EU ruling on UK visa holders' child benefits
February 24 2010 by Liam Clifford
A new ruling will allow families of UK visa holders to remain living in the UK and claiming benefits even if the main worker has left the country.
The European Court
of Justice, which deals with EU law, ruled that children’s education was
paramount and parents should not be forced to leave the country if they were not
able to support themselves and their children.
The ruling is based on two
cases that were tried in the European courts. In the first case, Somali citizen
Nimco Hassan Ibrahim, arrived in the UK in 2003 with her children to join her
husband, a Danish citizen automatically entitled to a UK visa under the
EU’s standard rules governing freedom of movement.
Ms Ibrahim's husband
left the UK in 2004 after the couple separated. Ms Ibrahim and the children
remained in the UK. The court said she had never been self-sufficient, and needs
benefits and housing support to care for her children.
The second case
involved a Portuguese woman, Maria Teixeira, who joined her husband in the UK in
1989. Their daughter was born in the UK in 1991. The couple later divorced and
Ms Teixeira challenged her local council's decision to deny her housing benefit.
Lawyers for Ms Teixeira told the court she had a right to UK residency and
benefits because of her daughter's ongoing education.
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