Right to reside case

Hi there

Just wanted a second opinion about this really.

My client is Moroccan. She got married in 1998 to someone with dual British and German nationality. She entered the UK in July 2005 as the spouse of an EEA national and has leave to remain until March 2011.

The client has worked since February 2007 and remains in work now. Her husband worked during part of 2006 but she is not sure exactly when or whether they were in receipt of JSA in the period they were out of work.

In November 2008 the client separated from her husband. She has sole custody of the 2 children from their marriage, both of whom are at school.

The client wants to divorce her husband. She has been told however by Housing Benefits Office that she will lose entitlement to housing benefits and tax credits if she gets divorced as she will not have the right to reside.

My understanding is that they are wrong on the basis that she can retain the right to reside as a divorced spouse of an EEA national both because she is still a worker and because the marriage lasted at least 3 years, including at least 1 in the UK. In any case the client can retain the right to reside as the sole carer of a child in general education and may soon achieve permanent residence.

Is this correct or is there something that I have missed?

Many thanks for your help

Josh

and if the spouse has British nationality, then she and the children are the family of a british person, someone hs posted recently on this aspect in another thread…search forum for texeira, i think.