Child Tax Credit / Child Benefits / No Recourse to Public Funds

[shalona]

Ciao
We are in our first 2 years stint of spouse settlement visa & need to clarify the 'no recourse to public funds' bit in my wife & step daughter's passports.
We are about to claim child tax credits for both my filipino step daughter & my british daughter jointly. As far as I understand this allowed under the 'no recourse to public funds' rules as is not considered as such. I will also be claming child benefits for my british daughter which we are entitled too. We will obviously not be claiming child benefit for my filipino daughter as it seems this benefit is actually a recourse to public funds.

Its the child tax credits I am concerned with really as obviously would not wish to break any rules.
Cheers in advance

[Terpe]

Ciao
We are in our first 2 years stint of spouse settlement visa & need to clarify the 'no recourse to public funds' bit in my wife & step daughter's passports.
We are about to claim child tax credits for both my filipino step daughter & my british daughter jointly. As far as I understand this allowed under the 'no recourse to public funds' rules as is not considered as such. I will also be claming child benefits for my british daughter which we are entitled too. We will obviously not be claiming child benefit for my filipino daughter as it seems this benefit is actually a recourse to public funds.

Its the child tax credits I am concerned with really as obviously would not wish to break any rules.
Cheers in advance

Hopefully this should fully answer your questions
take a look here:-
http://filipinaroses.com/showthread....o+public+funds

If not please post your specific question

[shalona]

thks Terpe ..will check thru & v kind of you

[webclinician]

Just book an appointment with CAB. They should give you more information.

[shalona]

Hi Terpe ... I read the thread & checked the links about Child Benefit too .... so it seems I could claim child benefit for my step daugther in my own name .... but still I am worried! - as am not sure how UKBA would interpret in the future myself as the sponsor being partially reliant on public funds & if that works against us when they assess our overall financial capability ...also ..I admit I am still in disbelief that it can be allowed & also very concerned that it may still be recourse to public funds and worry on that being a risk to her settlement here .... maybe I need some convincing on this

[Terpe]

Hopefully, those members who claimed during their FLR period will provide some supporting comment for you.

There are some good postings here on the forum a quick search may help.

As a UK Citizen you can claim Child Benefits in your own name. You are entitled to it.

You may claim if you are responsible for a child. You do not need to be the parent of the child and you may be able to get Child Benefit even if the child does not live with you. Only one person can receive Child Benefit for a child.
Means stepchildren are included and can be claimed for.

[lordna]

I claimed child benefit in my name for my wifes daughter (filipino) and claimed child tax credit, The child tax credit is a joint claim in that i had to give details of both my wifes income and mine..but i am the claimant. I was told that i could claim for both without it affecting my wife and her daughters settlement application (ILR).
I was advised by immigration consultants (another forum) that i was entitled to claim both and it wouldnt affect the application....but its a constant worry i must admit!
Once UKBA get off their backsides and actually process our application will let you know if we got it ok. We got an acknowledgement letter saying they have our application on 22nd May....so only about 2 months wait so far!

[sars_notd_virus]

Ciao
We are in our first 2 years stint of spouse settlement visa & need to clarify the 'no recourse to public funds' bit in my wife & step daughter's passports.
We are about to claim child tax credits for both my filipino step daughter & my british daughter jointly.

Hello Shalona , my husband is the one claiming the child benefit for our daughter,...we were eligible and get paid for child tax credit only on the first year that i am here but when i started earning our joint income gone high and we lost the child tax credit benefit for this year.
I recently got my ILR approved and we had no problems submitting the joint claim letter(HMRC) for child tax credit.

[grahamw48]

It is the person applying for settlement who is not expected to have recourse to public funds.

I received Child Benefit for both of my stepchildren ...claimed in MY name.

They also had no problems receiving free NHS treatment etc, and even received English-speaking support at school during their first year here.

[shalona]

thanks everyone replying &has helped alot -- ....very supportive ....

