Help regarding claiming HIPG & its consequences on ILR

[coolguycp1]

I am a citizen of a country outside EEA and have come to the UK in 2006 on a 5 year work permit. My wife joined me as a dependent in 2007. The conditions of our visa clearly states 'No recourse to public funds'. However, under the advice of our midwife, we claimed HIPG during my wife's pregnancy, even though we were not very clear whether to claim it or not.

I am due to apply for ILR in a year's time and am worried that claiming HIPG might have consequences on granting of ILR. Will the Home Office find out that I have claimed benefits and refuse ILR on this basis?

Please advise me if I have made a mistake and how to correct this mistake so that it does not have any impact on my ILR application?

[John]

Personally I find this situation quite unacceptable, and I am attempting to take it up at quite a high level in UKBA, but the fact is that whilst some UKBA forms, such as the SET(M), suggest that HIPG is Public Funds, the legislation has not been changed, to bring HIPG within the definition of Public Funds, as in para 6 of the Immigration Rules.

So coolguycp1, the receipt of HIPG cannot possibly have any adverse effect upon any applications for ILR.

[coolguycp1]

Personally I find this situation quite unacceptable, and I am attempting to take it up at quite a high level in UKBA, but the fact is that whilst some UKBA forms, such as the SET(M), suggest that HIPG is Public Funds, the legislation has not been changed, to bring HIPG within the definition of Public Funds, as in para 6 of the Immigration Rules.

So coolguycp1, the receipt of HIPG cannot possibly have any adverse effect upon any applications for ILR.

John, Thanks for your advice. However, I am worried that legislation might be changed by the time I am ready for applying for ILR (due next year in September). If this happens, dont you think I will be caught between a rock and a hard place?

[John]

Your opening post in this topic clearly mentions that HIPG has already been claimed, so clearly it was not within the definition of Public Funds when you claimed.

Accordingly, based upon what you have posted, I have no concerns and that will continue to be the case even if the definition of Public Funds is changed before you apply for ILR. Changes to the Public Funds definition cannot be made to be retrospective.

[coolguycp1]

Your opening post in this topic clearly mentions that HIPG has already been claimed, so clearly it was not within the definition of Public Funds when you claimed.

Accordingly, based upon what you have posted, I have no concerns and that will continue to be the case even if the definition of Public Funds is changed before you apply for ILR. Changes to the Public Funds definition cannot be made to be retrospective.

John,

Thanks again for providing your insight.

I may be jumping the gun here but just for my own satisfaction.

As I am a Work permit holder, I will need to fill Form SET (O) to apply for ILR next year. As I was going through the latest SET(O) form available on UKBA website, under Section 5.5, there is question "Are you receiving any public funds?". Below it, HIPG is one of the public funds mentioned.

My interpretation of the question is that we have to disclose any public funds being claimed by us at the time of making the application. Since, I have claimed HIPG in the past, it should not have any bearing on answering the question in the form, and I should say No to the question "Are you receiving any public funds?".

Can you confirm if my thought process is correct?

Thanks very much for your help.

[John]

I have taken up this matter with a high-level person in UKBA, an acknowledgement has been received and assurance given that I shall get a full reply. I shall keep this Board up to date on this matter when there is anything to report.

As regards the form SET(O), you will notice that the Public Funds question is written in the present tense ..... are you receiving .... and clearly you will be able to answer "no" to that question .... whatever UKBA do about HIPG, given that you claimed it in the past.

[coolguycp1]

Thanks John,

Once again. You have clairifed my doubts.

[metalic78]

I have taken up this matter with a high-level person in UKBA, an acknowledgement has been received and assurance given that I shall get a full reply. I shall keep this Board up to date on this matter when there is anything to report.

As regards the form SET(O), you will notice that the Public Funds question is written in the present tense ..... are you receiving .... and clearly you will be able to answer "no" to that question .... whatever UKBA do about HIPG, given that you claimed it in the past.

Hi John,
Have you received a full response from UKBA as yet?

[John]

No, unfortunately not. I shall post again when the reply is received.

[sama]

John,

Did you get reply from UKBA?

Sama

[John]

No, not yet. Very disappointing.

[del_piero_3]

I just wanted to add my 2cent on this matter, it may help someone in future.

