Visa income rules discriminate against working-class people, British father says | Immigration and asylum
By: Chris Osuh Community affairs correspondent | Published: 2025-06-26 04:00:00 | Source: www.theguardian.com
A British father separated from his partner, son and stepson by UK visa rules says he feels as if he is “being punished for being working class and in love”.
Leighton Allen met his partner, Sophie Nyenza, who is from Tanzania, while travelling in the country in 2022. The pair had a son, Myles, and planned to settle in the UK.
But last year the then Conservative government changed the amount that British citizens must earn to be able to apply for a visa for a partner. Allen is now living in the UK but is unable to bring his family to join him.
The situation means his son doesn’t recognise him, Allen has said, while Nyenza, 32, who previously worked as a baker in Dar es Salaam, has to bring up the two-year-old and his 11-year-old brother, Alex, her son from a previous relationship,…