[jamesy]

hi im basically in the same situation as you im just about to try and claim child benefit and tax credits aswell my wife and stepdaughter as also from the philippines ,i have a question for you regarding appliying for your wife and stepdaughters ilr visa ,can you please advise me of what the financial requirements are ,i know that as from july the 8th 2012 this year that the new requirements are you must earn 18,500 per year per couple and a further 2500 is to be added per child ,but according to what i can read on the ukba website it states that if you are allready a spouse or civil partner of a uk citizen ,and are allready living in the uk on a leave to remain visa ,then when you go to apply for indefinete leave to remain then the old rules will apply ,not the new ones as i stated ,please could you give me any info regarding the requirements you had to meet before you applied ,thanks for your help

[shalona]

hi-wife & step daughter are on ltr at the moment and then will convert to ilr at end of the 2 years ... i have been advised that the ilr financial requirements will be based on the UKBA rules as they were when we applied, the UKBA rules also state this too. So when we apply for ilr we dont need to meet the new 18500 + 2500 for each child dependant, rather the older levels. At the moment we surpass the new requirements anyway, but we will not be measured on these new ones I am pretty sure....The other rules that were important to meet are the accomodation req's......Have decided to apply in MY name for child benefit for my step daughter as is my right and will not affect her 'no recourse to public funds' status....there are others here who are much more informed on these rules & topics... but sounds like you have a pretty good handle on it..
good luck

[jamesy]

hi my wife and stepdaughter will be appliying for ilr early next year,we too were concidering trying to claim child benefit and tax credits in my name ,as they are also down as no recourse to public funds,as yet i havent plucked up the courage to do so ,as one of the questions they ask you on set (m) irl form is have you or your partner had any recourse to public funds,surley if you said yes then this would lead to a refusal,even if you said no to that question,they would be able to see if you claimed tax credits /child benefit by looking at your bankstatements they ask you for when appliying for ilr,im not saying were not entitled to claim ,im just a bit scared to incase it leads to a refusal when we apply next year for ilr,another thing that im not sure of is these new immigration rules ,according to what i can read if you arrive in the uk after july the 8th then your british partner must have a minimum income of 18,500 and a further 2500 for each child,otherwise ,your visa wont be granted ,it also goes on to say ,if your partner was already living in the country with you on a fiance visa or spouse visa before the new rules came in to effect in july 2012 ,then when you apply for your next visa (which will be ilr )in our case ,then your application for ilr will be looked at under the old rules ? can you advise me on what the old rules are ,do we still have to have a certain amount of money as in wages or money in our savings before they will grant her irl visa ? ,im sorry for putting all these questions to you ,i just thought that you mite know as you are basically going through what we will be going through next year , i do hope the next time i read your post that is says your wife and stepdaughters ilr visa was granted ,thanxs for reading my post and best of luck to you

[jamesy]

hi ,thanxs for your reply ,youve been very helpful,

[jamesy]

thanks for the advise

[Terpe]

jamesy,
There's no need to be concerned about making a claim for child benefit & child tax credit. You just make the claim in your name. You are entitled to it and you are not under any immigration restrictions.

Read this thread again and follow the links.

It's your choice of course to decide how you run your finances but there is no risk to the ILR for your wife.

Anybody here in UK under the old rules will be considered on those right the way to ILR (settlement)

There is no requirement for any savings.

A couple of points to hopefully ease any stress about finances:-

- Firstly, there is no requirement for any applicant using form SET(M) to be employed. It may be that the case the case that the applicant has never worked since arriving in the UK.

- Secondly, the UKBA caseworkers are under instruction not to reject ILR applications solely on financial grounds.

Do you feel that the household income is marginal?

