Child Benefit & Health in Pregnancy Grant on spouse visa

I entered on March 13th on the spouse visa with a KOL Req stamp on it. (ILE, right?)

I'm setting up child benefit, I *think* I have to sign that up under my husband, the UK citizen, right? Or do I have the right to claim that myself?

Also - there is a new Health in Pregnancy grant that has come out since I was here last time, that I get a 190 pound one-off payment during pregnancy. it says I may not apply if I am "subject to immigration control" - so again, do I qualify? Or should I try to get that paid to my husband?

You don't have ILE (Indefinite Leave to Enter - which is ILR just issued outside the UK) - if you had taken the KOL test then applied for your visa in the US then you'd have ILE (which would have allowed you to claim benefits)...but you still have just a LLE (Limited Leave to Enter visa) which prohibits you from claiming on your own.

Your husband must claim for Child Benefit and you must be joint on the Tax Credits claim (if you make one)...except the health in preg grant which I believe you can claim for, but there's an entire thread regarding that one in Preg & parenting issues: http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=49877.0.


ETA link to other thread

HiPG is fine - I got it on FLR, you just have to fill out an extra bit of paper .

CB, we receive and I applied under my husband's name.  He is the primary claimant for Tax Credits, too, but my name had to be on the form as well.

MARL....

I'm a US Citizen on spouse visa (husband is a Brit), entered UK in Sept 08.  I claimed my Health in preg grant last month (at my 20 wks) and yes I did receive it.  Yes, you are subject to immigration control but every case is different.  My advice is to apply for it!!  You're going to have a British baby so you're fully entitled to it in my opinion:) Hehe.

As far as claiming other things I'm not sure as I haven't gotten to that point, I'm due end of April.  I applied for my ILR on 1st March and had to check the box that said I was claiming public funds but again, all cases are different.

Hope this helps.

Marlespo, the Child Benefit claim can definitely be made by your hubs. 

tripp07, you do need to be careful about what you apply for as it can really mess things up later if you receive benefits you're not entitled to. I think there was a thread in Visas about that recently.

I got the HiP grant as well, but you may have to stay on top of them about it. You have to wait for a decision for them to send you yet another bit of paperwork to only wait further. You'd think you could request it all upfront to save on time.

Also, my husband is in the midst of doing the Child Tax Credit (he's already claimed for Child Benefit). I have spoken with the help line and you should be okay as long as he is the primary one claiming and you fill out the partner section.

My hubby claims Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit for my daughter.  I will say that he filed on November 9th and we did not get a decision until March 18th...so it might take awhile.  Our case was a little different though since she is American and his stepdaughter.