EU Citizen with child as partner

halwise

Hi,
I would really appreciate some advice on what I should expect
in benefits and allowances in he following situation.
I am in the process of applying for income based JSA after work for an employment agency has come to an end.
My girl friend an Hungarian national but living and working in Austria
for the past 12 years is coming to England with her 12 year old son to live with me. I am ecstatic in one way but a little concerned in another. I fully expect to be working full time very soon, due to the seasonal nature of the work I am applying for. I also expect that once my girl friend and I have managed to get her son in school, that She will also seek work. My question is, in the meantime due to her recent arrival in this country are there any benefits and allowances as my dependent, her and her Son are entitled to, whilst living with me.
I live in a mortgaged property, I am a British citizen.
Your advice would be most appreciated, as the recent changes in legislation for EU arrivals have left me a little confused as to the length of time, She needs to be here before being considered, eligible.

Thanks in advance

Harry

paragon909

halwise wrote: »

Hi,
I would really appreciate some advice on what I should expect
in benefits and allowances in he following situation.
I am in the process of applying for income based JSA after work for an employment agency has come to an end.
My girl friend an Hungarian national but living and working in Austria
for the past 12 years is coming to England with her 12 year old son to live with me. I am ecstatic in one way but a little concerned in another. I fully expect to be working full time very soon, due to the seasonal nature of the work I am applying for. I also expect that once my girl friend and I have managed to get her son in school, that She will also seek work. My question is, in the meantime due to her recent arrival in this country are there any benefits and allowances as my dependent, her and her Son are entitled to, whilst living with me.
I live in a mortgaged property, I am a British citizen.
Your advice would be most appreciated, as the recent changes in legislation for EU arrivals have left me a little confused as to the length of time, She needs to be here before being considered, eligible.

Thanks in advance

Harry

EU nationals need to be living in Britain for atleast 3 months before they can apply for benefits, Also wouldn't it be wise getting a job lined up, I hear there is plenty of agencies in the EU that advertise jobs in the UK. Also after that 3 months an EU citizen must take a Habitual Residence Test.

All details can be found here.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/eu-jobseekers-barred-from-claiming-universal-credit

P.s As a Nationalist this type of behaviour does my head in just saying.

MissMoneypenny

No UK benefits anymore. EUs being able to claim all UK benefits as soon as they arrive, was the Labour government. When Brits voted to remove them from government the new government stopped the EU citizens’ instant access to UK benefits and free NHS.

The UK are still bringing in tougher new rules for new arrivals and those already in the UK, with more rules for EUs already announced this year before the election and some more expected later in the year. UK changes to EU citizens affect those already living in the UK if they haven’t achieved PR under EU rules (and even PR is tougher under this government) so she must keep up to date with these to be allowed to continue to reside in the UK with her son.

One major thing your girlfriend needs to be aware of (if she isn’t already) is that it a myth that an EU passport allows us to live in other EU countries. An EU passport means we can visit another EU country for 3 months and then we must leave there if we aren't exercising treaty rights (being a qualified person).

Since 2010 the UK deport and ban EU citizens and their families for 1 year, if they find they are they have no right to be in the UK because they overstayed that 3 months visit, or they are no longer exerting treaty rights and have therefore lost their right to reside in the UK. From April 2015, the NHS now finally has the means to check who has been stealing healthcare from the NHS and can now make sure they bill them - which will also affect those who EUs who have no right to reside in the UK as they will no longer be able to get free healthcare from the UK.

Your girlfriend having a British boyfriend (or even having a British spouse) does change the fact that she and her son must leave the UK after 3 months if isn't a qualified person. If she enters the UK under EU rules, then those are the rules she has to abide by in the UK. A qualified person is a worker, jobseeker, self sufficient or student. As you can see, there is no ‘partner of a citizen of that country qualified person’ to be allowed to live in their country. She must be a qualified person (under UK rules) for her and her son to reside in the UK past that initial 3 months and must remain a qualified person at all times.



