname has been changed.