What does adequate maintenance and accommodation without recourse to public funds mean, when the sponsor is on benefits?

This is a very important statement in the rules for us. Especially cause my girlfriend is on benefits.

According to the UKBA Entry Clearance Guidance (Chapter 13):

13.4 - Fiancé(e)s/proposed civil partners and how they
qualify (Rules Paragraphs 290 -295)For an applicant to qualify for
admission as a fiancé(e)/proposed civil partner, you must be satisfied
that:
1.the sponsor is present and settled in the United Kingdom, or is to be
admitted for settlement at the same time as the applicant arrives in the UK;
the sponsor and the applicant are aged 21 or over;
2.each of the parties intends to live permanently with the other as his or her spouse/civil partner after the marriage/civil partnership;
3.the parties to the proposed marriage/civil partnership have met;
4.adequate maintenance and accommodation without recourse to public funds will be available for the applicant until the date of the marriage/civil partnership;
5.after the marriage/civil partnership there will be adequate accommodation for the parties and any dependants without recourse to public funds in accommodation which they own or occupy exclusively;
6.after the marriage/civil partnership the parties will be able to maintain themselves and their dependants adequately without recourse to public funds.

Point 5 above is about this topic. Now if we would look at UKBA Entry Clearance Guidance (Chapter 9):

9.2 - Public funds The requirements are designed to
prevent the admission of persons who do not have realistic prospects of
supporting themselves without recourse to public funds. For the purpose of the
Immigration Rules "public funds"
means:
· Income
Support/Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
· Housing and Homelessness
Assistance
· Housing Benefit
and Council Tax Benefit
·
Child Tax Credit
· Working
Tax Credit*
· Child Benefit*
· Attendance Allowance
· Severe Disablement
Allowance
· Invalid Care
Allowance
· Disability
Living Allowance
·
Disability Working Allowance
· A Social Fund Payment

* The British/settled spouse/civil partners may claim Working Tax Credits
and Child Benefit for his or her family if they are entitled to this under the
Department for Work and Pensions legislation. There is no objection to the
British citizen/settled sponsor receiving any public funds to which he/she is
entitled in his/her own right. The important factor to consider is whether there
will be a need for the sponsor to claim additional public funds to support the
applicant. The fact that an applicant may not be eligible to claim public funds
is not in itself sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Rules.

If the sponsor is in receipt of public funds, it does not mean that they will be unable to support the applicant, although clearly a person who is heavily dependent on
the state because they don't have sufficient means of their own will find it
difficult to support another person for any length of time. The question to be
considered is whether additional recourse to public funds will be necessary if
the applicant is granted leave to enter.

Income Support is paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to those whose income is insufficient to meet their own needs and those of any dependants. Recipients are usually
expected to be available for work, but sole parents and elderly persons may be
excepted from this requirement.

Working Tax Credit is paid by the DWP to those in full-time employment who are on a low income and have children to support.

Housing Benefit is administered by the housing departments of local
authorities.

If the occupant of housing provided by a local authority pays
rent to be accommodated in the property, such housing is not considered to be
provided from public funds.

You will notice certain points here. Such as (as bolded above), the “additional” part. This means that as long no additional benefits will be claimed by the sponsor due to presence of the applicant in the UK, we are ok. So as long as we are sure that the sponsor will not claim any additional benefits upon arrival of the applicant and the applicant will not (and can not) avail benefits once in UK, we are good to go.

The statement “If the sponsor is in receipt of public funds, it does not mean that they will be unable to support the applicant” clearly shows that if the sponsor is in receipt of benefits, it will not affect the applicants spouse visa application.

Here is some more information from Islington website:

‘No recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) applies to a person who is subject to
immigration control; does not have the right to work (with the exception of
people granted leave as spouses or civil partners); and has no entitlement
to welfare benefits, public housing or UKBA asylum support.
Who has
NRPF?
· refused asylum seekers whose appeal rights are exhausted
· people who have overstayed their visa
· people on sponsorship visas
· people who originally arrived in the UK on a visa and have subsequently put in further representations to remain in the country
· some EEA migrants

This shows that NRPF applies to holders of spouse visa.

Adequate Maintenance

So how do make sure that there is NRPF and still adequate maintenance despite the fact that the sponsor is on benefits.

If you go on the UK Visas website:

There is no explicit minimum figure for what represents sufficient maintenance.
However, in 2006 UKAIT KA and Others (Pakistan), the AIT strongly suggested that
it would not be appropriate to have immigrant families existing on resources
that that were less than the Income Support level for a British Family of that
size (See Paragraph 8 of the determination - available on the Asylum and
Immigration Tribunal website). If it is more likely than not that the total
amount that the applicant and sponsor will have to live on will be below what
the income support level would be for a British family of that size, then it may
be appropriate to refuse the application on maintenance and accommodation
grounds.

Therefore the proper test to decide on the adequate maintenance would be to test on the Income Support level.

Currently the income support a couple would receive would be 94.95 pounds per week.

My girlfriend gets 60 pounds per week.

I’m not really sure, but, acting on prudence, I will assume I safely need 94.95 per week for at least 6 months while on spouse visa.

During these 6 months if I have adequate education and relevant experience, which I do, I should be able to secure a job.

If we go on bare minimum, it would be 60 pounds per week for me.

But supposing we go on safe side, I should have at least 3000 pounds in my bank account, which I will, to be able to support myself for 6 months at the rate of 94.95 pounds per week (and I’ll still have some left).

Budget

Now as for the sponsor, she needs to draw out a budget. Sample can be found here
The budget should simply list down all the inflow of money and the outflow of money. This will help the Entry Clearance Officer see how responsible the sponsor is, and how she manages to save / use her money.

Now in order for the income support test to be passed, we need to be sure what is it exactly that the person is expected to pay out of the income support she is receiving. They mostly include utility bills and groceries, and NOT council tax or house rent, since its already being paid through the Council Tax benefit and Housing benefit.

Therefore, if the sponsor will keep on receiving housing and council tax benefits (which she will since she is British citizen), therefore I won’t have to pay it. So I’ll have to pay for ‘myself’ for the things she pays out currently for, out of her Income Support benefit that she receives.
If she can draw up a budget, showing that she is getting benefits to pay for housing and council tax, and its understood she will keep on receiving them, therefore I will not have to contribute to them (until and unless I get a job). So till then, if I prove I will have 3000 pounds, i.e. 94.95 minimum per week, I will meet the income support level.

So the importance of a budget drawn up by the sponsor is essential to prove how the bills are being paid, along with documentary proof. The documentary proof would income all her income support documents to prove inflow of money, and receipts of cash paid out for groceries and other payments.

It would also be wise for the applicant to draw up a budget on how he plans to help with his 94.95 pounds per week.

Income support might stop for the sponsor on arrival of the applicant therefore its necessary that he meets the minimum of 94.95 pounds per week. Any suggestions on this topic would be welcome, perhaps I have missed something.

Links:

KA and others (Adequacy of Maintenance) Pakistan [2006] UKAIT 00065