While she is in the UK for those 3 months her EU passport allows her and her son, she can’t claim any UK benefits, but could see if she could claim unemployment benefits and benefits for her child, from her own country Hungary, or perhaps Austria. She will also need to get a Hungarian or Austrian EHIC to cover any NHS bills for her and her son . From April 2015, the NHS will now add 25% to the bill of EU citizens if they don't have insurance or another countries EHIC to pay their medical bills.

After her initial 3 months, she must then either leave the UK with her son, or be a qualified person under treaty rights to have a right to reside in the UK. If she wants to claim she is a jobseeker qualified person, then she can only have another 3 months in the UK as the UK now only allows 6 months total for EU citizens jobseekers before they lose their right to reside in the UK with their families.

During that second 3 months of her stay, where she states she is a jobseeker qualified person, if she is in an area that doesn’t have Universal Credit yet, then she can claim JSA based on the household income. She can’t claim any other benefits from the UK, including no child related benefits for her son from the UK, nor any housing costs.

If she is in an area where Universal Credit has replaced JSA, then she can’t have any benefits from the UK until she has worked in the UK. New rule that came in from 9 March 2015. (The link above from paragon).

Existing EU claimants are having their UK benefits removed too if the UK’s new rules means they have lost their right to reside in the UK. This is why she must keep up to date with any EEA changes the UK makes while she lives in the UK.


If she claims she is a worker qualified person (self employed or PAYE) then she must earn enough to pay her NICs each week, presently 24 hours a week earnking at least national minimum wage, to be classed as a worker qualified person and be allowed to remain in the UK as a worker. Although watch for any changes the UK make to that as they will affect those EUs already in the UK. Only EUs who are in work each week as a worker qualified person, can have free use of the NHS and access to UK benefits.

The only other types of qualified person under treaty rules free movement to be allowed to reside in the UK, are Student or Self Sufficient and they need a full Comprehensive Sickness Insurance policies for themselves and all their family members to pay for their NHS use. They are also not allowed to have any UK benefits at all. Self Sufficients must show they arrive with thousands to be self sufficient or something like a monthly pension, and Students of course must be in study in the UK.

von

The Habitual Residency Test does not apply to partner's therefore you can claim JSA for her as soon as she enters the UK.

FBaby

Why would she want to move now when you have become unemployed? Surely it makes more sense to wait until you are employed again securely and in the meantime maybe she can start applying for jobs in the UK from Austria. Most can be done on the Internet now. Surely it will be much less stressful to get used to living together if you don't have to worry about money and benefits?

SnooksNJ

FBaby wrote: »

Why would she want to move now when you have become unemployed? Surely it makes more sense to wait until you are employed again securely and in the meantime maybe she can start applying for jobs in the UK from Austria. Most can be done on the Internet now. Surely it will be much less stressful to get used to living together if you don't have to worry about money and benefits?

Maybe while the girlfriend is looking for work in the UK the OP can move to Austria and draw upon their social services.

MissMoneypenny

von wrote: »

The Habitual Residency Test does not apply to partner's therefore you can claim JSA for her as soon as she enters the UK.

Not true. Not under EU treaty rights or under UK immigration rules. Those days are over and that would now be benefit fraud. Germany wants to bring in a 5 year ban for EU citizens who take benefits they aren't allowed and the UK are sure to follow that if Germany gets that in.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11060289/Britain-may-copy-Germanys-move-to-deport-benefit-cheats.html

In the rush to get UK citizenship in fear of the UK leaving the EU, many partners of British citizens have found out they have no right to be reside in the UK despite the fact they have been living in the UK for years, as they are not a qualified person using treaty rights for free movement. Therefore their request to be a British citizen is denied as they haven't achieved PR after 5 years of exercising treaty rights as a qualified person.


Which means they then receive a letter telling them they have no right to reside in the UK and any UK benefits they have been receiving are stopped. Some just get told all their benefits have stopped, even when they haven't tried for British citizenship as they knew they would be told they have no right to reside in the UK. Since 2010, the UK can and does deport and ban EU overstays and their families as they are a drain on other services i.e. schools.

