The Tax Credits (Immigration) Regulations 2003

Exclusion of persons subject to immigration control from entitlement to tax credits U.K.

3.—(1) No person is entitled to child tax credit or working tax credit while he is a person subject to immigration control, except in the following Cases, and subject to paragraphs (2) to (9).

Case 1

He is a person who–

(a) has been given leave to enter, or remain in, the United Kingdom by the Secretary of State upon the undertaking of another person or persons, pursuant to the immigration rules, to be responsible for his maintenance and accommodation, and

(b) has been resident in the United Kingdom for a period of at least 5 years commencing on or after the date of his entry into the United Kingdom, or the date on which the undertaking was given in respect of him, whichever is the later.

Case 2

He is a person who—

(a) falls within the terms of paragraph (a) of Case 1, and

(b) has been resident in the United Kingdom for less than the 5 years mentioned in paragraph (b) of Case 1,

but the person giving the undertaking has died or, where the undertaking was given by more than one person, they have all died.

F1 ...

Case 4

Where the claim is for working tax credit, he is—

(a) a national of a state which has ratified the European Convention on Social and Medical Assistance (done in Paris on 11th December 1953) M1 or of a state which has ratified the Council of Europe Social Charter (signed in Turin on 18th October 1961), and

(b) lawfully present in the United Kingdom.

The Case so described also applies where—

(a) the claim is for child tax credit,

(b) the award of child tax credit would be made on or after 6th April 2004, and

(c) immediately before the award is made (and as part of the transition of claimants entitled to elements of income support and income-based jobseeker’s allowance, to child tax credit) the person is, or will on the making of a claim be, entitled to any of the amounts in relation to income support or income-based jobseeker’s allowance which are described in section 1(3)(d) of the Act.

Case 5

Where the claim is for child tax credit, he is [F2 a person who is lawfully working in the United Kingdom and—

( a) who—

(i) made a claim before 1st January 2021; and

(ii) is a national of a State with which the European Union had, before 1st January 2021, concluded an agreement under Article 217 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union providing in the field of social security for the equal treatment of workers who are nationals of the signatory State and their families; or

(b) who is a national of a State with which the United Kingdom has concluded an agreement which replaces, in whole or in part, an agreement under Article 217 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which either—

(i) makes provision in the field of social security for the equal treatment of workers who are nationals of the State with which the agreement has been concluded and their families, or

(ii) makes provision for receipt of family allowances by members of a worker’s family who are legally resident in the United Kingdom.]

(2) Where one member of a F3 ... couple is a person subject to immigration control, and the other member is not or is within any of Cases 1 to 5 or regulation 5—

(a) the calculation of the amount of tax credit under the Act, the Child Tax Credit Regulations and the Working Tax Credit Regulations (including any second adult element or other element in respect of, or determined by reference to, that person),

(b) the method of making (or proceeding with) a joint claim by the couple, and

(c) the method of payment of the tax credit,

shall, subject to paragraph (3), be determined in the same way as if that person were not subject to such control.

(3) Where the other member is within Case 4 or 5 or regulation 5, paragraph (2) shall only apply to the tax credit to which he (in accordance with those provisions) is entitled.

(4) Where a person has submitted a claim for asylum as a refugee and in consequence is a person subject to immigration control, in the first instance he is not entitled to tax credits, subject to paragraphs (5) to (9).

(5) If that person—

(a) is notified that he has been recorded by the Secretary of State as a refugee [F4 or has been granted section 67 leave], and

(b) claims tax credit within [F5 one month] of receiving that notification,

paragraphs (6) to (9) and regulation 4 shall apply to him.

(6) He shall be treated as having claimed tax credits—

(a) on the date when he submitted his claim for asylum, and

(b) on every 6th April (if any) intervening between the date in sub-paragraph (a) and the date of the claim referred to in paragraph (5)(b),

rather than on the date on which he makes the claim referred to in paragraph (5)(b).

(7) [F6 Regulations 7, 7A and 8] of the Tax Credits (Claims and Notifications) Regulations 2002 M2 shall not apply to claims treated as made by virtue of paragraph (6).

(8) He shall have his claims for tax credits determined as if he had been recorded as a refugee on the date when he submitted his claim for asylum.

(9) The amount of support provided under—

(a) section 95 or 98 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999,

(b) regulations made under Schedule 9 to that Act, by the Secretary of State in respect of essential living needs of the claimant and his dependants (if any), or

(c) regulations made under paragraph 3 of Schedule 8 to that Act,

(after allowing for any deduction for that amount under regulation 21ZB(3) of the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 M3 ) shall be deducted from any award of tax credits due to the claimant by virtue of paragraphs (6) and (8).

[F7 (10) In this regulation “section 67 leave” means leave to remain in the United Kingdom granted by the Secretary of State to a person who has been relocated to the United Kingdom pursuant to arrangements made by the Secretary of State under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Reg. 3(1) Case 3 omitted (6.4.2014) by virtue of The Tax Credits (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/658), regs. 1, 3

F2 Words in reg. 3(1) substituted (1.1.2021) by The Social Security, Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1505), regs. 1(1), 4(2)

F3 Words in reg. 3(2) omitted (5.12.2005) by virtue of The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (Tax Credits, etc.) (Consequential Amendments) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005/2919), arts. 1, 7(3)

F4 Words in reg. 3(5)(a) inserted (20.7.2018) by The Child Benefit, Tax Credits and Childcare Payments (Section 67 Immigration Act 2016 Leave) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/788), regs. 1, 5(2)(a)

F5 Words in reg. 3(5)(b) substituted (6.4.2012) by The Tax Credits (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/848), regs. 1(2), 7

F6 Words in reg. 3(7) substituted (6.4.2015) by The Tax Credits (Claims and Notifications) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/669), regs. 1, 5

F7 Reg. 3(10) inserted (20.7.2018) by The Child Benefit, Tax Credits and Childcare Payments (Section 67 Immigration Act 2016 Leave) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/788), regs. 1, 5(2)(b)

Marginal Citations

M1 Cmd 9512.

M2 S.I. 2002/2014.

M3 S.I. 1987/1967; regulation 21ZB was inserted by regulation 3(5) of S.I. 2000/636.