The revised proposal, announced unexpectedly and without fanfare in a parliamentary answer, said the threshold would be increased "incrementally" and would still eventually hit £38,700, but gave no timescale for when this would happen.
U-turn on minimum salary threshold for family visas
The lack of detail, and the suddenness of the policy change, prompted opposition par-2 ties to condemn a lack of consultation, with Labour saying the policy was in "chaos".
While £29,000 remains above the average UK working salary, and is significantly higher than the previous £18,600 minimum, ministers appeared to have at least partly given way to the outpouring of fury over the £38,700 level, announced as part of a wider crackdown on legal migration earlier this month.
Under the £18,600 threshold, 75% of people could have family members join them; if it was set at £38,700, only 40% would be able to, falling to 25% in the north-east of England.
With such visas forming a small proportion of overall legal immigration, the original change was expected to account for only about 10,000 of a planned reduction of 300,000 in annual numbers, while taking a heavy toll on families, many of whom said they would be forced to live apart.
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