Family members of British and Irish citizens
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If you are the partner or child of a British or Irish citizen your rights depend on the immigration status you have.
Partners of British citizens
If you are the family member of a British or Irish citizen or a Commonwealth citizen with the right of abode, you may have limited leave to remain, indefinite leave to remain or some other type of status. Your rights to housing and benefits will depend on what that status is.
If you are the partner of a British citizen or person with settled status and you experienced domestic abuse, you may be able to get the conditions of your leave changed to get access to housing and benefits see here for details. If you have been allowed to re-enter the UK on the grounds that you were deliberately stranded overseas by your spouse/former spouse you are usually entitled to access housing and benefits immediately on your arrival in the UK see here for details.
If you are the family member of a British citizen who lived in an EU member state before 1 February 2020 you could apply to the EU Settlement Scheme using your ‘Surinder Singh rights’. If (following your application) you have been granted EU settled status your rights to housing and benefits are the same as a person with indefinite leave. If you have been granted EU pre-settled status your rights to housing and benefits are same as an EEA family member.
Family members of people born in Northern Ireland
If you are not British or an EEA national but are the family member of a person who was born in Northern Ireland you were able to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme until 30 June 2021. If you applied and you have been granted EU settled status your rights to housing and benefits are the same as a person with indefinite leave.
If you applied and you have been granted EU pre-settled status you are entitled to apply for housing and to help if you are homeless and to universal credit or housing benefit if:
- the person from Northern Ireland you accompany is a worker, retained worker or self-employed person (or would be if s/he was an EEA national). or
- you are a former EEA family member (or would be if the person from Northern Ireland you accompany was an EEA national) who has former family member rights.
You are also entitled to universal credit or housing benefit (but not to housing or help if you are homeless), if the person from Northern Ireland you accompany has some other EEA right to reside (or would have if s/he was an EEA national) other than as the parent of a British child and you are habitually resident.
Parents of a British child
If you entered the UK before 1 January 2021 and at any time before then you were the parent with sole care of a British citizen child, you had the right to live in the UK if it was the only way your child could remain in the European Union (because you were their only carer).
Your right to reside was derived from EU law and expired on 30 June 2021 unless you made an application to the EU Settlement Scheme on or before then (or you made a late application on or before 8 August 2023 which was accepted). If you were granted or now have EU settled status you have the right to housing and benefits without any restrictions.
If you have EU pre-settled status or your application has not yet been decided you have the following rights:
- to live and work in the UK
- to rent a home from a private landlord and apply direct to housing association to join its waiting list (i.e. other than being nominated by your local council/the Housing Executive)
- in Scotland (but not Northern Ireland) to apply to your local council for housing and help if you are homeless
- to claim contributory benefits (i.e. those based on your national insurance contributions)
But you are excluded from most other welfare benefits (including universal credit, state pension credit, housing benefit and council tax rebate or, in Northern Ireland, domestic rate relief). If you are applying for rented housing (private or social) you may need to show your landlord how you can pay your rent (e.g. work, savings, insurance, guarantor).
If you have no income and you need help with housing or housing costs, you can get help from the social work department. You can also apply to the Home Office to vary your leave conditions to allow you to apply for benefits but you should seek advice from a registered immigration adviser before you do this. Once you have EU settled status (usually after five years' residence) you have the same rights as a person with indefinite leave to remain and can get access to benefits without any restrictions.
