All our families belong together. And we all deserve the chance to live and grow old with the people we love. This doesn’t change if one of us happens to be from somewhere else. Many of us travel for work, for leisure or to study. Sometimes we fall in love across borders.
Under the current rules, British nationals have to demonstrate that they meet a high minimum income requirement before they can live in the UK with a partner from outside the European Economic Area. 40% of working people with non EEA partners would have to choose between living overseas with the person they love and coming home to the rest of their family in the UK. This figure rises to 80% for women in part-time work. Our immigration system has thus separated tens of thousands of families; thousands of children have now grown up without one of their parents.
Governments should seek to make it easier, not more difficult to build a life with those we love.

“My daughter is getting to know me via Skype. …