Please advise how we can succeed with Tier 2 G visa application despite my Child Benefit claim.

[Ennie26]

Hello,

I really need expert advice now regarding my forthcoming application for Tier 2 General visa and dependant visa.

My situation is my husband holds a Tier 4 Student visa, I hold a dependant visa and my daughter born in the UK (2 y.o.) doesn't have a visa yet. My husband just got a job offer with sponsorship. The employer already issued a CoS and whilst preparing for application I found out I made a big mistake of claiming Child Benefit after the birth of my child. I applied without knowing it being a public fund, I did look up online about eligibility for Child Benefit but didn't find out it was restricted to non British citizen. I also thought if I were not entitled to it, I would get rejected anyway. However, I got accepted and has been receiving Child Benefit for 19 months now. I feel myself so careless and ignorant not having researched it more carefully. We were so afraid that our application would be rejected due to breach of visa condition. After thinking over various ways and googling similar cases, we plan to do the following steps:

1. I called HMRC to stop CB payment because of my ineligibility for it. I also sent them a formal letter stating the reason and asking them to confirm by letter that they stopped my CB, it was due to admin error (because I filled out the form very honestly), and tell me how to repay all amounts.

2. My husband will apply alone for Tier 2 G. My hope is I claimed for it, the payment was under my HMRC account so Home Office may not link his application to my case. Then hopefully his visa will be granted. He needs to start job next month so we can't wait for receiving HMRC letter to be more sure.

3. I'll wait for that letter from HMRC and repay all amounts before starting my application. I don't know how the question regarding public fund is asked. Is it "Are you receiving public fund?", or "Have you received public fund...?". If the question is about the past to present, I'll have to say yes, but possibly I can write some comments (not sure if there is any part for comments) and will enclose the HMRC letter and evidence of my repayment. If the question is about the present, should I say yes or no and should I still enclose the letter and repayment evidence.

4. If I am successful then I'll apply for my child's visa. If not, I am thinking about trying to appeal or make a new application. However, if it really fails, my appeal or new application might not have much hope because I've done that much.

5. The last issue is that the CoS issued is for 5 years, but we are thinking about applying for 3 years first to save cost and because of the CB incident we are not sure to put in a lot of money right now. Does my husband need to ask the employer to amend the CoS with new work end date, or he can apply for 3 years under the current 5 years CoS?

My only hope is that HMRC will reply to me and send me a response letter like I need. If they don't admit it was their admin error, I don't have evidence that I wasn't at fault, only the proof I stopped getting CB and repayed everything, can it be considered as my good faith to consider accepting my visa application?

We are very much worried now and would really appreciate if anyone can give us advice.

Thanks so much in advance