Am British and my wife is on a 2year spouse visa. When we had our baby we too applied for HIPG and were successful. After a week I realised that HIPG was listed under "no recourse to public funds" so we asked them to take the money back because we did not want any problems when applying for ILR.

Anyway they said they will investigate this matter further i.e. write to head office and also to home office, after a very long wait, about 3months we received a letter that stated that we are eligible for the HIPG because one of the partner is British so therefore it will not be classed as "recourse to public funds" when applying for ILR.

Basically the letter quotes the rules and why we are eligible for the grant.

[John]

del_piero_3, thank you for posting. The letter you received confirms there is no problem, and that is exactly what I would expect that letter to say.

[sfgirl1]

I am here on a spouse visa my husband is a british national and I am american as such I have no recourse to public funds. I was told by a midwife I was eligible for the grant. So I checked the Home office website. The website says that there are some exceptions to the public funds rule and contact the issuing authority to confirm eligibility. I followed the advice on the Home office website when I applied the health in pregnancy grant. HMRC said I was eligable for the grant because I am married to a british national. When it was time to apply for my ILR I was rejected. The reason given was I had taken the HIPG. I work here. I pay taxes here. We own a home. My husband is a national as is my son, and I was rejected for the sake of £190 pounds even though I followed the correct process. I have paid back the money and am filing an appeal. If you have taken the grant and want to apply for your ILR pay it back. Its not worth it.[/b]

[John]

sfgirl1, I am appalled to read of your experience, but also disappointed that you have repaid the HiPG that you are perfectly entitled to.

Let's get this straight, and I have just again checked this on the legislation section on the UKBA website ..... whatever UKBA guidance pages say about HiPG on their website or on their forms .... HiPG is not within the definition of Public Funds, as in para 6 of the Immigration Rules. Here is the link .... click here .... to the first section of the Immigration Rules, and if you scroll down to para 6, and read the definition of Public Funds, can you see HiPG in that definition? No!

So sfgirl1, you are bound to win the appeal ..... indeed if you present the information that I have given above, it will be extremely easy to do so. But a suggestion .... the link above .... print out that section of the Immigration Rules .... the version in force when you made your application .... because it is of course possible that UKBA may stop its current incompetence on this matter, and add HiPG to the Public Funds definition, once Parliament starts sitting again.

[sfgirl1]

Thanks for the link John. I paid the money back because I did not want to take something the home office says I have no right to. Although HMRC disagrees. In the end it will be the Home office and not HMRC that decides my fate. I also received a letter from HMRC explaining why I was entitled to the fund which I submitted with my original application for ILR. It made no difference. I was told that I should have contacted home office before I accepted the grant to discuss my eligibility, even though on the website this is not the process one is directed to follow. The basic attitude of the Home office has been I should have known better. I have submitted an appeal. I will keep this board updated with the results

[cogunde]

John - have you now gotten a reply from the Home office about this?

[happylife3011]

Hi there,

Me and my wife are in the same situation. I am a British National my wife Chineese.

Our midwife rightly encouraged us to apply for HIPG as it clearly states in HIPG-FS1 that if you are subject to immigration control you may still be able to get the grant if :

"you are a family member of a person who is a UK, Swiss or EEA national"

so.. we filled in the HIPG Claim form and ticked the box as yes for question 10 which is "are you subject to immigration control"

following this my wife recieved a phone call where she was asked to confirm that I was a British National and that we were married which again was yes - our application was processed and 190 ponds deposited in our account.

All well and good at this stage... or so we thought!!

5 months down the line and my wife is elligible to apply for indeffinate leave to remain in the UK (5 years working VISA) and this decision by HMRC has risen up to bite us in the bum.

I have spoken to UKBA who - after first patronising me about why we had claimed this when my wife has no recorse to public funds!! Decided to fob me off with the fact that this is a policy question that nobody is able to answer - they will look into it and get back to me. (seeing that John who obviously knows more about this sort of stuff than me has had no luck getting a reply - I won't hold my breath)

Unhappy with this I have called HMRC to ask them why they granted our application and will they take the money back. They told us that we are perfectly entitled to the grant however understood that it will hinder our SET (O) application.

Our appointment is next Friday and we really don't know what to do.