With the NHS now having the system to check which EU citizens and their families can use the NHS for free, (only those EUs in work and working at least a set number of hours a week) they will now be faced with having to pay their NHS medicals bills with 25% added if they don't have insurance. Under the Immigration Act 2014, from April 2015 the NHS trusts will be fined if they don't bill.


EU rules
As said, there is no 'partner of a citizen of that EU country quailified person route' to stay in another EU country past the 3 months their EU passport gives them to visit another country.
There is no claiming benefits from the UK when they arrive anymore as that was stopped for new arrivals in January 2014. Those same rules applied were applied for those already in the UK before January 2014 and came into force in January 2015.

https://www.freemovement.org.uk/benefits-to-be-withdrawn-from-eea-jobseekers-previously-unaffected-by-the-january-2014-changes/

https://www.freemovement.org.uk/existing-eea-migrants-at-risk-of-destitution-following-the-removal-of-housing-benefit/

The removal of benefits applies to those on ESA too if they UK finds out they have no right to reside in the UK, no matter how long they have lived in the UK with a British partner and been claiming benefits from the UK. The UK does not have a duty to give benefits, nor councils to house them, if they don't have right to reside in the UK.

UK immigration rules.

No extra JSA, ESA, housing etc for a foreign spouse as they have "no recourse to public funds" stamped on their visa for 5 years. Their British partner cannot claim extra benefits for that partner as they have to keep to the terms of their visa and can have their visa revoked. Taking benefits when they aren't allowed means that further visas will be denied.

Plus since July 2012, to bring a foreign partner and their child to the UK the UK citizen has to show they are either married to them or they been living together, akin to marriage for at least 2 years and that they have the money to sponsor them of 18,600 per year earnings for the partner and something like another 4k for each child that isn't a British citizen.

For a partner and one child, the UK citizen would have to show they were in work, had been for at least 6 months, and were earning about 23k(?) per year (for a partner or one child). Or that they had savings of that amount per year for 2.5 years (the length of the first visa.
Therefore the Brit needs savings of: about 23k (the amount they need per year) x 2.5 (length of the visa) + 16k (the cut off for income based benefits).

They would have to show that financial requirment again for their second visas in 30 months time and partially that amount again if they want ILR (Indefinate Leave to Remain) in 5 years time.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/452965/Immigration_Directorate_Instruction_Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement_August_2015.pdf

They also have to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge that came out this year as their contribution to the NHS until they are granted ILR.
https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application/overview


EU citizens and their families who are not allowed to use the NHS for free as they are not in work in the UK, are not allowed to buy this cheap IHS for full NHS cover and they and their families will need to pay the NHS at point of use.

von

Don't agree Miss Moneypenny. The OP is a British Citizen so unless he has been living outside the UK in the 3 months prior to claiming JSA he will pass the Habitual Residence Test - he doesn't actually say if or when he has been living abroad.
When his girlfriend joins him in the UK and he claims JSA for her, as she has a child it will not be a joint claim, just a claimant and partner claim so she will not need to sign on and look for work.
His girlfriend is not classed as a foreign spouse as she is from an EU state so the rest of your post does not apply.

jetplane

I agree with Von as a British Citizen you claim benefits for yourself, partner and son. Partner is not a foreign national.

As Von stated this relies on you having been resident in this country.

MissMoneypenny

von wrote: »

His girlfriend is not classed as a foreign spouse as she is from an EU state so the rest of your post does not apply.

Perhaps you would like to say how the EU national is exercising her EU rights to be in the UK if she isn't working? There is only worker, jobseeker, student or self employed qualified person, to be exercising treaty rights past 3 months. Her son is a family member of an EU citizen and his stay in the UK is dependant on his mother.

gayleygoo

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

Perhaps you would like to say how the EU natiaonl is exercising her EU rights to be in the UK if she isn't working?

OP says that she has been working in Austria, and intends to look for work once she is here. What do you want her to do, bring her job with her?