ALL migrant workers should earn at least £38,700 to get a visa, a senior Tory has said.
And leader Kemi Badenoch wants tighter spouse entry rules to stop couples marrying for residency permits.
Kemi Badenoch wants tighter spouse entry rules to stop couples marrying for residency permits[/caption]
In government, the Conservatives increased the minimum salary requirement for skilled-worker visas to £38,700.
But to cut net migration from a record high of nearly one million, they now want this threshold applied to all foreign labour.
This would include health workers and those in sectors with shortages, such as construction.
Brits who want to bring a spouse to the UK on a family visa would also need to earn this amount, up from the current £29,000 threshold.
More than 86,000 people came to the UK on family visas last year, with Pakistanis making up a sixth of those arrivals.
The Tories are also pledging to cap the number coming from a single country at seven per cent.
Ms Badenoch has also proposed only accepting couples aged over 23 to combat forced marriages, and a ban on visas for first-cousin marriages
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “The numbers coming into the UK on family visas have been far too high, and these measures will fix that.”
A Home Office source said: “The Tories had 14 years to reform immigration and asylum, yet they left a system in chaos and our borders weaker.”
