JSA and Immigration Rules are Confusing...Please help

[louisharrison]

Hi all

I am knew here and I am hoping to find some answers to my dilema.

I am a British citizen and had been married for over 2 years to a Polish girl. She came to England in April 2004 and have been in the UK ever since. we have been together since Sept 2004. My 11 year old step son has been with us since Dec 2004.

We claim Child Tax Credits in joint names but the money is paid to me. I claim the Child Benefit.

I came off income-based JSA at the beginning of June 2009 after being on it for 9 months and started working. The benefit was in both names together with Housing and Council Tax Benefits. I lost my job at the beginning of Sep 2009. I reclaimed IB-JSA as I did before.

My wife did some paid work over the 5 years she has been in the UK and paid her taxes and NI contribution. But she no longer can as she cannot find a job that accommodates school hours.

To my horror, the job centre now are asking us to proof that my wife is entitled to Public Funding. They said that we can see it in her passport. Well, my wife no longer has the passport she came on as she had to renew it in London at the Polish embassy. The new passport has no stamps.


Q1. Does my wife have to be registered to be entitled to public funds considering she has been in the UK for over 5 years and she is from a country that is part of the EU?
Q2. How do we find out if she is entitled to public funds?

Any help/comments/feedback will be appreciated. Thank you all in advance.

[PaperPusher]

Did she register for the Worker's Registration Scheme?

What was the date that she came to the UK?

How long did she work?

[louisharrison]

Did she register for the Worker's Registration Scheme?

What was the date that she came to the UK?

How long did she work?

Hi PaperPusher

Thank you for your prompt reply. The answers to the questions are:

1. Yes at the home office in May 2004.
2. 17 April 2004
3. She worked on and off but not for the last 3 years.

[louisharrison]

<<<<< UPDATE >>>>>

This morning, Sat 29/11/09, I received a telephone call from the Jobcentre informing me that our joint IB-JSA has now been processed and everything is fine.

That is of course good news, but I still would like to know why they called me before to throw at me all the legal jargon about my wife not entitled, bla bla bla.

The staff at the Job Centre should be more informed to what exactly the law is before they call people to cause them heartache and stress.

Anyway, I just wanted to update the posting so you are all in the know.

Good luck to everyone who experiences problems not of their fault with government departments.