Child Benefit question - ILR

Hi,

My wife is wanting to claim child benefits for our son. She has had ILR since 2012 but we went to Japan in 2014 where we had our son and returned September 2016.

Firstly, can she claim child benefit, secondly for the question "When did you arrive in the UK" should this be the date she first came to the UK(2008) or the date returning to live in the UK(2016). One of the criteria for claiming child benefit is to have lived in the UK for 3 months, so if we have to put 2016 date for first arrived, I assume we can't claim until December. And lastly, I assume she would need to send her Passport/biometrics card with the application.

Any help on this would be appreciated, apologies if this has been asked before.

Thanks,

Sukh

EhimeOrange wrote: My wife is wanting to claim child benefits for our son. She has had ILR since 2012 but we went to Japan in 2014 where we had our son and returned September 2016.

Was she out of the UK for more than 2 years?

What is your citizenship?

EhimeOrange wrote:Firstly, can she claim child benefit,

It depends if she kept her ILR as it expires after 2 years of residing outside the UK. That is why I asked both the questions above.

Thanks for the reply.

No, came back within the 2 year cut off so still has ILR.

I am British but want her to claim for pension/NI reasons as she isn't working at the moment, but will claim myself if its not possible for her to do so.

Sukh

With ILR she can claim in her name to get her NI contributions.
I believe that as you have been outside the UK for more than 12 months, there is a 3 month wait.

I'm not sure what you need to send, but that information should be on the claim form.
https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit/how-to-claim