To elaborate on the spousal visa issue: this only applies to non-EU spouses. As a British citizen, if you decide to marry a non-EU person, be prepared for hell

To elaborate on the spousal visa issue: this only applies to non-EU spouses. As a British citizen, if you decide to marry a non-EU person, be prepared for hell when you try to get them in. However, Germans living in Britain can get their non-EU spouse in under the German rules. These policies are a result of the governments impossible, damaging pledge to get immigration "in the tens of thousands". What happens is that they look at a categorized list of immigration categories, realize they cannot do anything at all about EU immigration so double down on non-EU migration. Except the rules only apply to British citizens, because they are the only people they can apply these rules consistently to. Therefore we are left with the bizarre situation where it is easier for a French person in Britain to get their spouse in than a British person in Britain. There are British people effectively exiled because they went abroad when young, got married and had a kid and cannot return with their family because they don't have a guaranteed job lined up in the UK paying 18k+. The spouses income is deemed irrelevant under the rules, so even if your non-EU spouse can earn well above that, it doesn't matter. Ridiculous, borderline sick fiddling from the government that has severely damaged the family lives of tens of thousands of Britons.