[jamesy]

yes to a certain extent i do,before my stepdaughter came here my wage was more than enough for boath of us to live on but now that there is an extra mouth to feed as to speek we are now on a rather tight budget ,hence the reason i was enquiring about tax credits and child benefit ,i am now 100 percent convinced that its not recoursing public funds by myself claiming tax credits as it clearley states that a joint claim where one of the claiments is under immigration control,isnt regarded as having recoursed public funds ,but on the other hand i have went through the home office rules on no recourse to public funds ,and with regards to making a claim for child benefit for my stepdaughter being a recorse to public funds or not ,is yet to be publicized as there is no info atall ,so is it really worth the risk of my wife loosing her visa if it actually is a recourse to public funds?,my other concern is i signed a sponsorship form for both my wife and stepdaughter aswell ,a sponsorship undertaking,so does this mean i cant claim child benefit ,its the lack of information that makes people ask these questions ,i was reading another post on another website regarding child benefit ,and this guy was sceptical like me he contacted the ukba and asked the same question regarding recoursing public funds and he said they would not give him a definete answer they just baffeled him with science so to speek ,he went on to say he contacted his mp a few months ago and he got basically no where as till now he is still waiting on the mp repliying check it out the website is called immigrationboard.com thanxs again for your reply

[jamesy]

hi managed to claim tax credits no problem for philipina wife and step daughter,thats working tax creds and child tax creds ,you must apply in your name as in you must be the claiment,you also must include your wifes details ni number etc as its a joint claim but because you are british then they dont coun it as any of you jepordising your wife /stepdaughters visa by recorsing public funds ,on the subject of child benefit rather than claiming it i firstly wrote a letter to child benefit department exsplaining the circumstances ,visa conditions etc and asked if i claimed chil benefit ,would i be breaching my wife and stepdaughters visa conditions ,would it count as recorsing public funds ,i received a letter back about a month later from a case worker it was addressed to my wife and it basically said my wife had to claim and no it would not be classed as having recorsed public funds and also advised us to keep the reply letter for future reference when appliying for my wifes final ilr visa next year , the only problem i could see with the letter from the case worker was that they had put the wrong national insurance number on my wifes letter also they misspelled her first name .so i have written to them again as i cant use this letter.as proof that we wont be using public funds

[jamesy]

hi did your wife and stepdaughter get their irl visa and did they say anything regarding claiming working tax creds and child benefit

[Terpe]

jamesy,

Concerning the letter you received from the Child Benefit Agency.
Personally, I would be very cautious about accepting the advice that your wife be the one to claim.
In short I believe that advice to be incorrect.
Your wife is under restriction not to claim/use public money.

Why do you not feel uncomfortable to make a claim for child benefit in you own name?

To me that route completely avoids involving your wife.

[joebloggs]

i've always claimed child benefit and tax creds in my name,
but i think it is possible for your partner to claim in her name, as she is married to a British Citizen, I know some people who have, but to minimize any problems (some case workers dont know all the rules and regulations)and you wouldn't want to go to an appeal, so i would still claim it in your name and not in your wifes name..

This page tells you about exceptions to claiming public funds that may apply because of the nationality of a person’s family member.
A person subject to immigration control is not considered as accessing public funds if it is their partner who is receiving the funds that they are entitled to.
Child and working tax credits are claimed jointly by couples. If only one member of a couple is subject to immigration control, then for tax credits purposes, neither are treated as being subject to immigration control.
If a person is subject to immigration control and lives with a family member who is a British citizen or a national of a country in the European Economic Area (EEA) they can claim certain public funds if they have a right to reside in the UK.
For more information on the funds that an EEA national can claim and a list of EEA countries, please see related link: Public funds that EEA nationals can claim
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/si...df?view=Binary

[jamesy]

hi again ,youve ,miss read what i said ,i was the one who wrote to,the child benefit department,asking if i would be jepordising my wifes and stepdaughters visa conditions by putting in a claim for child benefit in my name for my step daughter ,it was the case worker from the child benefit office who replied to my letter ,and advised my wife that she would have to claim ,under no circumstances regardless of what they told me ,would i ever ask my wife to put in the child benefit claim in her name as she would then definetley be breaking her visa conditions ,the reply from the case worker was filed away and i have since sent them another letter along with my claim for child benefit for my stepdaughter ,which exsplains my wife and daughters visa conditions and i have asked for a written reply to confirm that if i claim child benefit then will it jepordise their visa and if so then please dont process my child benefit application