Michael Engel lost his appeal to remain in UK with family because his wife earned below threshold required by British law

A South African man who lost his appeal to remain in the UK with his wife and 18-month-old daughter says his British family have been betrayed by their government.

Michael Engel, a 31-year-old yacht engineer living in Cornwall, faces deportation after losing his appeal to remain in the UK on human rights grounds. He was previously refused the right to stay in the country because his pregnant wife did not earn enough.

Tougher immigration rules introduced in 2012 mean that British citizens who want to bring a foreign spouse to the UK must earn £18,600 a year and a further £3,800 if they have a child that is not British. Although Engel is employed, his income did not count towards the threshold.

His wife Natalie set up an interior design business in an attempt to meet the requirement and made £19,786 in 2014 – a sum still deemed “minimal” by the immigration tribunal panel.

The South African said the immigration rules were bizarre, adding that a loophole means it is easier for an EU citizen to bring a non-EU spouse to Britain than it is for a British citizen to do the same.

“If my wife moved to another European country and established a life there for six months she would enter the country as an EU citizen, then I could come in with her and work,” he said.

“The worst thing is that my wife and daughter are both British and they’ve been betrayed by their own government.”

Natalie Engel added that she felt her family was being kicked out of the country. “The rules need to be readdressed by Theresa May and the Home Office. The disproportionately high financial requirements serve only to filter out the rich from the poor and put a price on love and happiness.”

The family did not want to return to Cape Town, she said, because of the high levels of crime and the need for high electric fences to protect themselves and their daughter.

A Home Office spokesman said the new financial thresholds were designed to stop foreign spouses becoming reliant on UK taxpayers.