The lady at UKBA told us straight that our application will be rejected on theese grounds which leaves us with 2 options:

1, pay money back to HMRC and tick no to 5.5 are you recieving public funds = application will pass job done but 190 pounds down.
2, Stand up for what we know is right but put ourselves through the inconvenience of appeal and no doubt contless conversations with Junior staff who can't help with anything at all.

So - long winded I know!! But to help us make the right decision does anyone have any advice or knowledge of the appeals process?

We plan to travel to China in a few months and we need to make sure this appeal won't impact our travel plans during this period - also for the sake of 190 quid is it really worth it?

Any help would be great.

Regards

[cogunde]

Happylife3011, am not sure it's worth the bother, although of course John would disagree with me. I contacted HMRC to make a refund request after finding out we had the same issue (although both my wife and I are subject to immigration control, unlike your case where it's just your wife). The request took about a week to come through, and we paid the refund last week. Our PEO appointment is next week.

The bottom line is that it's down to you. If you go for an appeal, you are very much likely to win using John's argument. The issue is whether you have the luxury of time to take this on.

All the best!

[happylife3011]

Good news,

After several lengthy calls to both HMRC and UKBA we have got a result!!

UKBA have contacted HMRC to confirm that we are indeed eligible for the HIPG as I am a British national and my wife is on work permit - (under the section I highlighted above).

The manager I spoke to at UKBA is sending us an e-mail to confirm that although we will tick yes for HIPG our application will be accepted.

Furthermore I am told that UKBA are working to rectify the current situation by issuing guidance documents to all case managers.

So a result for us - we are entitled to the HIPG and we will make our appointment next friday with nothing to stop our application being sucessful.

In the cases above where people have paid back the Grant I would perhaps speak to someone like John to see what can be done to claim it back.

Incidentally in my conversations with UKBA I spoke to 3 levels of people before I got to a manager by simply stating that I was disatisfied with their assistance and would like to speak to sombody more senior.

I really hope this helps others out there who find themselves in the same situation as us and if anyone is interested in more details please don't hesitate to ask.

Regards

Rob & Lin

[happylife3011]

Below is the letter from UKBA:

Dear Mr Euston,

Further to our conversations this week, I am sorry that the information you required regarding the Health in Pregnancy Grant was not available when you contacted the Immigration Enquiry Bureau.

You enquired about your wife's SET(O) application, for indefinite leave to remain in the UK on the basis of work permit employment which she will submit in person next Friday 4th June at the Liverpool Public Enquiry Office. You informed the telephone officer and supervisor that you spoke to that staff at the HMRC helpline and your wife's midwife had both indicated that she was entitled to claim the Health in Pregnancy Grant, despite the fact that this is listed on the SET(O) application form as a public fund.

I have made enquiries, both with HMRC colleagues and UK Border Agency policy colleagues, and I can confirm that the Health in Pregnancy Grant is one of the public funds which is included on the list of exceptions which can be claimed by the family members of EEA nationals (including UK nationals). Therefore, your wife was eligible to claim the Health in Pregnancy Grant, and this will not affect the consideration of her SET(O) application.

Information about these exceptions can be found on the UK Border Agency, on pages 14 and 15 of the Public Funds Guidance. The list of public funds which can be claimed by EEA nationals and their family members does not currently include the Health in Pregnancy Grant, but this will be added to the list as quickly as possible.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for bringing this to our attention, and I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Yours sincerely,

Elaine Kelly

Team Leader

Customer Service Unit

Immigration Enquiry Bureau

UK Border Agency

[del_piero_3]

Good luck happylife3011, keep us posted on your application.

[happylife3011]

Good luck happylife3011, keep us posted on your application.

Got my ILR last Friday in Liverpool. It took me 2 hours to pay for the application fee and wait and just 15mins for the interview and another 30mins to collect my passport. I got both printed emails from UKBA and HMRC but the officer didnt ask for any of them even not mention anything about my HIPG. Anyway, I think they have already solved the problem.

[del_piero_3]

Good luck happylife3011, keep us posted on your application.

Got my ILR last Friday in Liverpool. It took me 2 hours to pay for the application fee and wait and just 15mins for the interview and another 30mins to collect my passport. I got both printed emails from UKBA and HMRC but the officer didnt ask for any of them even not mention anything about my HIPG. Anyway, I think they have already solved the problem.

Congratulations....