Hi,
I am writing to ask for an immigration question, I myself am a British citizen, my spouse is a Pakistani citizen, now I that I have sponsored my husband, he is on spouse visa for 30 months and we would have to reapply after the first 30 months for extension completing 60 months all together. Finally after 60 months we would have to apply for my husband's indefinite for UK.
Now that I am not working due to pregnancy, I would like to get advise whether I am eligible to apply for housing benefit for myself and my child due very soon as I can no longer stay at my parent's house. Would my husband be allowed to live with me if I apply for housing benefits while he is working full time and earning more than £19000 per annum.
will this effect on his visa extension in future?
I caught the sentence below from UKBA's letter after my husband's spouse visa got accepted but I do not understand whether I am allowed to apply for housing benefits for myself and my child, my husband is willing to pay his rent:
Under the Immigration rules you are not entitled to receive public funds to help meet your living costs (or those of any dependent). In addition your SPONSOR is not entitled to claim or receive public funds on your BEHALF.
Also on
www.lawcentreni.org website I caught a paragraph which has confused me:
There is no objection to the UK resident sponsor claiming any benefits to which s/he is entitled, as it is additional recourse to public funds that the rules aim to avoid. Payment to the sponsor is not treated as reliance on public funds unless the level of payment ‘is (or would be) entitled to’ be increased by the arrival of the applicant.
The sponsor should be able to demonstrate on her/his own finances that the family will have means above the level at which the non-contributory, ’safety net’ benefits, Income Support and Income based Jobseeker’s Allowance would be paid. Where the sponsor is unable to maintain the family adequately from her/his own resources, S/he may be able to rely on the offer of a job for the applicant. This is often particularly relevant where a husband is being sponsored for entry and the wife has care of young children, or where the sponsor is unable to work on health grounds. All cases where maintenance is in issue require careful preparation of the evidence. This will involve calculations of the income and principal expenses of the household, and a comparison with the levels of benefit payments.
The Immigration Rules therefore require that both the sponsor and applicant for the visa will be able to demonstrate with sufficient original documentary evidence that they have enough money and adequate housing for themselves, without any additional recourse to public funds for the non-UK spouse/ civil partner/ partner. However, please note that there are certain very specific exceptions to this rule and further specialist advice should be sought.
Therefore, because the Immigration Rules only prohibit any ‘additional’ recourse to public funds for the non-settled spouse/civil partner/partner, the sponsor in the UK can still apply for benefits for themselves, if relevant.
We do not wish to make any mistakes so please could you help me answer my question as I am in desperate need of help, whether I am eligible to apply for housing benefits or not for myself and my child while my husband can pay his rent separately or am I not?
Kind Regards
