Todd Huffman/Flickr. (CC 2.0 by)
For thousands of British citizens and residents separated from loved ones by immigration rules, headlines after the Supreme Court decision on 22 February 2017 in the “MM case” were disappointing.1 The case concerned rights of non-EEA nationals to join British spouses or partners in the UK and the minimum-income requirement (MIR) that the sponsor earns £18,600 a year or has substantial savings, with more needed for dependent non-citizen children.
The court did not find the MIR incompatible with article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to respect for private and family life). Yet hidden behind the government’s ‘victory’ is a more complex picture offering hope to some of those affected. The primary challenge was to the MIR’s level. The court found that there was adequate justification for it and that it had been carefully set as the minimum a household needs to avoid eligibility for welfare support in the light of advice from the Migration Advisory Committee. Though expert evidence disputed that this would lead to significant welfare savings, this was not acknowledged in the judgment. To do so the court would have had to make a political judgement and question the boundaries of a lawful policy.
