Family visa requirements: future changes affecting British citizens in the EU
This briefing provides background to changes to UK visa requirements affecting non-British family members of British citizens living in the UK, which the Government plans will take effect from late March 2022. It also summarises campaigners' calls for a change of policy, and related debates during the passage of the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill 2019-21.
The UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement doesn’t preserve the rights of British citizens living in the EU before the end of the transition period to return to the UK with their non-British family members under EU free movement law.
Existing family members of British citizens currently living in the EU are therefore due to come within the scope of the UK’s family visa rules (including the ‘minimum income requirement’). The Government says that these changes won’t take effect until 30 March 2022, so that families have time to plan accordingly.
Campaigners worry that some families will be unable to satisfy the UK’s visa requirements. A non-government amendment to the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill, approved at Lords Report stage, would have given this group of British citizens a lifetime right to return to the UK with close family members under the current terms. But it was rejected when the Bill returned to the Commons.