Failed Habitual Residence Test- Can I still claim Housing Benefit?

dktreesea

OhWow wrote: »

Under Labour they had access to all UK benefits when they arrived but that ended when the Conservatives got in. They have applied the changes to all those in the country before their rule change.

Not true.

So if it isn't true, how is it we came back under a Labour government and were required to show £25,200 in funds in our account (what the Embassy said was the funds required to be sufficient to support us for two years without having to claim benefits) before they would give my non-British spouse a visa?

OhWow wrote: »

The Brit can claim extra Tax Credits for their non-EU spouse. This has now been changed to only claiming extra tax credits if they have children. The requirement to show they can afford to sponsor a foreign spouse to the UK was brought in to reduce the burden on the UK taxpayers. It was set at just over the couple rate for WTC.

This is incorrect. Having arrived back, with our £25,200 in the bank, we were not able to claim for benefits even on my own account. The only thing we got was child benefit. We couldn't claim anything else, even if our work income had been low enough, because our claim was excluded under capital rules, i.e. more than £16k in capital.


Spending it all on arrival, except if it was for a deposit on a house, doesn't work, because it's deliberate deprivation of capital.