OPINION - British and want to live with your foreign spouse? Don't be poor, or even middle-income

As of next spring, only well-off Britons will be able to marry a foreigner and live with them in the UK. Amid the announcements on skilled migrants and care workers, the home secretary yesterday slipped in something that astonished even experienced immigration watchers: that the minimum income requirement for British citizens to sponsor their spouse is to more than double from £18,600 to £38,700.