To be fair, the Australian/UK case is mostly just driven by greed. The Singaporean rules were created to prevent maids "breaking up families" by getting into romantic relationships with male citizens.
In the UK case, is it just greed, or is there more to it than that?
In 2011, David Cameron gave a "hard line speech on immigration" [0]; to quote an article from the time describing it:
> The Government is planning to increase significantly the minimum amount that UK nationals must earn before being allowed to bring a dependent foreign spouse to live in Britain.
> In a hard line speech on immigration today David Cameron will also announce plans to lengthen the time that couples have to be together before they can settle in this country.
> The Prime Minister hopes the measures will reduce the 50,000 visas granted to family members of British citizens every year.
Sounds like there is more to their motivations than simply extracting money from prospective immigrants.
Well clearly they're trying to stop immigrant citizens parachuting in less-educated adults from poorer countries through spousal visas, and then have them live on government welfare.
Being able to financially support dependent foreign spouses seems like a very reasonable requirement.
EDIT: The spousal visa requires the sponsor to have an income of £18,600 (about 25,000 US dollars). That's not at all a high income.
That's not how the system really works though. They claim they are trying to stop "less-educated adults" who are going to "live on government welfare" – then they make it hard for an Oxbridge-educated doctor who works for the NHS to get a spouse visa for his university-educated wife – https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/home-office-windrush-sc...
> For instance, when my wife was rejected an extension for her spouse visa in 2017 despite us meeting all the requirements, the rejection letter stated that we should leave the UK and continue our marriage in India.
> This decision was passed despite the fact that I was born and brought up in this country and have had a British citizenship throughout. I had worked over 10 years in the NHS. However, in the eyes of a Home Office driven by a Tory-generated hostile environment, none of this was of consequence due to the ethnicity of my wife and I.
> The Home Office was happy to banish another doctor from the short-staffed NHS, and indeed the refusal letter stated that I should leave this country with my wife. My wife, meanwhile, is highly educated, with four degrees and a history of working as a language consultant at SOAS University.
Hah, curious, my first thought was, how is a law going to stop 2 people attracted to each other. But on second thoughts, if the maid knows there's no way she can get married/a passport by boinking the husband, she will find him less attractive.
And before the woke brigade shows up, yes in my -- hopefully not antiquated -- mind, status has a lot of influence in attraction, guys (well women too) want attractive mates to feel good about themselves and women find richer men attractive.
