Benefits : affecting ILR? Read before starting new topic.

I am British citezen and my wife is Turkish.
She has been here for nearly 2 years on a spouse visa.
for the first year of this visa we had been running our own busibess.Unfortunately this was forced to close just 2 weeks before my wife gave birth to our daughter.

I had no option but to claim benifits JSA, housing benifit and child tax credit.
I claimed these in my name only and did not seek or recive additional benifits for my wife, and have tried to secure work for me.

In dec 2007 I did set uo a tempory shop just for christmas which made a small profit of £2000.

In jan 2008 I started clamming benifits again

My wife has just started part time work again after the baby which brings in about £40-£50 per week.

Now I am reading with great confusion the rules and the guidence on benifits and no recourse to public funds.

My question is this
I am about to file the application for ILR what should I do?

I had no option but to claim benifits JSA, housing benifit and child tax credit.
I claimed these in my name only

I hope you didn't claim Tax Credits in your name only! It is a requirement, in respect of a couple living together, that any Tax Credits claim must be in joint names.

In the Immigration Rules, Rule 6 includes a definition of Public Funds. But immediately following are Rules 6A and 6B, and they are rather important to understand the benefits situation.

In respect of JSA it is even more complicated, given that there are two types of JSA ... contribution-based and income-based. Which did you claim? If it was income-based, and the following also applies to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, Rule 6A says you cannot claim more benefit because your wife is living with you, and you confirm that to be the case. If it was contribution-based JSA, then that is not within the definition of Public Funds, so absolutely no problem you claiming whatever amount, including increase for your wife.

Tax Credits! Absolutely no problem you and your wife submitting joint claims for Tax Credits, either in the past or now. The legislation .... reg 3(2), Tax Credits (Immigration) Regulations 2003, as reinforced by Rule 6B of the Immigration Rules .... states that where one of the couple is a person subject to immigration control (your wife) and the other of the couple is not (you) then for Tax Credits purposes only both are treated as not subject to immigration control .... and thus Tax Credits claims are totally OK, and for such a couple technically Tax Credits are not within the definition of Public Funds.

You do not mention Child Benefit. Is CB being claimed? You (and certainly not your wife) is totally OK to claim CB, and if a claim has not been submitted then it should be submitted without delay.

thanks for the reply
1 child tax credits was in joint names
2 I am claiming housing benifit in my name
3 child benifit in my name
I am also claimming income based jsa in my name only ......Not as a couple and reciving only single persons allowence of £59.15 per week

thumpers, all that sounds fine, except you now have a child, so I wonder why the income-based JSA is just for you? It appears to me it should be for you and one child.

And I presume you are also claiming Council Tax Benefit, as well as Housing Benefit?

hi there again
i am claiming jsa for my self , was told to apply for child tax credit for our child

and yes i am claiming council tax benifit as well , that was automatic with the housing benifit.

I do have one more question to ask
On the form for ILR.....It asks who is claiming the benifits........do i tick all in my name?
or do i tick child tax credit in both names?

thanks again

It asks who is claiming the benifits........do i tick all in my name?
or do i tick child tax credit in both names?

That is actually quite a technical question, and you might be unhappy or nervous about the answer that follows!

I think you tick neither! The logic of that is this. The ability of you and your wife to submit a Tax Credits claim stems from Rule 6B of the Immigration Rules, which reads :-

6B. A person shall not be regarded as having recourse to public funds if he is a person who is not excluded from specified benefits under section 115 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 by virtue of regulations made under sub-sections (3) and (4) of that section or section 42 of the Tax Credits Act 2002.

And the relevant regulations are the Tax Credits (Immigration) Regulations 2003, and those were indeed made under section 42 of the Tax Credits Act 2002.

So I conclude that, for you and your wife, Tax Credits are not Public Funds, and therefore neither column should be ticked.

No John
I am not nervous
I love that answer

thanks again
anthony thumpers

Interesting topic

Section 7 - Public funds wrote:5.1.3 Partner is allowed to claim tax credits

Claims for child and working tax credits must be made jointly in the case of a couple. If only one member of a couple is subject to immigration, then for tax credits purposes neither are treated as being subject to immigration control. (This is unlike other benefits such as child benefit, which are assessed and paid individually).

I would like to say although I do love Johns answer to my question .

i have looked at the wording on the SET M form again, and while i believe that we have no problem in claiming the above benifit.

the wording actually says what benifits are you claiming, it does not mention the words recourse to public funds. so although it is not actually recourse to public funds , it is a benifit....I think

which leads me back to my question I claimed the benefit, I ticked the box to say my wife was under immigration control, they pay the child tax credit to me, but my wife had to sign it

any other ideas on which boxes we should tick...Perhaps it does not matter

Did you claim HB in just ur name or both?

