ILR for Wife and Pregnancy

I just wanted to clear a confusion regarding the ILR.

My wife who is currently on a 2 year Settlement Visa is 8 months pregnant. I am a British national and want to know whether our baby needs to be included in the ILR Set M form as a dependant who is applying with you ?

Also my wifes, midwife filled in and sent off the Health in Pregnancy Grant Form on her behalf. There was no mention of this on the forms as a `public fund` so it was sent off. My wife did tick the bit where it asked whether she was under immigration control and wrote a covering letter with the form mentioning this and that she was `recourse to public funds and wasn't sure whether this grant was classed as a public fund.

5 weeks later my wife decided to ring the HIP helpline and asked the progress of her application. They said it was incomplete and so it was not processed. She mentioned she was on a visa. They said they will pass this on to the Home Office and they will ring or write to you. We want to know whether they will view this in breach of immigation rules as she applied for the grant, obviously not knowing whether it was a public fund. We have not been in receipt of the money but will this affect when she comes to apply for ILR ?

Thanks.

The baby does not need to be included on the form SET(M) ..... because the baby will be British from the moment of birth.

After the birth it is totally OK for either you or your wife to claim Child Benefit, and for the two of you jointly to claim Tax Credits.

As regards the Health in Pregnancy Grant, that is not included in the definition of Public Funds, as in para 6 of the Immigration Rules. Indeed nothing maternity-related is in that definition.

Thanks. I just had a look at the latest version of the ILR Set(M) form under section 7 - Health in Pregnancy Grant has now been listed under public funds. The staff at the HiP helpline are not clear of this either. They state to refer to the The Home Office as its an immigration issue.

http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/siteco ... 042009.pdf

John, can you answer another question of mine.

My wife arrived to the UK on the 31st Jan 2009 and her visa valid till April 2011. When would you recommend she apply if she was to apply at a PEO ?

Thanks in advance.

Thanks. I just had a look at the latest version of the ILR Set(M) form under section 7 - Health in Pregnancy Grant has now been listed under public funds.

Hmmm ! Interesting! One little problem, for UKBA! The form SET(M) is not a statement of the law, and the Immigration Rules are the law, and I have just checked, the law has not been changed!

So I feel the need to contact UKBA and ask why they have changed the form, but not the law!

This affects not just Health in Pregnancy Grant but also Employment and Support Allowance.

UKBA do have a history about this sort of thing, well in reverse. After Tax Credits started to be paid they neglected to add those benefits to the definition of Public Funds ..... for nearly 2 years!

My wife arrived to the UK on the 31st Jan 2009 and her visa valid till April 2011. When would you recommend she apply if she was to apply at a PEO ?

Under current law and practice the ILR application can be made no earlier than 28 days before the 2nd anniversary of when she first entered the UK on her spouse visa, and no later than expiry date of the current spouse visa.

The UKBA page http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/while ... blicfunds/ lists

# health in pregnancy grant; and
# income-related employment and support allowance.
as public funds.

But strangely enough the pdf link on the right 'No recourse to public funds' - what does it mean?' does not include health in pregnancy grant and
# income-related employment and support allowance in the list of public funds.