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Universal Credit Entitlement
Hi there,
I have a query: My client is Eritrean and in UK with Spousal Visa. She has separated from her husband due to domestic violence and does not have much to live on. She states the charity Harbour is helping her with her Visa issue. She has been in the country 8 1/2 years. She advises her Passport states no recourse to public funds. She has an 11 year old daughter who she looks after and has a British passport.
My thoughts are that she is not entitled to UC as although she is the family member of an EEA worker and looks after a child who is British and the father is the EEA worker, in order to exercise those right you have to be from the EU yourself?
In which case is there anything else she can do? I don’t think there is a provision for domestic violence issues, or am I missing something else?
Thanks for any advice/info in advance
What is the husband’s nationality?
What is the husband’s nationality?
Sorry, he is British
Okay - I had a feeling that you might say that. As he is British, he is not an EEA worker so EU law is not immediately relevant. (If she were the spouse of an EEA national, she would not have required a spousal visa and wouldn’t have a passport marked NRPF).
The benefit system is not immediately going to be of any assistance to her whilst she is NRPF. However, she ought to have been advised by appropriately qualified immigration advisers about the Home Office’s “Destitute domestic violence concession”. Essentially this allows her to make an application for the NRPF condition to be temporarily lifted whilst an application for a change in her immigration position is considered. These applications are considered very rapidly. If she can get the NRPF condition lifted on DDV then she can make a claim for the appropriate benefits.
In the meantime, if she is a primary carer for a British child, then she may have a right to reside on the basis of the Zambrano case. Unfortunately this does not allow her to claim benefits, however it does mean that she may be able to approach social services for discretionary assistance on the basis of s17 Children Act.
So I would be making sure that she is getting appropriate immigration support to apply for the DDV and then putting in for UC and whatever else.
Okay - I had a feeling that you might say that. As he is British, he is not an EEA worker so EU law is not immediately relevant. (If she were the spouse of an EEA national, she would not have required a spousal visa and wouldn’t have a passport marked NRPF).
The benefit system is not immediately going to be of any assistance to her whilst she is NRPF. However, she ought to have been advised by appropriately qualified immigration advisers about the Home Office’s “Destitute domestic violence concession”. Essentially this allows her to make an application for the NRPF condition to be temporarily lifted whilst an application for a change in her immigration position is considered. These applications are considered very rapidly. If she can get the NRPF condition lifted on DDV then she can make a claim for the appropriate benefits.
In the meantime, if she is a primary carer for a British child, then she may have a right to reside on the basis of the Zambrano case. Unfortunately this does not allow her to claim benefits, however it does mean that she may be able to approach social services for discretionary assistance on the basis of s17 Children Act.
So I would be making sure that she is getting appropriate immigration support to apply for the DDV and then putting in for UC and whatever else.
Brilliant thank you so much