I am worried! Wife claiming benefits!

hi everyone ! hope u all doin fine ,

at the moment have 5 years residence permit (im Non EEA married to EEA),been working for the last 5 years in Uk , my permit expire March next year, have a child ,another one due in january ,not bad .

ok, i have the right to apply for ILR , have all the documents needed ( still sounds good) , BUT wife claimed benifit! i know thats suks! (sorry for the word), NOW the question is , whats the worst could happened ?

i know my application will be jeopardise but whats will happened if its refused! specialy when my residence permit will expire March next year!



help needed and apreciated....thank you

Good to see your first post.

First question to you ... have you downloaded the application form EEA4? If not do that now by clicking here. (The IND website is a bit slow ... patience required!)

Then look at Section 4 of the form .... page 8 of 14. That is headed :-

For confirmation of permanent residence, your EEA family member needs to have exercised a Treaty right in the United Kingdom for 4 years. Treaty rights refer to Employment, Self-Employment, Economic Self-Sufficiency, Retirement, and Permanent Incapacity following economic activity.

Workers or self-employed persons who have resided continuously in the United Kingdom for more than two years and who stop working as a result of permanent incapacity may also qualify.

Please provide details below of the exercise of Treaty rights for 4 years (continue on a separate sheet if necessary):

So how will that section of the form be completed? You say your wife is claiming benefits. You do not say what benefits she is claiming, or whether she is still working? Can you please explain a bit more?

Your wife is expecting a child next month. Is she currently on Maternity Leave from her employer?

Hi John and thanks


wifey not workin at the moment ! she did some part job for the last 5 months , i dont think shes qualified for maternity leave ....

she claimed child tax credit and and some housing benifits ( grrrr..i never agreed with that) but we pay full rent, council tax i mean i am suporting the family, Also housing benifit been canceled since October (aah thats good) , but i can see where is the probleme its on her (wifey) exercising the treaty right , her residence blue card not expired yet ( well its been issued same date as mine)

also wifey always been workin here but not for the last 4 years , coz she has child then misscariage and now shes pregnant.


i did fill the EEA2 , I MIGHT GIVE IT A TRY ! but the EEA4 looks interesting even though couldnt open the link ( but i red the section u copied in your replied John).


so whats would happen if HO refuse my application for ILR, i know i sound pesimist but im really worry .


thanks again John

You need to appreciate that this is quite a complex area and accordingly IND issue guidance to their staff about how to interpret the rules. These days the guidance is published on the internet.

I think you should attempt to download Chapter 2 - EDI instructions. (Patience really is needed downloading documents from the IND website these days!)

Having downloaded it turn to 2.4 and in particular you will see the words :-

maternity leave/ birth of a child

Looking at the context you will see that your wife is treated as still working and therefore exercising her treaty rights while she temporarily does not work because of the pregnancy/birth of a child.

As regards the Public Funds issue, at 2.1 you will read :-

Workers, who may receive "top up" public funds without losing their right of residence. This includes any public funds payable in respect of their dependent family members.

So I think you should proceed with an application for ILR using form EEA4. But your wife? Does she already have ILR in her passport? If not she should use form EEA3 to apply for that.

wife is italian ! my son too has italian passeport.

i will look at the instructions you gave John .

thanks a lot mate

OK your wife and son have Italian passports, but does your wife have UK ILR or a Permanent Residence sticker in her Italian passport?

If not she should apply for that using form EEA3, and include include her son on that form so that he gets the same sticker in his passport as well.

FWIW, from here at least, the IND website speeds up dramatically at the end of the working day.

I don't know whether IND staff use the WWW site, or whether they have their own dedicated server, but I suspect the former, judging by the speed-up after about 16.30hrs...

John wrote:OK your wife and son have Italian passports, but does your wife have UK ILR or a Permanent Residence sticker in her Italian passport?

If not she should apply for that using form EEA3, and include include her son on that form so that he gets the same sticker in his passport as well.

And as soon as *either* parent gets ILR, the child (if born in the UK) can *immediately* be registered as a British citizen under section 1(3) of the British Nationality Act 1981.

British citizens have more rights in the UK than Italian citizens, so this option is well worth considering.

Also - Italy allows spouses of Italian citizens to obtain citizenship based on the marriage alone after 3 years (residence in Italy not required). Assuming there's no bar to naturalisation - such as your home country does not permit dual citizenship and you would like to keep that nationality - this may also be an option worth considering.

You should still pursue ILR independently, however, and consider naturalisation as British once eligible.