Serious Illness on Spousal Visa!!

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this but we need some advice/help/suggestions!!

Since moving to UK on a spousal visa, my hubby has been diagnose with a serious heart disease and told he can't work!!! in fact, it takes him all his time to do anything.

There was no trace or sign of a bad heart or illness before he came down with a chest infection - after 3 weeks he was rushed to hospital where they found his condition.

Obviously we are aware that we can claim no benefits for him and our savings have taken a real dive. I have a full time job as well as getting extra money with making bride and groom cake toppers!

What we need to know is will this in any way affect him getting permanent residency?  This is really worrying us because he  has been told by the Consultant that he really wont be able to go back to work - they are even talking of heart transplant futher down the line.

If anybody can give us any idea of how this will affect, if at all, his permanency rating that would be great!  I don't want to spend the next 17 months worrying about it!

Thanks

Pauline.

(ADD ON!! We have just been informed that tests have come back to show that he has diabetes type 2 !!! gawd, can anything else be thrown at us  :\\\'(

I am so sorry about this.

I can't believe that the UK government would just let you starve on the basis that your husband is now no longer able to work. I think that to do so would be in breach of his Human Rights under Article 3 and probably 8. However, it may be the case that they would require that he seeks benefits in his home country first of all.  Have you looked to see if he is eligible?  Obviously we have a contributory benefits scheme in the UK - is there anything similar in the US he would be entitled to?

In the meantime, I am looking to see if there is anything else that can be done.

Victoria

Victoria, thanks for your reply 

He has actually been in touch with the American Embassy in London and after them sending him paperwork to fill in, we had a reply last week saying that they had received it all and he can expect to hear from the Social Security Disability within 12 to 18 months!!!!!!!!!

He is 48 and worked all his adult life with no claims on benefits before.  I can't believe that he was told 12 to 18 months 

We can just about get by with my wage and the little bit of savings we have left if we stick to a strong budget! He just feels so useless and helpless that he is unable to work or do anything about it.

We are both being very positive about it all and have decided that we are going to take one day at a time and enjoy life as much as we can!!! Its just this added worry of 'will he be granted' permanent residency or be told to go back to America because he has not contributed anything to this country?

Thanks for any information you or anybody else can give us.

Pauline.

If you are carrying the family financially and he's not claimed public funds, then he is a dependent.  Based upon what you have written, I see no reason to worry about his ILR application at this point.  As Victoria pointed out above, there are some loopholes and alternative stop gaps in order to avoid accessing public funds...

Victoria, thanks for your reply 

He has actually been in touch with the American Embassy in London and after them sending him paperwork to fill in, we had a reply last week saying that they had received it all and he can expect to hear from the Social Security Disability within 12 to 18 months!!!!!!!!!

He is 48 and worked all his adult life with no claims on benefits before.  I can't believe that he was told 12 to 18 months 

Pauline, so sorry to hear about your husband's health issues and your financial troubles. As for SSDI: you must be extremely aggressive in your pursuit of benefits. They are notoriously slow in approving disability for someone your husband's age and will take much longer than the 12-18 months, if they can get away with it! There are websites and blogs that should give you some tips on how to stay on them. Just google and see what you come up with. If I run across anything that may be helpful, I will pm you. Good luck!

Hi Pauline, I don't know much about this, but I think you might be able to claim certain benefits in your own right without any effect on your husband's status. I am thinking of council tax rebate and housing benefit. Maybe someone else can confirm if this would affect his visa?

Thats the trouble you see, I'm worried that if I do claim for benefits in my own right (as in council tax, etc) it just may affect his visa!

If anybody can point me in the right direction that would be a big help

meanwhile, thanks for all the replies - its nice to know we have 'help' on our side!!!

Pauline 

Hi Pauline.

I'm afraid I don't have any advice to give you but just wanted to let you know you're in my prayers and am sending lots of positive vibes to you and DH.

Good luck and best wishes!

There's some useful info on this thread:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=20247.0

I've been searching to see if I can find somerthing (odd minutes while at work) but as of yet, its really only if you have children that I've come across anything.

As I've said, its the though of them not giving him permanent residency in 17 months times that is the main concern.  We can and will manage with what we have (money wise), with a tight budget!  We just need reasurrance that because he has not worked since being here, and looks like he wont be able to now - he will be allowed to stay.  By the time his interview comes up for his permanent residency, we will have been married 3 and a half years.  I'm almost 99.99% certain that they will not send him back to America but I just need to be told that.

Sorry if I'm rambling but  my brain cells are not quite working right this week - not that they work all that great most of the time
Pauline.

Have you ever considered renting a room out I know it does not give you much but it might help for a while and may be your husband could do something web based that type of thing self employed.

Just a few idea's hope they are helpfull.

We can't rent out a room as we only have a teeny tiny house as it is.. one bedroom for us and the other is the computer/craft/storage room.. Its just a tiny 2 up 2 down that we have.  I have to have a craft table because I make and sell personlised bride and groom cake toppers - in fact the sale of them has helped out a lot.

Hubby had a shed build with about £500 worth of tools as he's a handy/craft man himself, but because of his illness and the cold, he's not been able to get out and do anything......hopefully once the weather gets better and he regains some of his strengh, he can spend time in there and make stuff to sell!

He has been discussing starting up an ebay business at home - but at the moment, he's still in the looking stages - if anybody can point us in that direction, that would be great too!

Thanks for all your replies.....maybe if I rang the Home Office and asked them what the situation would be regarding his medical condition, that would ease our minds a bit!
Thanks again

Pauline.

Your husband's ILR application won't be turned down simply because he hasn't worked in the UK -- there are plenty of people who come over as housewives/husbands and they go on to get their ILR successfully.  When you apply for ILR, you'll just need to prove that you've lived together as husband and wife for the past two years and that you can support yourselves.  As long as you can prove that, you should be fine.

Your husband's ILR application won't be turned down simply because he hasn't worked in the UK -- there are plenty of people who come over as housewives/husbands and they go on to get their ILR successfully.  When you apply for ILR, you'll just need to prove that you've lived together as husband and wife for the past two years and that you can support yourselves.  As long as you can prove that, you should be fine.

Bingo.  This is right on and correct, peeps.

You should ask about council tax. I am a dependent on my wife's visa, and am a full-time student. Being a full-time student, not working, entitled us to a break on council tax (25% less I believe). Didn't have any problem with the "no recourse to public funds" part of our visas. I guess we aren't getting money from the government, just not giving them as much. I don't know all the rules, and the situation is a little different, but it is worth checking with your council because it might save you some money.