moving back to UK and claiming benefits

Voyager2002

In many ways the visa will be a bigger problem than the benefits issue. I suggest you seek guidance on ImmigrationBoards.com

In practice, as I'm sure you have found out by now, you will need to provide evidence of suitable accommodation for your family in the UK, and enough money to support them without the need to claim benefits. The most direct way to meet this requirement would be for you to come to the UK first; rent a property of an adequate size (a standard Assured Shorthold tenancy would do the trick, but be sure that you can document that the landlord agrees to your family living there); and get a job. If you can show a decent capital sum, preferably with evidence that you have skills that make you employable, then they may well not require you to have a job at the time she applies, but of course that is a risk.

Voyager2002

If your bank balance (or total money available in other forms) amounts to more than about 16,000 pounds then you are unlikely to get anything in terms of JSA, nor help with housing costs. And you would be obliged to pay Council Tax as soon as you started living in the UK.

However, you would be entitled to Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit (Tax Credits are based on your income, not on your capital assets).

longey

Thank you, that's very helpful.

AnxiousMum

First off - your wife, being on a visa that will likely have 'not entitled to state funds' will mean that you will not get any benefits for her whatsoever. You won't get any extra money for her, but she will still be counted as a partner and so you will not be treated as a single parent either.

Personally, if trying to get your wife a permanent visa, YOU being on benefits is not the best option - as you are not showing your ability to provide for a family on your own.

What country are you coming from? That could make a big difference in what your entitlements are, as many countries have reciprocal agreements with the UK that a UK resident can claim in their country, and if you have been contributing there as a tax payer, you in return, could meet the eligibility requirements here - but, depends on what country you are coming from and have been contributing to.

margaretclare

longey wrote: »

Some people here seem offended by what I'm trying to do. I'm not saying my situation is the same, but it's not that much different from a person who buys a house with a mortgage, pays off the mortgage over time with their salary and then finds themselves unemployed with no income and little savings. Can that person claim benefits? What if that person sells their house and then uses the funds to buy another one?

Well, there is a difference and I'm surprised you can't see it. It's called 'patriotism'. An unfashionable concept I'll admit, but it still exists. The hypothetical person you describe has not left his/her own country and has paid into the system for many years, all the years that you've been away, in practice. So you contributed to the country of your birth for 10 years - the hypothetical person will have contributed for 22 years. To compound the problem, you want to bring in a foreign wife for whom, you say, you've had difficulties getting a visitor's visa.

Is there some reason why you cannot live permanently in the country where you've been for the past 12 years? What attracts you back to the land of your birth - it can't be sentiment and loyalty, surely?

Selling one's house and using the funds to buy another won't get you far nowadays, unless you're 'downsizing' from a mansion to a shoebox-size property in an unfashionable area.

dzug1

longey wrote: »

we are planning that my mother will put her house in joint names (hers and mine)

Could I translate that into English please?

It means that you have persuaded your mother to GIVE you half her house. Not just 'putting a name' on the register

That in the longer term can have problems:

maybe IHT, especially as your mother is eldely and infirm

maybe deprivation of assets if she needs to go into care and wants fees paying

You need to factor that in to your decision making as well

longey

margaretclare wrote: »

Well, there is a difference and I'm surprised you can't see it. It's called 'patriotism'. An unfashionable concept I'll admit, but it still exists. The hypothetical person you describe has not left his/her own country and has paid into the system for many years, all the years that you've been away, in practice. So you contributed to the country of your birth for 10 years - the hypothetical person will have contributed for 22 years.

Patriotism ? ! ? Please don't make me laugh. Do please provide some evidence that patriotism has anything to do with this.

So if I'd been away for 1 year would that have been OK ? What about 3 ? 5 ? 7 ? At what time does it become not OK ?

To compound the problem, you want to bring in a foreign wife for whom, you say, you've had difficulties getting a visitor's visa.

So perhaps you'd be happier if I left my wife and children behind then ?

Personally I don't see why the government made it so difficult for the mother of my children to get a visa, but that's the way the visa regs are these days, so I just have to live with it.

Is there some reason why you cannot live permanently in the country where you've been for the past 12 years? What attracts you back to the land of your birth - it can't be sentiment and loyalty, surely?

I have not lived in the same country for last 12 years. I have lived in Saudia Arabia, Nigeria, South Africa, Yemen, Bahrain and now UEA. Without a job, I cannot live here. My mother and the rest of my family live in the UK. Is that a good enough reason ?

Selling one's house and using the funds to buy another won't get you far nowadays, unless you're 'downsizing' from a mansion to a shoebox-size property in an unfashionable area.

I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. Who's talking about downsizing ?

margaretclare

I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. Who's talking about downsizing?

You mentioned selling one house to buy another and that implies 'downsizing' i.e. buying something smaller. You said 'What if that person sells their house and uses the funds to buy another one?' You could sell your house and buy another similar, but that wouldn't release funds for you.

I am sorry that the concept of patriotism is one that makes you laugh. Evidence? I think the evidence is in some of the responses you've received.

I too used to work in Saudi Arabia but I never regarded my home as being anywhere but in England. I was too homesick.

longey

dzug1 wrote: »

Could I translate that into English please?

It means that you have persuaded your mother to GIVE you half her house. Not just 'putting a name' on the register

That in the longer term can have problems:

maybe IHT, especially as your mother is eldely and infirm

maybe deprivation of assets if she needs to go into care and wants fees paying

You need to factor that in to your decision making as well

The house in question was formerly owned by me. I gave it to her when I left the UK. It's not worth anything close to causing an issue for IHT, and she will never go into care so long as I'm alive.

Jowo_2

margaretclare wrote: »

Well, there is a difference and I'm surprised you can't see it. It's called 'patriotism'. An unfashionable concept I'll admit, but it still exists. .

There is no requirement in any application for benefits that require the applicant to prove their love towards their mother country....

This forum is to help explain to people their benefit entitlements, not to make personal judgements. For discussions on benefit policy, there is the Discussion Time forum. Raise your ideas there.