Move from South Africa to UK

Hi Im writing on behalf of my friends currently living in South Africa.
He is a British National (by decent) married to a South African. They have 2 children 1 borne to them both the other her child from a previous marriage.
Thy are looking to move ovr to the UK after the summer. Can anyone help advise the best course of action for them.
As far as I can make out (from Border Agency wecsites) He may live and work in the UK and is entitled to Child Benefit for any dependants.

Now ... Will she automatically have 'No recourse for public funds' stamped in her passport and does that mean if he claims child benefit it will not go in her favour when she applies for naturalisation after 2 years or is this acceptable. They are not coming over to the UK for the benefits however as he is a British citizen and they are moving to the UK with full intentions to settle hee and to make a life in the UK I would like to give them the best help I can with this life changing decision. Thank you so much for taking the time to read. Would welcome any advise

With benefits it is fine for the British citizen to claim any benefits they are entitled so, it's additional benefits that they can't claim. So no problems at all in claiming child benefit.

How long have they been married? If it's over 4 years it means she can apply for ILE/ILR (residency) as soon as she's passed the Life in the UK test, otherwise it will take 2 years.

She won't though be able to naturalise after 2 years, it is a minimum of 3 years.

Theyve been together for over 4 years but only married for a year (due to very slow divorce proceedings)
When you say additional benefits does this include working tax credits ? This is my confusion ... If she is not allowed to claim anything but he is allowed he would have to make a joint claim in his name - wouldnt he ????
If his job falls below the thresh hold of earnings and he is entitled to working / child tax credits does this mean as he is a british national he can claim or he cannot claim as his wife is under a 'no recourse to funds ' Which way does it fall ??

rachel76 wrote:Theyve been together for over 4 years but only married for a year (due to very slow divorce proceedings)
When you say additional benefits does this include working tax credits ? This is my confusion ... If she is not allowed to claim anything but he is allowed he would have to make a joint claim in his name - wouldnt he ????
If his job falls below the thresh hold of earnings and he is entitled to working / child tax credits does this mean as he is a british national he can claim or he cannot claim as his wife is under a 'no recourse to funds ' Which way does it fall ??

If they have only been married a year, she'll have to go fo the normal 27 month spouse visa, and then apply for ILR or it's replacement after 2 years in the UK.

My understanding is he would be able to claim WTC, etc, even though it would require him to put in a joint application with his wife.

I think there are a number of issues here. Firstly visas. There has been mentioned that the wife will need a visa, but no mention that both of the children will also need Child Settlement visas. So we are talking about three visa applications, not one, so trebling the visa application fees.

As regards the child from the previous marriage, are we sure that the wife has Sole Responsibility for her child. If not then the Child Settlement visa will not be issued. After all the British Government does not want to being a party to any child abduction issues.

And the wife's visa? They have been married for only one year, but together over four years. Even though strictly not due it is still worth asking for the "KOL REQ" endorsement on the visa. I have known of cases where the endorsement has been granted, in these circumstances. After all, if a couple have lived together for say 3 years 11 months, then they get married, and then one month later they apply for a spouse visa, it would be daft not to give the KOL REQ endorsement, because if they had not got married then that endorsement would have been due. Go for it!

OK, having got them all here, what benefits could be claimed? Well actually, back-track a little and ask the question, can those potential benefits be taken into account to assist in passing the financial test which needs to be passed in order to get the visas. The answer to that is no, clearly! The reason for that is that para 6C of the Immigration Rules says exactly that, that such potential benefits cannot be taken into account in assessing whether the financial test is passed, or not.

OK, let's now move on, and assume that the visas have been granted and the whole family is now in the UK. Well yes, for reasons fully explained in the first pinned topic in the Claiming Benefits section of this board, there will be no problem Child Benefit being claimed by one of the parents, and Tax Credits being claimed by the couple jointly.

So to summarise, do we know if the wife has Sole Responsibility of her child? Also what are the family finances like? Is there any potential problem that the financial test might not be passed? I just have a suspicion, quite possibly wrongly, that the fact that benefits are being mentioned at this stage might mean that finances are on a knife-edge?

John wrote:I think there are a number of issues here. Firstly visas. There has been mentioned that the wife will need a visa, but no mention that both of the children will also need Child Settlement visas. So we are talking about three visa applications, not one, so trebling the visa application fees.

As regards the child from the previous marriage, are we sure that the wife has Sole Responsibility for her child. If not then the Child Settlement visa will not be issued. After all the British Government does not want to being a party to any child abduction issues.

"Sole Responsibility" has a specific definition:
http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/ecg/settle ... n#18165144