I was born in Portugal, my mother brought me to Scotland when I was five months old. I lived in Scotland until I was 17. She has never worked (I note that because I believe that affects my permanent right to reside). My education has always been my top priority and I consistently did well, sitting most of my exams early. I left home at 17 (a year ago) due to it being an abusive environment - to continue my education I had to escape her.
I moved to south-west England and lived with a friend I met online who became my boyfriend, while doing A Levels. We had both been told we weren't entitled for benefits due to my EU status and his Channel Islands citizenship. We didn't mind as we planned to live off a grant that he got for doing his Master's. So we did that for a year, under the impression that he'd get one again for his PhD. Lo and behold, he needs another year to do his Master's (it was quite optimistic to think otherwise
) so he won't get another grant. Thus, he can't support himself or me for another year.We are currently in the Channel Islands at his parents' house for the summer. He plans to stay here for a year, take a break from his Master's, and get a job. That does seem promising so he probably will get one and be able to help me out a bit.
However, obviously that's rather up in the air and so I am seeking out my own way of become financially independent. To pass the HRT it seems I need to earn enough to pay National Insurance, which would be around 34 hours on an 18 year old's minimum wage. (I turn 18 tomorrow.) This is near-on impossible to find while doing full-time education, and is a bit of a recipe for disaster if I'm aiming for all A/A*s. To make matters worse I'm having to fit both years of A Levels into this following year because I have to re-sit most of the first year. (Breakdown during exam period, mostly due to the impending financial doom but I do have a history of quite serious mental health issues.) This is my last year to sit A Levels before having to pay for them - I am a year older because I took a year out of school at 16.
I don't get JSA because of the full-time education, and every other benefit is obscured by my nationality in spite of having lived here my whole life. I could not go back to Portugal because I can't at all speak the language, going there would be a death wish as I wouldn't be able to get a job at all and of course my education would suffer horrendously. I'm caught in a loophole where the law treats me as if I have just arrived here. I don't believe I get permanent right to reside because my mother has never worked, but I'm not sure about that.
I have spoken to benefits experts, homeless shelters, even my local MP, and none came up with anything. The general consensus was that I should arrive back in the south-west and declare myself homeless, and only then would they be able to help me.
I am seeking options in terms of work. I am thinking of going into escorting, (yes, it is legal) and have been seeking advice for that, which in turn is what led me here as somebody told me about this forum. From what I've gathered, the money is well over what I'd need to live and the hours are so minimal that I wouldn't get anywhere near as stressed out as if I had a "normal" job, so it's a happy medium. Please don't try to convince me out of that, it's the situation I find myself in and like I said it is legal in spite of the risk. I would of course register as self-employed and pay my taxes, depending on my income I may then meet the requirements for the HRT but of course wouldn't need benefits anymore. I only mention this to let you know what my plan as of now is.
I am also of the understanding that if I did get benefits, they'd only last three months anyway, so obviously trying to get benefits isn't the greatest route to go down. What I'm going to try to do is get British Citizenship and pay for it using my earnings. The reason I absolutely refuse to leave school is because I want to go onto university, post-grad and all and eventually become a clinical psychologist. I don't want to do my A Levels part-time or anything like that, they are my absolute priority and I don't want to postpone my entrance to university any further.
That's just about everything, I may have accidentally missed something out. Sorry for the length. Really all I'm looking for is any sort of legal advice, if there's any loophole anywhere that might be able to save me. As you can see, I really am at the last resort. Thanks in advance for any advice/help.
