A minimum earning criteria has been suggested by the MAC (Migration Advisory Committee). This means that there is a good chance that partners of British passport holders are soon to be exposed too an earning criteria if they wish to “sponsor” their South African partners to join them in the UK.
At this stage of the suggestion from MAC, all we can do is speculate that British Passport holders in South Africa could be exposed to the earning criteria that the old Highly Skilled Migrant Program used to face.
Please note that at this stage, no formal changes have been announced although we anticipate them to be announced before 2012.
Taking into consideration the other recent changes that have been implemented over the past years, such as the compulsory English Language Requirement (which insists that South Africans have to meet a compulsory tertiary English ability criteria in order to qualify for the settlement visa), Move Up can confirm that this announcement from the UKBA shows a similar trend. Which means that the Co-Alition government are still looking to put further restrictions on the settlement visa category.
“South Africans that are married to British passport holders that have been considering relocating to the UK should look to do so before these restrictions come into full effect” says Ryan Rennison, Move Up Director. “The Brits are not looking at making it easy for other third world countries and unfortunately South Africa has to bear the burden of this impact”.
Further details of the UKBA announcement can be found here: UKBA
Further details of the Settlement visa can be found here: Settlement Visa