Re: Back after 7 years!
 

Thanks a lot guys and gals. This is exactly the info I needed. My wife is worried that me claiming benefits will affect her next visa application in 3 years. Is that true? Her spouse says that she has no recourse to public funds but I think I can.

Re: Back after 7 years!
 

Your wife has a spouse? What kind of weird marriage do you have??? :lol:

Re: Back after 7 years!
 

Duh, Dunroving, (slaps forehead!) you always cheer me up!

Re: Back after 7 years!
 

Her spouse visa that should be.

Re: Back after 7 years!
 

The benefits that you would get would be CHILD TAX CREDIT which is a sort of reverse income tax. If youb were working on a low wage it would be WORKINBG TAX CREDIT.

BUT you must check to see what effect claiming this would have on your wife's status

Re: Back after 7 years!
 

H, Hangzhouguy, how's it going? Are you managing to work your way through the maze? How are your family? I hope all is well!

Re: Back after 7 years!
 

That should of course be Hi!

Re: Back after 7 years!
 

Hi:)
Sorry for the delay. As you can guess we've been very busy!

I have sent off my child benefit today so will know soon whether I am entitled.

I have spoken to the Child Tax Credit people and he said I should be able to claim. Just mention on the form my wife is not eligible.

I have filled in my Job Seekers Allowance form but not sent it off. I have never claimed anything before so quite reluctant to start now. I am looking for jobs, nothing so far but I'd rather work than claim!

I went to the bank but my wife cannot be registered on my account without bills (which we don't have) or a letter from the council saying she is living at the address. Does anyone know how I could get one of these? I told my local council but they replied saying she didn't need to be out on. Just my parents as they own the property. Any ideas?

We registered at the local GP and are awaiting our medicals.

SIM cards arrived and working fine.

My wife has started her course so I'm at home trying to juggle the baby/ Job seeking and red tape!

Slowly but very surely getting there!:thumbsup:

Re: Back after 7 years!
 

Even if you do not want to or do not plan to take Jobseekers Allowance you should register as unemployed so that you will get national insurance credits if you end up not working for any length of time. [You may have already done this and I am misunderstanding the process but if not, make sure you are "officially" registered as unemployed at the Job Centre or whatever they call it these days]

Re: Back after 7 years!
 

I know that this is an old thread but how did the person who moved back to the UK readjust to life back home? I've been in China for 8 years and I want to move my wife and 2 kids back to the UK soon. How was the reverse-culture shock? Did you find that life in the UK had changed a lot since you left?

Re: Back after 7 years!
 

I hope that someone with similar experiences of moving back to the UK after a long time abroad can contact me so that I can learn from your experience. It's obviously a daunting task, especially with two little ones so it would be great help if I could talk to someone in the same boat! Thanks in advance - any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated.

Re: Back after 7 years!
 

OP hasn't posted since Sept 2013, so may well have left the forum, you might be as well starting your own thread to ask your questions as many people will just not read this thread.