UK immigration is
set to deport a South African citizen, Michael Engel, after a court ruled his
British wife's salary was not high enough.
A Home Office
spokesman said the rules were designed to stop foreign spouses becoming reliant
on UK taxpayers. According to him, British citizens who want to bring a foreign
spouse to the UK must earn £18,600 a year and a further £3,800 - a total of
£22,400 - if the couple have a child.
The
couple were told of the immigration tribunal's ruling after they had appealed
on the grounds of a right to family life.
Mr Engel, a
31-year-old yacht engineer living in Cornwall, said he and wife Natalie plan to
go back to South Africa with 18-month-old daughter Nyana.
Mrs Engel's
craft-making business made £19,786 in 2014 which was deemed not enough by the
tribunal panel, which met on 3 December.
She said the
decision made her feel like her family was being "kicked out" of the
country.She said: "I'm gobsmacked, lost for words, angry and deflated. I'm
not so proud to be British right now."
But Judge Michael
Wilson, who heard the appeal, said UK taxpayers "should not be expected to
have to financially support the appellant in the event of him not obtaining
work".
The couple are
now awaiting a deportation date.
Mr Engel said:
"We did everything in our power to tick all the boxes.
"They are
just attacking the wrong people - they are attacking British citizens."
The couple met in
2009 working on a cruise ship and lived in South Africa for four years.
They moved to the
UK in January 2013 with Mr Engel on a holiday visa, living first in Yorkshire
and then in Cornwall.
In a statement
the Home Office said: "Our family rules were brought in to make sure that
spouses coming to the UK do not become reliant on the taxpayer for financial
support.
"This is
fair to applicants and to the rest of the public, and has been upheld by the
Court of Appeal."
North Cornwall
Liberal Democrat MP, Dan Rogerson, said in October: "It's absolutely right
that anyone who comes to settle in this country has the resources to do that
and is not going to claim benefits straight away.
"But I think
it's also important that we get the thresholds right, so that in low income
areas like Cornwall, we are not disadvantaging people.
"We need to
keep families together who want to settle here."BBC
NB: What God has
joined together, let no man put asunder?
