The Pianoman

Hi all, Here is a rough overview of our situation.

I am British , married to a Norwegian woman with two kids ( we are the biological parents).

I have been living up here in Norway for a few years now and frankly am missing the hussle of normal life.

My wife has 7 months payed maternity leave left with an option to have one other follow-on year unpayed leave with gauranteed job placement when the time is up.

I have just finnished my first year university study and will continue on with full time education in Scotland if we move.

Here is where it gets a bit more complicated....we have strongly talked about moving back to Scotland permanantly but my wife is concerned over a few things.

When I met my wife she had already bought her own house which we now live in. If she sold it today she would be left with around 50K pounds. If I sold all my music gear etc I could probably raise 25K pounds giving us around 75K or 80K. That money would buy a decent enough house outright ( maybe get a small mortage) where we intend to move to.

The situation is now we have a bought house in Scotland, I start university but my wife has no work record (in the UK) and might find it hard to get work in the beginning.

If I could not find a weekend job and my wife could not get a job at all leaving us with no income but living in a bought house, would we be entitiled to anything financial support to live on (food, clothes,electricity) OR could the authorities say "you have to sell that house or go home".

I of course worked many years in the UK so my history is well documented but my wife is worried sick that she would be forced to sell the UK house just to put food on the table.

I case anyone is thinking of flaming me here, my wife has worked here all her life and I too have worked from my 16th birthday. We have just found ourselves in an unusual situation and are planning a big move without any good informaton to rely on.

Regards

Pianoman

HiddenPaw

Hi Pianoman, good luck with the move. Can't offer any specific advice, but just wanted to add that when we returned to the UK in Dec we sought financial assistance (Job Seeker's Allowance (JSA), Maternity Pay etc). I was denied maternity pay as I had not worked in the UK (or other EC member state or country with reciprocal agreement) for the minimum 13 weeks (in the last 65). My husband was initially denied JSA on the grounds that he hadn't paid enough NI contributions in the qualifying period. We contested this as he had been in full time employment in the UK up until the point we left - turns out that the records they held regarding his NI payments were totally wrong - had to produce P60s to prove he had paid his NI, and then he got his JSA.

Is Norway in the EC now? (I lost track after about 1992!!!) If so, you could be entitled to benefits because you have been working in an EC member state. (Or if Norway has a reciprocal financial agreement with UK.) As regards you being a British national, I understand they do something like a residence test to see if you qualify for assistance straight away. I really don't know enough to be able to advise you, sorry.

We also felt like we had to justify to ourselves and others why we were claiming allowances when we weren't exactly living in rags. But the fact was, neither of us had jobs and it was hard at first with no income (especially with a first baby on the way!!). Like you, we both had been in full time UK employment for 25 years between us and had paid our taxes, etc prior to leaving the UK.

Good luck

loubol

OK, Norway is NOT a member of the EU but it IS a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) and therefore MAY have reciprocal benefit arrangements. Check this on the website for the Department for Work and Pensions http://www.dwp.gov.uk/

As a British citizen you do NOT have to take the habitual residency test - just quote the Swaddling Ruling at them if they quibble. (See one of the other threads in this forum about that, such as mine "legal problem can anyone help?")

If Norway has reciprocal benefits then you can only claim NI-contribution based JSA if you work for a minimum one week and pay a minimum Class 1 or Class 2 NI contribution before claiming. However, you should still be entitled to means-tested benefits such as income-based JSA, child allowance benefit (dunno what it's called) etc..

Be prepared for your claim to take weeks to process and don't be afraid to pester them if they drag their feet - they are supposed to process ALL claims within 12 working days.