JSA help needed please - habitual resident

missapril75

xylophone wrote: »

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/british-nationals-returning-work-abroad-fall-under-new-benefit-tourism-rules-1430716

But under the new rules, British citizens who have been working or living abroad will also have to wait three months to apply for income-based JSA

No doubt there's even more detail on this somewhere.

"Working" abroad will be defined somewhere, as will living abroad. It's unlikely to be as simple as a month in Ibiza touting for a club in between getting rat-faced.

One of my HRT decisions many years ago involved a holiday rep. She had renewable contracts 9 months at a time doing something like 3 months in each of 3 places then 3 month break and another 9 month contract.

So for nine months of the year she was out of the UK, but it was a British employer, she had tax/NI deducted, salary into UK bank and her other constant was the one place she could be guaranteed to be at was her UK home in the three months between work.

Judging by this article she might find herself out of luck for three months.

I expect there will be another outcry soon. When the original HRT rules were brought in back in 1994 most people falling foul of them were actually Brits coming home!!

Take a trip on Norman Tebbit's bike and go abroad for work and suffer for it.

pmlindyloo

Here's another example of someone caught by the new law:

http://m.yorkpress.co.uk/news/11011326.York_man_refused_benefits_due_to_new_immigration_rules/

From my reading it seems to suggest that anyone going abroad for a few months should be applying for jobs before they return rather than relying on the benefit system and/or having some kind of 'safety net' in place for when they return.

All the OP can do is to keep appealing the decision and supplying evidence of their habitual residence. Unfortunately, the system is so slow that the 3 months will have passed by the time they reverse the decision!

missapril75

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Here's another example of someone caught by the new law:

Does the Daily Mail know about this yet? It might be the one time where the paper could do something useful.

johnboy999

I've suffered the same fate - I went to live in the Philippines while I was helping my partner get her passport and begin her visa process for her to eventually join me here in the UK. I was there on a tourist visa and away for more than 3 months. I was astonished to hear of this new rule that came into place this year that I couldn't ask for any help to get myself back into the jobs market. I personally feel it's extremely offensive for a British citizen who was born in the UK and paid taxes here for more than 30 years to face this ridiculous habitual residency test, which of course they deemed I automatically failed due to being outside the UK for more than 3 months! I'm not allowed to apply for JSA or any other benefits until I've been back in the UK for 3 months. But don't these idiots realise I don't want to stay on benefits as I can't finish my partners visa application until I am in work and earning £16.8K pa?

Sorry for the rant but I think it's disgraceful to treat UK citizens like this

pmlindyloo

johnboy999 wrote: »

I've suffered the same fate - I went to live in the Philippines while I was helping my partner get her passport and begin her visa process for her to eventually join me here in the UK. I was there on a tourist visa and away for more than 3 months. I was astonished to hear of this new rule that came into place this year that I couldn't ask for any help to get myself back into the jobs market. I personally feel it's extremely offensive for a British citizen who was born in the UK and paid taxes here for more than 30 years to face this ridiculous habitual residency test, which of course they deemed I automatically failed due to being outside the UK for more than 3 months! I'm not allowed to apply for JSA or any other benefits until I've been back in the UK for 3 months. But don't these idiots realise I don't want to stay on benefits as I can't finish my partners visa application until I am in work and earning £16.8K pa?

Sorry for the rant but I think it's disgraceful to treat UK citizens like this

But this is because we are all Europeans so one rule fits all

And the even better news is that this will be extended to Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits as well from July 1st.

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/information__resources/benefits/migrants/habitual_residence_test_hrt.aspx

samroo

Looking at this issue from the other side of the coin - surely someone cannot expect to go on an extended holiday of 3+ months and then to immediately sign on for benefits upon their return. The benefits money comes from the taxes of working people who are lucky to get 4-6 weeks holiday a year

WelshPaul

I agree, the OP should of used their money to support themselves back into work. Not blown it on a holiday for months then come home when skint expecting the tax payer to fund them!

MissMoneypenny

johnboy999 wrote: »

But don't these idiots realise I don't want to stay on benefits as I can't finish my partners visa application until I am in work and earning £16.8K pa?

It's £18,600. And you have to be earning that for at least 6 months, to show that you can afford to sponsor her.

BillJones

johnboy999 wrote: »

I personally feel it's extremely offensive for a British citizen who was born in the UK and paid taxes here for more than 30 years to face this ridiculous habitual residency test, which of course they deemed I automatically failed due to being outside the UK for more than 3 months!

I think it's fair enough. You need t have sorted out a job for when you come back, not take months away and then assume that you can swan back in and take state money when you choose to.

The example at the start of this thread is even more egregious, six months on holiday, and then with the temerity to ask for benefits as soon as they return, paid for by people who'll never in their lives have the means to have a six month break somewhere nice.

missapril75

samroo wrote: »

Looking at this issue from the other side of the coin - surely someone cannot expect to go on an extended holiday of 3+ months and then to immediately sign on for benefits upon their return. The benefits money comes from the taxes of working people who are lucky to get 4-6 weeks holiday a year

I don't see why not. They may have paid taxes themselves.

I don't like the way some people, on their return, demand preferential treatment because they "need the money urgently" and they won't wait for their claim to go through like everybody else has to.

But nothing wrong coming out of the system. It's not like it cost anything extra.

WelshPaul wrote: »

I agree, the OP should of used their money to support themselves back into work. Not blown it on a holiday for months then come home when skint expecting the tax payer to fund them!

If they funded the trip and saved public funds for the duration what's the problem?

It's a different matter if they were just being pushed to find work a bit more or by going on holiday they reduced their chances of getting work.

The benefits system allows one to have several thousand ££ and still qualify. It's not like we're talking deprivation is it. Rather than claim public funds,someone lives on their own money for a bit and then comes back in the system.

Why should they lose the rights that other UK resident people have? Why should it be different for someone grape picking in Europe to someone, say, traveling around the UK for the festival season and reapplying after?

One might even make a 'moral' case in favour of the grape picker. At least they were working.