Home Office claims non-EU spouses won’t be disadvantaged due to coronavirus – then deletes guidance hours later

Exclusive: ‘Chaotic communications’ from department causing huge uncertainty for families, say immigration lawyers

The Home Office stands accused of ‘bureaucracy and incompetence’ (Getty)

The Home Office has been accused of “bureaucracy and incompetence” after it issued guidance saying non-EU spouses of British nationals would not be disadvantaged if they cannot meet their income requirement due to coronavirus – only to delete the announcement hours later.

Thousands of families across Britain have been worried they will be torn apart because job losses during lockdown have meant they no longer earn enough to be eligible for spouse visas, for which the threshold stands at £18,600 per annum.

Guidance published on the Home Office website on Monday evening stated that if couples who relied on the spouse visas had experienced a loss of income due to coronavirus, they would “not be disadvantaged” because their income from the period immediately before Covid-19 hit would be considered, rather than their salaries during the crisis.

For those furloughed, the Home Office said it would take account of their income as though they were earning 100 per cent of their salary.

However, the guidance disappeared from the website at around 9.40am on Tuesday, causing widespread confusion and sparking renewed concern about poor communications from the Home Office regarding changes to immigration rules, particularly during the pandemic.

Following the publication of this article, the Home Office re-published the guidance, with the line stating that spouse visa-holders would “not be disadvantaged” having been removed, but the policy change remaining the same.

Some immigration solicitors had already started contacting their clients to inform them of the new guidance and how it would affect their case, leaving many with “huge uncertainty” hanging over them.

Immigration lawyer Colin Yeo told The Independent: “It’s a complete farce. Lawyers have been warning the Home Office for months that announcements need to be made promptly and properly and that we need to see proper, lawfully effective statutory instruments, not these sorts of here-today-gone-tomorrow notices.

“People have huge uncertainty hanging over them and these chaotic communications from the Home Office just aren’t good enough.”

Another immigration lawyer, Alasdair Mackenzie, said the department was “doing as little as possible” in its response to the pandemic and its effects on migrants, and that when they do decide to take any action then they are communicating it “very badly”.

He added: “This latest incident is yet another example of people being left in the dark over their futures for weeks and then being plunged into still greater confusion by a lack of clear or consistent messaging.”

The Home Office prompted outrage last month by claiming people in the UK on spouse visas could rely on “investments and cash savings” to meet income requirements if they had lost their jobs during the coronavirus lockdown.

Mary Atkinson, family reunion campaigner at JCWI, said: “Families have endured three months of anxiety about their futures because the Home Office has refused to suspend its income requirements during the pandemic.

“Just when it looked like there was some light at the end of the tunnel for some, the Home Office has somehow managed to lose its updated guidance overnight. No family should have their future left hanging in the balance because of this bureaucracy and incompetence.”

The Home Office has been approached for comment.