The Housing Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Prospective

Persons from abroad N.I.

10.—(1) A person from abroad who is liable to make payments in respect of a dwelling shall be treated as if he were not so liable but this paragraph shall not have effect in respect of a person to whom and for a period to which regulation 10A (entitlement of a refugee to housing benefit) and Schedule A1(1) (treatment of claims for housing benefit by refugees) apply.

(2) In paragraph (1), “person from abroad” means, subject to the following provisions of this regulation, a person who is not habitually resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland.

(3) No person shall be treated as habitually resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland unless he has a right to reside in (as the case may be) the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland other than a right to reside which falls within paragraph (4).

(4) A right to reside falls within this paragraph if it is one which exists by virtue of, or in accordance with, one or more of the following—

(a) regulation 13 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006(2);

(b) regulation 14 of those Regulations, but only in a case where the right exists under that regulation because the person is—

(i) a jobseeker for the purpose of the definition of “qualified person” in regulation 6(1) of those Regulations, or

(ii) a family member (within the meaning of regulation 7 of those Regulations) of such a jobseeker;

(c) Article 6 of Council Directive No. 2004/38/EC(3); or

(d) Article 39 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (in a case where the person is seeking work in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or the Republic of Ireland).

(5) A person is not a person from abroad if he is—

(a) a worker for the purposes of Council Directive No. 2004/38/EC;

(b) a self-employed person for the purposes of that Directive;

(c) a person who retains a status referred to in sub-paragraph (a) or (b) pursuant to Article 7(3) of that Directive;

(d) a person who is a family member of a person referred to in sub-paragraph (a), (b) or (c) within the meaning of Article 2 of that Directive;

(e) a person who has a right to reside permanently in the United Kingdom by virtue of Article 17 of that Directive;

(f) a person who is an accession State worker requiring registration who is treated as a worker for the purpose of the definition of “qualified person” in regulation 6(1) of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 pursuant to regulation 5 of the Accession (Immigration and Worker Registration) Regulations 2004(4);

(g) a refugee;

(h) a person who has exceptional leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom granted outside the rules made under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971(5);

(i) a person who has humanitarian protection granted under those rules;

(j) a person who is not a person subject to immigration control within the meaning of section 115(9) of the Immigration and Asylum Act and who is in the United Kingdom as a result of his deportation, expulsion or other removal by compulsion of law from another country to the United Kingdom;

(k) a person in Northern Ireland who left the territory of Montserrat after 1st November 1995 because of the effect on that territory of a volcanic eruption; or

(l) in receipt of income support or a person on an income-based jobseeker’s allowance.

(6) Paragraph 1 of Part I of the Schedule to, and regulation 2 as it applies to that paragraph of, the Social Security (Immigration and Asylum) Consequential Amendments Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000(6) shall not apply to a person who has been temporarily without funds for any period, or the aggregate of any periods, exceeding 42 days during any one period of limited leave (including any such period as extended).

(7) In this regulation “refugee” means a person recorded by the Secretary of State as a refugee within the definition in Article 1 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees(7).

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 10 in operation at 20.11.2006, see reg. 1(1)

(1)

See, for regulation 10A and Schedule A1, paragraph 2(1) and (2) of Schedule 4 to S.R. 2006 No. 407

(2)

S.I. 2006/1003

(3)

O.J. No. L158, 30.4.04, p.77

(4)

S.I. 2004/1219; regulation 5 was substituted by Schedule 5 to S.I. 2006/1003

(5)

1971 c. 77

(6)

S.R. 2000 No. 71

(7)

Cmd. 9171