The possibility of some long-awaited good news may be in the (admittedly, very far off) horizon for families struggling to meet the minimum income threshold set by Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules to be granted a 2.5 year visa for their Non-European Economic Area National spouse/partner to join them in the UK in the first half of 2016.

First, Colin Yeo of the very popular Free Movement Blog reported on 15th June 2015 that the Supreme Court had granted permission to consider the decision of the Court of Appeal to reverse an earlier decision of the High Court, essentially in favour of the Claimants.

Now, we have confirmation courtesy of BritCits that the hearing will be held from 22nd to 24th February 2016.

The Justices of the Supreme Court assigned to the case appear to be Lady Hale, Lord Sumption and Lord Carnwath. A high powered bench, who can hopefully bring some much needed resolution and clarity to this vexed and highly divisive issue.

Until then and at the time of writing, non-EEA National spouses/partners must either:

a) earn a minimum of £18,600.00 (Gross not Net; received for the required length of time varying from six months, to a year, to two years and corroborated with the appropriate evidence depending on your individual circumstances stipulated in Appendix FM-SE of the Immigration Rules) or, alternatively,

b) have access to £16,000.00 in savings (in actual fact, it works out to £ Whatever Figure of Savings You Have - £16,000 = £ X / 2.5 = £ X [the end figure should be £16,000 or more]; again, corroborated with appropriate evidence of the source of funds, the manner in which it is held and length of time for which it has been and is held must conform to the requirements of Appendix FM-SE).