Supported housing

Hi. I’ve been on a student visa for 2 years and have a disability. I don’t have access to public funds. I have been facing money issues for some time and my current accommodation contract expired.

Due to no money, I contacted a religious organisation for accommodation help. I told them I’m not eligible for homelessness benefit. They did an assessment and put me in an accommodation for 5 days. I never paid anything. I didn’t know what this accommodation was.

Later I checked, it says the accommodation is a supported housing service and people staying there are referred to by the council to stay temporarily and paid by the council.

I never applied for homeless benefit to council. The local housing authority is the city council I think. Have I unknowingly accessed public fund?

Lauag wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 10, 2022 3:45 am

Have I unknowingly accessed public fund?

Possibly. I assume you have now moved out. If you are asked about it on a future immigration application, you can explain as you have done here.

In future visa application, if a questions asks if I have ever claimed public funds, shall I answer yes or no?

Does it matter if the question uses ‘claimed’ instead of ‘accessed’?

What shall I answer to this which is in the application- Have you received any public funds (money) in the UK?

If it is a Student visa application, I recommend looking at it one-to-one with the university's visa adviser.

If in doubt, it is always best to declare and explain.

I contacted the religious organisation who put me in the accommodation. They said some people do get put there through council. But I was put through their own charity program. So the council didn’t pay for it and has nothing to do with it. Does it mean I didn’t access public funds?

Also, I’m not eligible for homelessness support. But am I eligible for contacting social services due to my disability? Can it affect my current visa or future application?

Lauag wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 10, 2022 1:56 pm

I contacted the religious organisation who put me in the accommodation. They said some people do get put there through council. But I was put through their own charity program. So the council didn’t pay for it and has nothing to do with it. Does it mean I didn’t access public funds?

Also, I’m not eligible for homelessness support. But am I eligible for contacting social services due to my disability? Can it affect my current visa or future application?

These are questions dicey, may clarify further with the organisation providing you guidance N or assistance.

The organisation doesn’t has a legal service. They are unable to answer these questions. I’m planning to contact social care but in afraid it may affect my visa as they will be contacting the home office after I contact them

Lauag wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 11, 2022 6:00 am

The organisation doesn’t has a legal service. They are unable to answer these questions. I’m planning to contact social care but in afraid it may affect my visa as they will be contacting the home office after I contact them

If so wait for persons with more knowledge in such matters to respond to you questions.

Lauag wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 11, 2022 6:00 am

I’m planning to contact social care but in afraid it may affect my visa as they will be contacting the home office after I contact them

I'm not sure who you mean by "social care" but you don't need to contact anyone anyway. With respect, please try to keep this in proportion. It seems very unlikely there was any breach of your public funds restriction, but given the ambiguity because of how *other* people might access the same support you did, it's best to just declare what happened and explain.

You may be think that simply saying "Yes" to this question in itself triggers a refusal. It does not. It triggers looking at what happened, ie. your information and explanation. It seems very highly likely that the conclusion will be that there was no breach of conditions. Even if there were (which again it doesn't appear that there was), that does not trigger a mandatory refusal anyway, only discretionary. And there is a very high level of discretion used to not refuse minor breaches. See paragraph 9.8.3 of the General Grounds for Refusal:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... or-refusal

I cannot see any of this being a problem, but you are clearly highly anxious about it. For that reason I don't recommend continuing to solicit opinions or advice from amateur advisers, whose responses may only fuel your anxiety. As already advised, if this is a Student application, simply ask the international student adviser at the university for guidance on framing your information on the application. Students have minor breaches of their conditions all the time -- although AGAIN I don't think you have even breached any condition. The adviser will allay your fears, as I have also tried to do here, but I suspect I have not succeeded.

Thank you. Your reply has made me relaxed about it. Regarding contacting social services, I want to contact them for hardship and homelessness assistance. I’m not eligible to contact council directly because of ‘no public funds’ restriction. But as below, it send that I can contact social services for homelessness because of disability. I just wanted to know if I understood it correctly.

https://www.nrpfnetwork.org.uk/informat ... for-adults

Lauag wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 11, 2022 10:21 am

Regarding contacting social services, I want to contact them for hardship and homelessness assistance. I’m not eligible to contact council directly because of ‘no public funds’ restriction. But as below, it send that I can contact social services for homelessness because of disability. I just wanted to know if I understood it correctly.

I have no idea. That is not an immigration matter. I recommend you get advice from the disability coordinator at your university.

These matters are really not safe to be crowdsourced from random strangers online! Myself included.