Help? Benefits related question?!

5.4.4. Income from the following sources will not be counted towards the financial
requirement: 
• Income-related benefits: Income Support, income-related Employment and Support
Allowance, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and income-based
Jobseeker’s Allowance. 

My fiance'  gets DLA, ESA, Housing benefit and council Tax.
How does this affect us? Help Please?

DLA recipients are exempt from the financial requirements of the new rules, so you don't need to worry about proving income.

Or to be more accurate, you don't need to worry about proving income by the new rules. You still use the old rules formulation and all income counts.

So We don't need to prove the income except the 111.45 a week. Even though he gets DLA, ESA, Council tax and housing benefit? Will they take into account ALL these benefits? According the quoted paragraph I posted, they won't take into account any of the benefits except the DLA. or is it they won't exempt us on those alone? I'm so confused right now.

You are quoting from the new rules. The new rules COMPLETELY DO NOT apply to you because sponsors on DLA are completely exempt from the new rules. Ignore them and go by the old rules. That means all income will count towards the £111.45 a week.

Thank you! I'd seriously hug you right now if I could. Reading all that stuff made my heart jump in my chest.

You are quoting from the new rules. The new rules COMPLETELY DO NOT apply to you because sponsors on DLA are completely exempt from the new rules. Ignore them and go by the old rules. That means all income will count towards the £111.45 a week.

Sorry, snooping in for a moment.

I'm in the exact same position with my husband who's in the UK, but he makes 98 pounds every week on DLA, and about 156 pounds every two weeks on ESA, gets housing benefit and council tax benefit. After the few deductions which are only about 20 pounds every two weeks or so.

Are you seriously saying that all the other benefits combined can still go towards the spouse visa application? We're married and have a son and everything, and we want to be together in the UK, but we kept finding that we couldn't because he only makes 98 pounds on DLA and decided we weren't gonna be able to get it.

Thanks

Under the old rules ALL income counted towards the requirement. That means all benefits (with the caveat that the sponsor can't claim more benefits for the immigrant spouse), all savings, any income the applicant might have. You'll have to do the calculations yourself to see if you meet the old requirements (I believe you have to add an extra amount for your son), but it's not just the DLA that counts as income.

Under the old rules ALL income counted towards the requirement. That means all benefits (with the caveat that the sponsor can't claim more benefits for the immigrant spouse), all savings, any income the applicant might have. You'll have to do the calculations yourself to see if you meet the old requirements (I believe you have to add an extra amount for your son), but it's not just the DLA that counts as income.

Fair enough, I didn't even realize that! Now, as for our son, he IS a british citizen, because his dad's parents were born and raised there, his parents parents were born and raised there and blah blah blah, so for a second question, does that make our son exempt? or do we need to pay like an extra 60 quid or so for him as well??

Thank you so much for these posts

From what I remember of the old rules, you had to count any children whatever their nationality because you still need to prove that you can support the whole family. I believe it's about £65 a week for the child. The difference is you don't have to pay for a visa, just the British passport. So in total you'd need to show an income of around £180 a week after rent and council tax.

Really? I thought British citizen children did not count as they are eligible for benefits.

Really? I thought British citizen children did not count as they are eligible for benefits.

As far as I am aware, the whole 'British children don't count' thing was only introduced in July 2012 for the financial requirements under the new rules.

So, if the new rules requirements don't apply for people on DLA, then presumably they have to meet the financial requirements under the old rules, which had to include ANY children living in the same household, whether British citizens or not.

For example, under the old rules, if a US citizen was moving in with a UK citizen spouse and their 2 UK citizen children (whether they were from another relationship or they were the children of the US/UK couple), they needed to show £111.45 (couple) + £64.99 (child 1) + £64.99 (child 2) for the requirement. Now, under the new rules, assuming no exemption from the financial requirement, they would need to show £18,600 for the US citizen, but nothing extra for the UK citizen children.

Really? I thought British citizen children did not count as they are eligible for benefits.

As far as I am aware, the whole 'British children don't count' thing was only introduced in July 2012 for the financial requirements under the new rules.

So, if the new rules requirements don't apply for people on DLA, then presumably they have to meet the financial requirements under the old rules, which had to include ANY children living in the same household, whether British citizens or not.

For example, under the old rules, if a US citizen was moving in with a UK citizen spouse and their 2 UK citizen children (whether they were from another relationship or they were the children of the US/UK couple), they needed to show £111.45 (couple) + £64.99 (child 1) + £64.99 (child 2) for the requirement. Now, under the new rules, assuming no exemption from the financial requirement, they would need to show £18,600 for the US citizen, but nothing extra for the UK citizen children.

In Annex FM 1.7 for the new financial requirements, it says that people exempt from the new requirements due to receipt of DLA have to meet the requirements set out in IDI chapter 8 section 1.7. Now, IDI chapter 8, section 1.7 seems to be about domestic violence, however section 1.8 is about Maintenance and Accommodation for spouses, and in that section, it states:

10. CHILDREN AND OTHER DEPENDENT RELATIVES
As with spouses and civil partners, we must be satisfied under paragraphs 297 (iv) and (v) and 298 (iv) and (v) of HC 395 that any children or other dependent relatives can be maintained and accommodated adequately, without recourse to public funds. This must be in accommodation that the sponsor owns or occupies himself and that he is able and willing to maintain them adequately without recourse to public funds. The same guidelines apply to dependants as with spouses and civil partners.
Care should be taken when considering refusing an application from a child or dependent relative on maintenance and/or accommodation grounds alone. Such cases should be considered on their merits and any compassionate circumstances should be taken into account. In cases of doubt the application should be referred to a senior caseworker.