it seems that even after being away from the uk you can still be entitled to benefits unless i'm wrong.

Yes you are wrong!!
You have to take the HRT, in ordr to claim any benefit!

What happens if you're not going through the menopause? Do you still have to take it

lol so i guess if you pass the test hrt you can get benefits... I read that they want to make sure you intend to stay and make the uk your home.

You are habitually resident the day you come back to the UK with the intention to make the UK your home again - see the Swaddling decision.

As a British citizen if it is your intention to return to the UK and make it your home you do not need to sit the HRT

not quite that easy to get benefits i'm quite pleased to hear. sadly the guilty have made it difficult for the innocent as is usually the case ~

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...19&postcount=1

The general ruling for HRT is that if you have lived outside the UK for 2 years or more they can refuse you benefits, obviously you can appeal against the decision but it becomes a long and lengthy battle, but might i add one that can be won eventually.
I have worked for Local Government for many years and over that time i have seen people never receive a penny unless they went to work, but there has been an odd occasion the decision makers have been lenient.
Hence this example, a man in his 50's had returned from Oz after living there for 10 years, he had separated from his wife and he had lost everything, his home, job, and his ex-partner had even taken all the money from there joint account. Luckily he had family in the UK who paid for his return flight and offered to put him up until he got benefits or a job. He applied for benefits but was nilled for benefits because he failed his HRT, he had been away from the Uk for 10 years, he argued that although he'd been away he was still born here and he had family still here, and in Oz he had nothing, other than the clothes he stood up in. After near on 8 months of appealing against the nilled decision he finally managed to get jobseekers allowance, but he really did have to fight his cause.
Also im not sure if you have children but you must put in for Child Benefit as soon as you land, as once this is in payment it does open some doors.

Hope this helps, Sam

Seeing as you seem to be in the know, what about those coming from the EU? As I understood it, we are entitled to benefits. Is there anything I could do to make my case stronger, eg: get on the electoral register or something? By the way, I dont imagine I will have probs proving I intened to remain in the Uk as I am enrolled on a PGCE course.
plus I have an Italian hubby, and 2 kiddies with dual nationality.
thanks for any inside info you can give us!!!!

hi sam, what about the "swaddling decision' that bromley girl stated? i have a child who is 19months, i also own a house here that i cant get rid of..

Hi, yes ive been trying to look up the "swaddling decision" but it all seems to relate to a decision or legislation made in 2004. But i have not found the full document on it. (im still looking) Also it depends on the decision maker to whom you would be putting this piece of legislation too.

As for people claiming benefits within the EU, yes you can apply but still you have to to pass the HRT. Im not sure how it works if you get the money from a student loan as you will be a student, but in the even of claiming certain benefits such as Income Support, Incapacity benefit, Jobseekers Allowance you have to prove how you have supported yourselves for the last few years. Unfortunatley part of the ID requirements is your passport.

As far as I can make out, having a friend who has gone back to the UK recently, they are getting quite clever at checking up. When you apply for benefits, they ask you lots of questions, to which you must reply honestly to as they check up- obviously thats easier to do if you are coming from the EU and less easier if coming from somewher like S America. Anyway, some of the questions are about how much you have in the way of savings, if you have any property in your name, if you have sold any in the last (?) years, and what work you were doing or how you supported yourself. If you are a single mum, you will have to prove it. And I have been told they do lots of checks.
You should check out the government web sites, such as www.direct.gov.uk which gives details about help, and I think theres some kind of on line calculator, or do a google on benefits, uk.
The Citizens Advice Bureau is very helpful too.

Perhaps some background is useful here. The HRT was brought in to prevent 'Benefit Tourism' - people coming from the EU, entitled to work and claiming benefits while "looking" for work....but then going back home.

It couldn't be applied to non-brits only as EU legislation prevents discrimination against its citizens. So it was applied to everyone who had recently arrived after a period living outside the UK.

It was part of my job in the benefits system, for several years, to decide such cases.

I tried to apply common sense and I took factors into account that others may not have done. The thing is, many staff had a poor understanding of the rules and a lack of common sense themselves, to be honest.

Colleagues couldn't understand why I passed a holiday rep. They considered the fact that she worked abroad for 9 months in every 12 meant that she wasn't UK resident.

But she had a British employer, British salary paid into UK bank account, UK Tax and NI deducted, her time abroad was wherever she was needed, Spain, Greece, Portugal etc and she could be in several holiday resorts in several countries during the 9 months. Her one constant, repeated residency was the UK address she returned to for the mandatory 3 month break after she'd done her 9 months.

Many just said "but you haven't been living here, so how can you be ordinarily resident in the UK?"

I have to say that the vast majority of those failing the test were actually Brits returning to the UK. That clearly was NOT the intention of the HRT, so that actually influenced my decisions.

On this basis I found it quite easy to fail someone from a European country who had only just arrived, didn't have a home, no bank account, no job etc and one of the first things they did was to apply for benefits, while I passed Brits who had been away for years, but had maintained some link such as keeping membership of various organisations, had family in the UK, had got themselves on the housing register, maintained or opened a UK bank account and transferred funds, sold the house they had in whichever country they'd left, or their reason for living abroad was a marriage that had ended so there was no longer a reason to be living wherever it was, or their job abroad was their main reason for living/staying in that country but now they had lost the job, so they had no reason to stay anymore......the list of (to my mind) reasonable situations where someone has good reason to return or no reason to stay there is endless. Did they keep a bank account open because they planned to return one day and now that day has arrived.

Intention to live/stay in the UK could also be shown by the actions before leaving the other country. Had their house been on the market for a period, suggesting a planned return? Had they given notice to their employer a significant time before finishing work?

An appeal tribunal ruled that someone was resident after they'd been in the UK 3 months. That was tailored to that individual's circumstance but staff started too refuse people and say come back and try again in three months!!

What gets passed by one person won't necessarily get passed by another. Make a list of things showing intentions. The worst thing you can do is say "But I'm British, of course I'm entitled."

This is really interesting. Thanks for bringing this back to life so I found it. I've been trying to discover this sort of thing.

So, I'll be back next spring but it will be exploratory, so I wouldn't expect to get benefits etc, but if I decide to make the move, what then? Say I take a two months long holiday, then decide to stay. I might have to return to arrange for my stuff in storage to be shipped unless there's someone I trust to do that.

I will have a bank account in the UK. That's already in process through HSBC. I will have income, as I'm self-employed and can work anywhere, so once I decide to stay I'll switch to paying UK tax. I will have a chunk of money -- savings and house sale. (Already sold.)

But I will be leaving some money in Canadian investments.

Any expert opinion on any problems? Anything I can do to make it easier? I've been in Canada for 30 years.

Bev

Thanks so much for the info. It is a very difficult to get any straight answers about things like this. I have just one query; if you have sold your house abroad, yes this shows that you intend to remain in the uk, but surely this also means that you have some dosh?!

Oh sorry just one more; how do you prove how long you have been back in the uk for?!