Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the minimum income threshold requirement on pensioners who wish to sponsor their partner's visa to settle in the UK; and if she will make a statement.

The minimum income threshold for sponsoring a partner under the family
Immigration Rules aims to prevent burdens on the taxpayer and promote
integration. It is appropriate that the requirement to meet the income threshold
should not be affected by the age of the sponsor. The income threshold rules make
provision for the counting of a wide range of both employment and non-employment
income, including pensions, and of cash savings. They also exempt the applicant from
the income threshold requirement where the sponsor is in receipt of a specified
disability-related benefit or carer's allowance.