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Difficulties of Marriage with a Spouse on Benefits

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Riz1
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Difficulties of Marriage with a Spouse on Benefits

Post by Riz1 » Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:17 pm

Hi, Im Indian based American citizen marrying to an Indian British woman. My wife has two kids from her previous marriage. One kid is on disability and my wife is on unemployment due to her medical reason and being a single parent. I wanted to take her and kids to America with me but children wanna keep in touch with their father which is obvious and understandable. So, taking them to US with me is off the table and I had to move in with them in London based council apartment. Now, the problem arrises, according to a layer's advise that if i apply for the "status" it will be turned down and my wife's biggest concern is that she dont want to lose her benefits. The lawer advised us to file this marriage under HumanRights and it could take over 2 years before i would get to work in UK. Please help me on this issue because first its insane to spend thousands of pounds on layers and then sit home do nothing for two years and risk my wife's benefits...dont sound good to me and for my new family... :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

MPH80
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Re: Difficulties of Marriage with a Spouse on Benefits

Post by MPH80 » Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:38 pm

So you're already here in the UK? What type of visa are you here on?

Does the council know you've moved into the property? (this might be a more immediate threat to the benefits than a visa application!)

Does your wife claim DLA or carer's allowance for her son?

Riz1
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Re: Difficulties of Marriage with a Spouse on Benefits

Post by Riz1 » Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:04 pm

Yes I have moved in with my wife for last few weeks and council does not know about it and also yes my wife and her son claimant of DLA.

Riz1
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Re: Difficulties of Marriage with a Spouse on Benefits

Post by Riz1 » Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:10 pm

I'm on tourist visa

Riz1
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Re: Difficulties of Marriage with a Spouse on Benefits

Post by Riz1 » Thu Jul 24, 2014 5:12 pm

any update will be appreciated. thank you

MPH80
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Re: Difficulties of Marriage with a Spouse on Benefits

Post by MPH80 » Thu Jul 24, 2014 6:52 pm

There isn't an easy answer to this.

The proper route is for you to return to India/US and apply for a spouse visa. The council would need to be notified you'd be moving and provide confirmation they are ok with it. Your wife would probably just need to show adequate maintenance for you if she is in receipt of DLA herself (note - it very specifically has to be DLA). You can find a sticky post on what this means in the immigration for family members section.

If you wish to follow this route then what you must NOT do right now is anything illegal - do not work without permission. Do not overstay.

The alternative route for you is to apply under FLR(FP) - which would be an application outside the rules because you're trying to apply in country. This a) might result in 10 years to ILR rather than 5 and b) more than likely be rejected - you've only just married, and there isn't a hugely solid reason for a human rights case here.

The outcome of the FLR(FP) application will be an appeal and potentially a second appeal before you got the visa. During that entire time you'd be unable to work.

Riz1
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Re: Difficulties of Marriage with a Spouse on Benefits

Post by Riz1 » Sat Jul 26, 2014 4:21 am

You email was very helpful. Thank you.

Say i go back to USA and apply for the spouse visa as you said, my concern is, would my wife be still on risk loosing her benefits or not and how long the whole process will take?
thank you for you help.

MPH80
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Re: Difficulties of Marriage with a Spouse on Benefits

Post by MPH80 » Sat Jul 26, 2014 11:46 am

The short answer is that it depends entirely on the benefits.

Any benefits affected by household income would be affected when you started working. If you had significant savings - that might affect them. They may even be affected by the presence of multiple individuals in the house.

Any other benefits based on her individual circumstances wouldn't be.

The only way to know is to go through them one by one - and that requires you to know exactly what she's claiming - and look at the terms of them online.

The process of properly claiming a spouse visa should take somewhere in the region of 3 months-ish end-to-end. It may take up to 6 months.

The alternative route may take years and you'd both be living just on her benefits.

Keep in mind that if you overstay (to do the FLR(FP) application) and your situation starts to get looked at in detail - they may also look at what she's claiming rather carefully. Government agencies still tend to operate in silos - but they are getting better than ever at joining the dots.

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