Families 'torn apart' by immigration rules on spouses

Families 'torn apart' by immigration rules on spouses

A minimum income requirement imposed on non-EU migrants limits the number able to enter the UK. But some families claim the system is unfair and is keeping spouses and their children apart, as Inside Out East reports.

Farshid Ghafourpour grew up in Cambridge, was privately educated and went to university in the UK. After graduating, he went to live and work in Thailand - where he met his future wife, Korakot.

Twelve years later, he is back in the UK to care for his elderly mother. The couple's two daughters, aged six and eight, are both British citizens by birth.

But unlike many of their classmates, the girls cannot come home from school to a hug from their mother, or have her tuck them into bed at night.

Their only contact with her is via Skype.

'Hope for change'

Korakot is "stuck" in Thailand and cannot join her family in the UK because their income does not meet the £24,800 threshold set by the government.

She initially stayed behind to sell the couple's business, but was unable to do so and therefore did not have enough money to enter the UK.

More at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26370397

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/115898/occ96.pdf