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Home Office COVID-19 minimum income threshold concession announced

Applicants for entry clearance, leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain as the partner and children of British citizens and settled persons must generally meet the minimum income requirements set out in Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules. Unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has left many prospective applicants who would otherwise have found themselves able to meet these requirements falling short due to their or their partner’s loss of income resulting from lockdown and the deep economic downturn the UK is facing. 

In response, the Home Office has updated its policy guidance – ‘Family Migration: Appendix FM Section 1.7 Appendix Armed Forces Financial requirement’ – to confirm a number of concessions to the usual minimum income requirements that most applicants must meet. The stated intention is “to ensure applicants are not disadvantaged as a result of circumstances beyond their control because of COVID-19.”

However, the concessions that have been made are limited. They include: 

  1. Income received via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or the Coronavirus Self Employment Income Support Scheme can count as employment or self-employment income.
  2. A temporary loss of employment income between 1 March and 31 July 2020 due to COVID-19, will be disregarded provided the minimum income requirement was met at the required level for at least 6 months up to March 2020.
  3. An applicant or sponsor furloughed under the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will be deemed as earning 100% of their salary.
  4. A temporary loss of annual income due to COVID-19 between 1 March 2020 and 31 July 2020 will generally be disregarded for self-employment income, along with the impact on employment income from the same period for future applications.
  5. Evidential flexibility may be applied where an applicant or sponsor experiences difficulty accessing specified evidence due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The terms of these concessions raise a number of concerns. For example: 

  • A temporary loss of employment income after 31 July 2020 due to COVID-19 is not covered. What of those who continue to be furloughed or face redundancy after the closure of the furlough scheme? The guidance here is also discrepant to that published by the Home Office on its website at (click me) which does not have an end date for the employment income lost due to COVID-19 that can be considered.
  • How is a temporary loss of self-employment income to be measured? 
  • On what terms will evidential flexibility be applied? There appears to be a very wide discretion here with no particularisation for how it will be exercised. 

    As has happened at every stage in the Home Office’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, one suspects that there will be a need for further clarification which will come in the form of piecemeal, last minute extensions to the applicability of the concessions that only serve to confuse the situation further for applicants. 

    At Elaahi & Co Solicitors, we specialise in understanding complex legal rules and providing you with clear, straightforward advice on how they apply to your case. If you need advice on what, on the particular facts of your case and how the above concessions apply to you, contact our expert team of immigration lawyers a call on 020 3930 3831. We are here to help you.

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