Child Benefit (copies vs originals)

[dazzle]

Hello everyone,

I wonder if anyone has been in a similar position.

I am British with a British passport, but was working abroad when my son was born. He was born in Africa and we immediately got him a British passport.

He is now 2, and we recently moved to the UK. I applied for Child Benefit, sending his original non-UK birth certificate and JCP certified copy of our passports.

A few weeks later we were sent an additional form to fill in, and they said they need original passports for both me and my son. I need my passport for work on a daily basis, and it is simply not a possibility for me to send it.

I called them a few times and eventually someone suggested to TRY with a certified copy of my passport, done by the local HMRC inquiry office. I had to try 3 local offices before one of them agreed to do it - because it's no longer procedure.

So finally I have sent the original child's passport, and the copies of mine. Does anyone know if this will work? I don't understand why they need the originals. They are both British passports, so there are no entry visas or stamps.

[wiggsy]

passports can be faked...

the person who took the copy would not of checked if it was a fake passport, they would simply copy it... and thus the copy could not be used to verify the authenticity of the passport...

the DWP and HMRC are two different "organisations". JCP is part of DWP.

HMRC taking a copy may work - you have provided HMRC the original, they copied it, then returned it. The fact that the original childs passport has been sent helps too.

did you get proof from hmrc office that they copied and sent passport(s)? - at the very least date/time and who copied it.

is your wife british etc?

you have to be "resident" in the uk to claim CB (as im sure you know)... if you travel out of the uk for work often, it could affect your CB claim... it could be better if your wife claims CB instead
(note: even if your wife has no recourse then as you can claim CB it has no effect on her claiming... it would not be deemed "public funds" should she claim.)

[wiggsy]

(how come some of my post got altered when i submitted it above? - F .a .k .e is now bad quality??)

[dazzle]

thanks for your input wiggsy...

The HMRC inquiry office took all the documents and said that they need to send everything directly from them. So I don't know if they stamped and signed the copies because I didn't post them off myself. I did see that they copied all pages.

My wife isn't British. She's here on a spouse visa.

I work in the air travel industry. So yes, I do spent a lot of working time out of the UK. But I am usually back at home before the end of the day. So it depends on whether they are counting the number of hours away, or the number of nights away. There are no passport stamps etc when I am working.

[wiggsy]

if you dont leave the airport, you are still in transit etc, so technically still in the country you depart from, until you pass imigration control at the other side (as far as i gather)

so if you depart uk, arrive in france but dont pass immigration, then you are still in the uk... then fly back to the uk... you were ALWAY in the uk for the purposes of immigration.

child benefit states you need to be resident in the uk and not absent for more than 8 weeks before notifying them... (you can still claim if your absense is less than a year)...

your wife still has right to CB in her own right, even if no recourse... we are looking into transfering my claim into my wifes claim, so she doesnt loose out on her stamp for pension etc (she cannot work here legally ATM).

CB and CTC are not counted as public funds if the "immigrants" partner are elegible to claim them (rule 6a/6b)....

[dazzle]

Ah, so that opens up the possibility of my wife applying instead of me then.

Only problem is that her visa expires in March, so we also need her passport for the visa extension.

I will wait and see what happens with the copies I've sent. As a last resort, I think I could even apply for a second passport.

Thanks again

[wiggsy]

well, ive actually recieved a reply from the CB dept. today.

as my wife has "no recourse". her stamp wont be paid... - so its of little point transfering the claim (the money is already paid into her account)

but she CAN claim it ( although, you might need to remind them of rule 6a/b before its paid ) but for simplicity claim yourself (if your no better off IE: her stamp, theres no point her claiming...)

[dazzle]

Just for anyone else who may have the same question in future, they accepted the certified copy of the passport done at the HMRC inquiry office.

They had the child's passport for around 2 weeks, then the first payment came a week later.