Britain's median wage is around £29,600. The family visa threshold is £29,000.
In April 2024 the UK Conservative government raised the income threshold for sponsoring a foreign spouse from £18,600 to £29,000. The same government published a plan to raise it further to £38,700 by 2025. The Migration Advisory Committee told Labour to lower it to £23,000 to £25,000. Labour refused. The two years of data since the £29,000 threshold show what the policy delivers.
Partner visa grants by year, from the Home Office Vis_D02 dataset released 21 May 2026:
- 2022: 36,326
- 2023: 60,648
- 2024: 55,969
- 2025: 40,614
Partner visa grants in 2025 are 33 percent below the 2023 peak. The April 2024 threshold rise is the cleanest single cause. The 2024 figure shows a smaller decline because the April rise only affected applications from that date onwards. The full annual effect lands in 2025.
The Migration Advisory Committee review of the family visa, published in June 2025, concluded that the £29,000 threshold is high by international standards. The MAC recommended Labour drop it to a range of £23,000 to £25,000. Labour declined to act on its own advisory body’s recommendation. The Tory plan to raise the threshold to £38,700 was formally cancelled.
The median wage problem
The Office for National Statistics publishes the median UK annual wage in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. The April 2024 ASHE release showed median gross annual pay of £37,430 for full-time employees and approximately £29,000 to £29,600 across all employees including part-time work. The family visa threshold of £29,000 is approximately at the all-employees median.
This is the lockout in arithmetic. Roughly half the UK’s working population earns less than the threshold required to bring their foreign spouse to the UK. Among British citizens specifically, the median is similar.
Some regions are hit harder than others. ONS ASHE data for 2024 showed median annual full-time earnings of around £33,500 in the North East, £35,700 in Wales, £35,200 in the North West, against £44,400 in London. A median full-time wage earner in the North East or Wales is below the threshold once part-time work is factored in. A median-wage Londoner is above.
The family visa system is now a regional income test, not a national family policy.
The top affected nationalities
Partner visa grants by nationality of the partner being sponsored, calendar 2025:
| Nationality | Partner visas 2025 |
|---|---|
| Pakistan | 7,317 |
| United States | 3,186 |
| India | 2,524 |
| Iraq | 2,192 |
| Bangladesh | 1,630 |
| Ghana | 1,416 |
| Nepal | 1,307 |
| Afghanistan | 1,134 |
| Philippines | 1,090 |
| Nigeria | 1,046 |
| Turkey | 977 |
| Brazil | 874 |
| Morocco | 756 |
| Albania | 669 |
| China | 625 |
The largest cohorts are South Asian, reflecting long-established British diaspora communities of UK sponsors. The presence of US and European partners reflects skilled-worker partner formation. Each row represents one couple who cleared the £29,000 threshold. The thousands of couples who did not clear it are not in this table because their applications were not made or were refused.
The legal challenge
Reunite Families UK filed a judicial review in 2024 challenging the original £38,700 plan as a breach of the Public Sector Equality Duty. Their argument was that the threshold disproportionately affects women, certain ethnic groups, and young people. The Tory plan was cancelled before final hearing. The challenge to the existing £29,000 threshold continues through the courts.
The Migration Advisory Committee recommended £23,000 to £25,000. The Labour government retained £29,000. The legal challenge sits between the historical £38,700 and the current £29,000 thresholds.
The political position
This is a policy where the responsible Cabinet minister (the Home Secretary) and the recommending advisory body (the MAC) disagree publicly. The MAC’s recommendation has been published. The Labour government’s reasons for retaining £29,000 in the face of its own advisory body’s contrary recommendation have not been published in detail.
In the meantime, partner visa grants have fallen by 20,000 a year. Those are 20,000 British citizens and settled residents who would have been able to bring a foreign spouse to the UK under the pre-April 2024 rules and cannot under the current rules. Most are at or below the UK median wage. By definition, the policy targets the bottom half of the British income distribution.
Sources
- Home Office Immigration System Statistics, year ending March 2026 release (21 May 2026), Vis_D02 entry-clearance visa outcomes by nationality, visa type, and outcome
- Migration Advisory Committee, “Review of the Financial Requirements for Family Visas” (June 2025)
- House of Commons Library briefing SN06724, “The financial (minimum income) requirement for partner visas” (updated 2025)
- Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2024 publication
- Reunite Families UK judicial review litigation (Leigh Day, 2024 to ongoing)
Share this finding - right-click to save the image.