Child Tac Credits

[bread]

Ok I have given my aplication for child tax credits they need both my and my wifes details and this is fine BUT they also need her national insurance number which as she is only 3 months in to her fiancee 6 month visa she does not have yet.

The Child tax credit office is ment to send a letter to the Job center in order to get her an apointment in order to give her a national insurance number. They have not done this and I have now been waiting for 5 weeks. I have written and phoned so many times and all departments from both places blame it on each other and I am getting no where.

I also have been given an appointment for a work national insurance number but have been advised not to go for this appointment as she is not allowed to work and I am told that the national insurance number so I can claim Child tax credits is not the same.???

I seem to remember some one else having to deal with this and was wondering how they got to the end of this.

Ta bread

[7by7]

I also have been given an appointment for a work national insurance number but have been advised not to go for this appointment as she is not allowed to work and I am told that the national insurance number so I can claim Child tax credits is not the same.???

Whoever advised you is wrong. There is only one type of NI number, and once issued it stays the same for life.

It is true that she cannot work until you are married and she has FLR, and one cannot apply for a National Insurance number unless one has a need for it. She needs one so you can both apply for tax credits.

Go to the appointment, have the interview, get he NI number.

[bread]

thanks for the reply

though On that basis i myself (without her having a national insurance number) can not claim child tax credits, which is not correct.

guess a letter to the child tax credits may be in order.

[7by7]

For a married couple tax credits are claimed jointly as the amount you recieve depends on your joint income. Whilst they are on the list of public funds unavailable to new migrants, this does not apply when one of the couple is a British citizen or long term resident.

However, to claim them your wife needs a NI number. Go to that interview, get her NI number then submit your tax credit claim.

[CharlieB]

Ok I have given my aplication for child tax credits they need both my and my wifes details and this is fine BUT they also need her national insurance number which as she is only 3 months in to her fiancee 6 month visa she does not have yet.

The Child tax credit office is ment to send a letter to the Job center in order to get her an apointment in order to give her a national insurance number. They have not done this and I have now been waiting for 5 weeks. I have written and phoned so many times and all departments from both places blame it on each other and I am getting no where.

I also have been given an appointment for a work national insurance number but have been advised not to go for this appointment as she is not allowed to work and I am told that the national insurance number so I can claim Child tax credits is not the same.???

I seem to remember some one else having to deal with this and was wondering how they got to the end of this.

Ta bread

Not sure what has gone wrong. Are you sure you filled the form out correctly, I know it's long and a pain in the arse, but incorrectly ticking a box could have resulted in this mix up. Did you tick the box that your wife is subject to immigration control? Did you do this with your wife's name or with her using your surname? As already stated, there is only one kind of NI number and your wife has to have this to be on your application for tex credits. It doesn't matter that she can't legally work. In fact it's better this way, because if she wants to work later she already has the number and doesn't have to go through the hassle of applying for one.

We put our application in and about a month later we were sent a letter saying they couldn't locate an NI number for my wife so they would get the local job centre to call to arrange an interview. I thought we would get this by letter, but we were called about 4 days later by the local job centre. It's lucky I picked up as my wife wouldn't have known what the woman was on about. An interview was booked for a week later, we attended and they checked her passport/visa, filled in a form and sent it off. A week or two later we got notifaction of her NI number in a letter and about 4 weeks later we got her NI card through. Monday I got a form through from them detailing what we were entitled to.

Edited September 27, 2008 by CharlieB

[sumrit]

Ok I have given my aplication for child tax credits they need both my and my wifes details and this is fine BUT they also need her national insurance number which as she is only 3 months in to her fiancee 6 month visa she does not have yet.

The Child tax credit office is ment to send a letter to the Job center in order to get her an apointment in order to give her a national insurance number. They have not done this and I have now been waiting for 5 weeks. I have written and phoned so many times and all departments from both places blame it on each other and I am getting no where.

I also have been given an appointment for a work national insurance number but have been advised not to go for this appointment as she is not allowed to work and I am told that the national insurance number so I can claim Child tax credits is not the same.???

I seem to remember some one else having to deal with this and was wondering how they got to the end of this.

Ta bread

I don't know if the system is still the same but a few years ago if a new immigrant started working before they were issued with a NI number they were allocated a temporary one. This was made up as 'TN' for temporary

number then the persons date of birth (DD/MM/YY) for the six numbers followed by 'M' for male or 'F' for female.

Also as far as I'm aware everybody is legaly entitled to a NI number whether working/seeking work or not so, although the Job Centres will initially say you have to be seeking work to qualify, if pressed they can't refuse

to issue one.

Edited September 28, 2008 by sumrit

[bread]

We also were going to get this letter and a call but it has not happened though from what you say charlie it seems that it did not matter with regards to your wife not being allowed to work.

I guess maybe i should just try and book her a new interview and see when we get there ?

[CharlieB]

We also were going to get this letter and a call but it has not happened though from what you say charlie it seems that it did not matter with regards to your wife not being allowed to work.

I guess maybe i should just try and book her a new interview and see when we get there ?

How long ago was your initial application to them? Have you got any correspondance from the Tax Credit people with any kind of reference number on it? If so, phone up your local job centre. Explain the situation, your wife is on a fiance visa, you have a child and want to claim tax credits, but she hasn't got an NI. Give them the number and say the tax credit people have made a mistake and haven't arranged for the interview. Then phone the tax credit people and tell them what you have done and the job centre you are going to. If you haven't got a reference number, call the tax credit people and get one.

[bread]

I have done most of that and been told by the child tax credit people they do not know if the letter has been sent (sounds stupid but this is what they have told me 3 times) and they can not find out so to wait(I said for who long and they dont know)

I have also spoken to the job center and they said they can not book a interview for a NI number with out first getting the letter from the child tax people

And a round and around and around I go ........................

Bread

[CharlieB]

I have done most of that and been told by the child tax credit people they do not know if the letter has been sent (sounds stupid but this is what they have told me 3 times) and they can not find out so to wait(I said for who long and they dont know)

I have also spoken to the job center and they said they can not book a interview for a NI number with out first getting the letter from the child tax people

And a round and around and around I go ........................

Bread

I'd give it another couple of weeks. It was a long time before we got our letter, maybe 6 or 7 weeks. To be honest, I forgot about it all as we had other things we had going on and then suddenly the letter turned up. We then got the phone call from the job centre pretty sharpish, but then it went quiet again for another 6 weeks after we got her NI number and then last monday we finally got the decision letters, so in all that took about 4 months from start to end. They don't do anything quickly in the tax credit system.

[CharlieB]

Just found the letter form the Tax Credit people saying they need an NI number and it was sent on 24th July, I applied at the beginning of June, so that shows how long it took. We were busy planning the wedding etc around July, so that's why it was put on the back-burner.

[7by7]

In your opening post you say that she has been given an appointment for a NI number interview.

Has she or not?

If she has, then what is your problem? Go to that appointment, get her NI number then make your tax credit claim.