Background

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has been commissioned by the Home Secretary to review the financial requirements on the family immigration rules. This includes the current minimum income requirement (MIR) and the adequate maintenance (AM) test when sponsoring family members to come to or stay in the UK. The MIR is currently £29,000, and plans under the previous government were to increase this to £34,500 and again to £38,700 by early 2025. Both tests seek to balance a respect for family life as set out by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) with maintaining the economic wellbeing of the UK.

About the project

IFF Research have been appointed by the MAC to deliver this survey. You may have received an invitation to participate in our survey from the Home Office on the MAC’s behalf, using the contact details you submitted to them as part of your visa application.

We would like to hear about your experience of meeting the financial requirement at the time of your application, whether your application was successful or unsuccessful. The Home Office is contacting individuals who currently are or have been sponsored by their partner in the past 5 years on the family visa route on the MAC’s behalf. The survey will incorporate a small number of questions from researchers at the Home Office as part of some work they are doing to assess whether the route is working as intended.

Participation in the survey is voluntary and will not affect your visa status either now or in the future.

If you would like to participate in the survey

The survey must be completed online and will take between 15 to 20 minutes to complete. If you would like to participate, please click on the survey link in your email which will take you to the survey page. This survey is intended for the named individual so please ensure this survey is completed by them, each link is unique and can be used once to complete the survey. We may also send you reminder emails to complete the survey.

How the information will be used

We may send you reminder emails to complete the survey. Responses you give to the survey will be fully anonymised. The data you share will remain with the MAC and Home Office research teams, will not be shared with visa decision makers, and will not be linked to individuals. We will publish aggregated, fully anonymised findings from the survey as a whole, but it will not be possible to identify individuals. 

More about how the MAC handles personal information is available

Information about how IFF Research handles personal information is also available.

Contact information