Hi
I have been asked by the parents of a six year old girl who has a disability if they can claim DLA for her. They are from Malawi where the girl was born. They are here on a students visa. They have been here for approximately two years and the visa has been extended until Feb 2008. I know they comply with the 26 week rule on beibg present in this country but not sure how the residents test might apply. Any one had a success claiming DLA with a case like this?

DLA is "public funds" and students will only be admitted on a "no recourse to public funds" basis. This means that they are classified as persons from abroad under s 115 of the Immigrations and Asylum Act 1999 and not entitled to any of the benefits to which that section applies, including DLA.

In addition if a claim for DLA is made it will be a breach of the terms of entry and could lead to their leave being revoked and even to deportation, though unlikely because the claim will not succeed.

I know that the child is not herself on a student visa but the whole family are bound by this rule. Residence rights don't come into it really except for EEA nationals, which I presume they aren't unless they have been given asylum in another EEA country. Many countries give successful applicants for asylum their own nationality.

Hi

Thank you for the info. I had done some reading at the weekend and decided the same thing myself but it is good to have it confirmed. I had originally asked both the benefits unit at Blackpool and the benefits help line and they advised that they should apply but could not say whether they would get it or not. I was not happy with that so put it in the discussion forum.