I claimed in my name .although the council insisted we put my wifes national insurance number on the form.

but I am sure there is no problem with that as I am uk citezen and entitled to claim for me and our daughter

John wrote:And the relevant regulations are the Tax Credits (Immigration) Regulations 2003, and those were indeed made under section 42 of the Tax Credits Act 2002.

So I conclude that, for you and your wife, Tax Credits are not Public Funds, and therefore neither column should be ticked.

Does this apply for child benefits too? Or would we need to tick the "your partner" box for the CB column? Does this affect the ILR application that the partner applies for child benefit (since I heard the partner is eligible for CB if the partner is british)?

Thanks!

Does this apply for child benefits too?

Not quite. Let's just quote rule 6B of the Immigration Rules :-

6B. A person shall not be regarded as having recourse to public funds if he is a person who is not excluded from specified benefits under section 115 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 by virtue of regulations made under sub-sections (3) and (4) of that section or section 42 of the Tax Credits Act 2002.

For Child Benefit the legislation is section 115 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and the regulation is regulation 2, The Social security (Immigration and Asylum) Consequential Amendments Regulations 2000.

But exactly the same conclusion is reached, as for Tax Credits previously mentioned.

i would like to thank you for your replies
went to croydon
they did not even look at the papers
my wifes ILR was granted in 35 minutes

Congratulations on the ILR, but then why not!

Your wife will be applying for Naturalisation as British, when she has been in the UK for 3 years?

But exactly the same conclusion is reached, as for Tax Credits previously mentioned.

So to finalize this I can apply for child benefit since I'm British (my wife is on a time-restricted visa) and we won't need to tick any box on the ILR form? And it won't affect her ILR application? Sorry just making sure I understand I haven't applied for any sort of benefits before.

The question of the application form relates to "Public Funds" but because of the way rule 6B of the Immigration Rules is worded, in the circumstances dealt with here, neither CB or TCs are within the definition of "Public Funds".

So I think totally OK not to tick.

Thanks John! Very helpful. Someone should buy you a bottle of wine sometime.

thumpers wrote:I claimed in my name .although the council insisted we put my wifes national insurance number on the form.

but I am sure there is no problem with that as I am uk citezen and entitled to claim for me and our daughter

iam in similar case like you,i got help from john,was very helpfull,now i am filling the housing benefit form,can i put my wife name too or i just apply as single,wouldnt be any trouble to do so,the fact that i hv partner living with me??

Two points .... only you are the applicant for the HB ... but the fact that your spouse is living there with you needs to be reported, as does details of their income.

John wrote:Two points .... only you are the applicant for the HB ... but the fact that your spouse is living there with you needs to be reported, as does details of their income.

thank you very much,you are a star

In respect of JSA it is even more complicated, given that there are two types of JSA ... contribution-based and income-based. Which did you claim? If it was income-based, and the following also applies to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, Rule 6A says you cannot claim more benefit because your wife is living with you, and you confirm that to be the case.

I dont understand this part in bold. When a person applies for HB - how does he know whether they assessor is giving more benefit because his wife is living with him, or whether he is getting only the rate for himself? Will the housin benefit office check to see/know that the wife is not eligible for public funds??

Hi,

Just went to try and get my Russian wife and step son their ILR, however we were told that as they have "No recourse to Public Funds" stamped on both their visas, and I have claimed child benefit and child tax credit they will not get their ILR.

I am a UK citizen and I have claimed Child Benefit for my step son in my name only, whilst for the Child Tax Credit both mine and my wifes name are on the form as she has a temporary job and her wage is to be included but money is paid to me.

As we tried to get her ILR direct from office in Liverpool, after the conversation with the form checker, who also contacted her manager. I am now faced with maybe posting the application I am awaiting a call from the child benefit office as I rang them to enquire.
Also for further information we had ticked both child benefit and child tax credit on the application form but under my section only.

Any one else out there been in this situation and will they not get their ILR?

Any comments gratefully received.

umchugga wrote:Just went to try and get my Russian wife and step son their ILR, however we were told that as they have "No recourse to Public Funds" stamped on both their visas, and I have claimed child benefit and child tax credit they will not get their ILR.

This is total rubbish, and with your permission, and without naming you (if only because I don't know your name!), I shall email the Liverpool PEO tomorrow, and point out quite a bit more staff training appears to be needed, in the form checker area!

not sure wrote:I dont understand this part in bold. When a person applies for HB - how does he know whether they assessor is giving more benefit because his wife is living with him, or whether he is getting only the rate for himself? Will the housin benefit office check to see/know that the wife is not eligible for public funds??

You should draw your wife's visa status to the attention of the benefit office, if that is not clear from the application form.

John wrote: You should draw your wife's visa status to the attention of the benefit office, if that is not clear from the application form.

thanks.