Hello All, some advice from those in the know please.

I've lived in Thailand with my wife and our boys the last six years as an ex-pat worker. As such I was non-resident in the UK for tax purposes. Last year I was transferred to the UK, and my wife entered on a settlement visa. However before the move to the UK had been completed (but after her settlement visa had been granted) the company went bust.

Thus we arrived in the UK in October with me unemployed, and since then we've been living off savings and hoping that I could find a new job. I'm reaching the end of the road with this now, and there's not a sniff of work in the rural area I come from. I'm going to need to claim something from the state - if I can - soon. Please no flames about scroungers - I've never had a penny from benefits in my 50 years.

What can a returnee who has been away for a long time claim without jeopardising the future ILR application? In particular I'm looking at housing benefit - we rented a place big enough for the family, but only just big enough. As myself and the boys (British Citizens) would need a place of the same size even if my wife was not living with us, does this mean that a housing benefit claim would not entail HER recourse to public funds?

Thanks for any experiences or advice.

You can receive any and all public funds to which you are entitled; it is your wife who cannot. However, you cannot claim any extra due to her living with you. The exception is tax credits. These must be claimed jointly by husband and wife, so not only can she be included on the claim; she must be.

You and your sons need somewhere to live, so if entitled you can receive housing benefit; that your wife is living there with you wont effect her ILR application.

There is some confusion over whether she can receive child benefit, but you definitely can.

See Public Funds

Thanks for the helpful advice 7by7. It seems quite clear that I can claim housing benefit without any ILR risks. In order to cover myself for NI contributions towards my pension it looks like I will also need to register for Jobseeker's Allowance or Income Support (I'm not sure which one). I have read some online information about this and the general advice seems to be that it can be done when one has a partner subject to immigration control, but that "care must be taken not to breach Home Office guidlines". I cannot find any specific reference to how this can be achieved however. Has anyone gone through the process? What I don't want to do is blunder into something which ends in my wife being deported.

7by7, do u mean thats its ok to claim tax credits?

The Home Office guidelines are basically as I said before; you can claim but cannot claim any extra for your wife. Be sure to explain the situation fully when you make any claim.

Darryl, yes, you can claim tax credits and as claims must be made jointly by a married couple your wife must be included in the claim.