Interviews with children published today (23 June) by Coram reveal that many children living in families subject to the minimum income requirement could be experiencing negative impacts on their mental health and wellbeing.
Child-focused interviews carried out by the Coram Centre for Impact found that some children experienced anxiety, stress, difficulty engaging with education, and sleep disturbances stemming from prolonged separation from one of their parents and financial insecurity.
One young person interviewed noted that everyday stresses were exacerbated as a result of living under the policy: “The situation with our family made everything else that went wrong in my life feel 10 times worse and so it was stressful, and I think it had quite a big effect on my mental health.”
Interviews with children living in families affected by spouse and partner migration rules were presented in parliament at a joint event with Reunite Families UK, who support families navigating the UK spouse visa process and raise awareness of the impacts of the immigration rules, as they also published their study of the impact of the rules, Families Belong Together.
These publications come shortly after the release of the conclusions from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which reviewed the policy between September 2024 and June this year. Coram welcomes the MAC’s report and how it centres the impacts on children, with a section specifically about how it has impacted them. The report cited Coram’s evidence showing “a range of emotional challenges as a result of living in a different country from either one or both of their parents”.
Anita Hurrell, Head of Policy and Practice Change at Coram Children’s Legal Centre, said: “We are very pleased that the Committee gave due consideration to this evidence and concluded that ‘the impacts on British children separated from one of their parents are particularly concerning’.
“After almost 13 years of a high financial threshold for families to live together in the UK, it is very welcome that the impacts on children of the minimum income requirement have been properly considered by the MAC. We urge the government to give children’s best interests due weight in deciding its response to their report. Having a parent from abroad should not predestine a child to family separation.”
You can find the Coram publication Interviews with children living in families affected by spouse and partner migration rules here.
The Reunite Families UK report Families Belong Together is available here.
The Migration Advisory Committee’s report on the minimum income requirement for the family migration route, published on 10th June, is available here.