Homeless, pregnant and not 'British Citizen'

[valencia88]

Hello,

I have been here for 9 years, working most of the time, but apparently thet cant find evidence to support this so I can not apply for any help or income support but JSA Contribution for 6 months.

I have been kicked out of my flatshare, cause babies arent allowed, I'm due in 3 months - what rights do I have?

I have already been down this road of collecting a hundred millions different documents p45, p60s to show how much tax I have paid over the years, but to no avail.

I am NOT with the dad who is a British Citizen. I am staying in a woman's living room I met through church and I need to leave her and her house alone but cannot get a job as no one wants to employ a pregnant woman.

I have a swedish passport so I have the right to live here but nothing else. What happens when my daughter comes, will I still be homeless? The council is saying they cannot provide me with housing unless I have an "INCOME" and contribution ESA/JSA does not count.

I honestly have NO idea what to do.

Do you want to go back to Sweden? If so present yourself to the Swedish embassy and ask for assistance. They will probably be able to help you return. I'd be surprised if they couldn't.

If you want to stay in the UK get yourself to your local citizens advice. They will be able to help you. As you are 3 months away from your due date I'd also consider going to your local MPs surgery (open question time) and asking them for help. They normally have a team of people who help with cases like yours.

Do you have family in Sweden you could stay with? I think in your position I would go back to Sweden for the time being.

Citizens Advice should offer you some advice. Do you have a National Insurance number ? Have you applied at the job centre for job seekers allowance or Universal credit ?

Can you get child maintainence form the dad once your baby is here ?

Is it the habitual residency test that is the problem. I know you would need to pass this to get Universal credit. if you have been paying sufficient NI contributions then there must be evidence of this. You can check NI contributions by setting up a gateway online ??

Have a look at www.gov.uk if you have a National Insurance number you may be able to check your contributions here. Also info about benefits etc

Yes it was a failed habitual residence test. I have been working for more than 5 years but I did not think to save all those p45s and p60s when I first got here as a naive 21 year old, not knowing I would one day have a child in this country where there are no other way to check how much NI and tax you have paid apart from that ONE document that was handed to you.

I can’t go back to Sweden, I have no home there I have been here for nearly a decade, this IS my home!

Does my unborn daughter not count as a British citizen, do I have any rights to any help once she is born or will I be considered an “immigrant” and ok to be homeless? I don’t have a penny to my name at the moment and in all honesty I am so worried the effects this is having on my baby :(

I have applied for jsa, uc but to no avail. Can’t get anything apart from Contribution JSA, and that does not count as “income” when you deal with the council and need housing support and help.

Where is the baby’s father in all this? Could you live with him for a bit?

Have you contacted Shelter? They are the experts. Give them a ring.

I don't think the council help until the babies born

Have you spoken to the midwives so they are aware of the situation? Social services maybe able to help as well.

sorry I don’t know about immigration/benefit help, i’d second previous advice to call the CAB, maybe Shelter as well? Have you tried temping agencies for work? I know some pregnant women have had success getting shifts this way to get some money coming in; when they haven’t managed to find permanent work.

You may consider that this is your home, but as a Swedish citizen you will probably have more rights and benefits there.

As others have said, the child's father has responsibilities too.

Can you show tenancy agreements that prove you have been resident here?

HMRC should have a record of your tax paid.

Is the father going to jointly register the birth?

If you are entitled to contributions JSA, surely you are entitled to housing benefit. Once the child is born, possibly child benefit. Does your friend at the church know of any church charities that can help you.

So sorry for you, OP. Perhaps go back to Sweden and apply for UC, housing etc there until your baby is old enough for school, then come back to the UK to work which should mean you're applicable for housing?

Have you got access to your NI number?
instructions to get a record of how much national insurance you gave paid here
Sorry, cant help on anything else.

Do you have an ni number?
Maybe i am being thick but with my ni number i can create an online tax account which shows my ni contributions for 35 years

As a matter of fact, I am not a citizen in Sweden anymore. After 2 years of absence you don’t even exist in the system. And no, I have no more rights there as I haven’t worked there since I was a teenager. I haven’t even got a house to stay in there either, might be hard for some to believe but some people aren’t lucky with family and having somebody to always rely on.

The Dad to my daughter won’t be in the picture, unfortunately for her.

I can show a million things, of jobs I have had, previous tenancy agreements etc but that’s not what they want, they want what they can’t get me to give them. Even though I have worked years here and paid £500 a month in tax/ni contribution. It’s a joke.

What happens to my baby girl, will she become British, I can get her biological dad to sign any type of proof if needed, or dna tests whatever they want.

I know that you don't want to go back to Sweden, and I can understand that, but it could get very complicated if you give birth in the UK and then find that you can't stay after Brexit. There is still no real clarity about how foreign citizens with British babies/children will be dealt with and if you got deported and your baby's father refused permission for his child to leave the country then things could be serious. Whereas if you give birth in Sweden then you and your baby will have more freedom of movement as you won't be in the same country as the baby's father from the start.

If you have details of where you worked then we would help at my work if you walked in, but we charge fee's (accountants) the proof of NI and tax is all available but it can be a hassle getting it, which is why people seek help. No reason you can't do it though. Do you have any old pay slips at all, or anything with names and addresses of places you worked?? Also, if you haven't already done so, then set yourself up a HMRC account, all NI years are listed almost immediately I think for a start. Don't panic, it's no good for either of you!

Right, I will contact CAB and shelter first thing tomorrow .

Sorry, crossed with your last post.

Talk to your midwife, they can be very good at signposting and supporting women in such situations.

Does anybody actually know the answer to if they can deny me any help e.g benefits and housing help because I haven’t got a british passport even though my child will?

I keep hearing I will be helped but when I’m searching for info, it says nowhere that having a child in the UK will give you some basic rights.

If you can prove the father and he is a full British citizen(ie both he and his parents were born in Britain) then the baby will be a British citizen. He will have to pay cs. Shelter is definitely the right place to start.