I am supporting a lady who has refugee status. When she received her status she was a single parent with 5 children. She has been claiming child tax since receiving her status. In February 2005 her husband came into the country. However, his status here at the moment is seen as illegal. He has made himself known to the home office and has a solicitor, but is waiting to hear back from them.

When her husband came into the country, her single claim to child tax credit was cancelled, and a joint claim was made. She has been been receiving fortnightly payments from the tax credit office while she had been waiting for a decision on her claim. On 16th September they refused her joint claim, because her husband cannot show them the required documents such as a passport or a letter from the home office. I am aware of regulation 5 of the tax credit (immigration) regulations. Where if one member of a couple is not under immigration control, they will be treated as if neither of them are, however, I am not clear on whether this applies to someone who's legal status in the country is not clear.

Can anyone enighten me as to whether the decision to refuse the claim is correct, and the best course of action from here?

Lisa

I stand to be corrected, but on the face of it, the decision appears to be wrong. The Tax Credit Immigration Regs. say that a "person subject to immigration control" is to be defined as in Section 115(9) of the 1999 Immigration & Asylum Act. S. 115(9)(a) includes in that definition a person who "requires leave to enter or remain in the UK but does not have it". (You can access the Regs. & this definition via Rightsnet toolkit.) From what you say, this would seem to be the situation your client's husband is in. From what the definition says it appears that the fact that he is probably here illegally does not matter. (I know this is the case in other situations - for example, someone who comes on a visitor's visa, overstays, then marries a British citizen can be included in a joint claim.)
You can go back to the Tax Credit people quoting the regulations, &/or start the appeal process. Both are likely to take a long while to come up with a conclusion. It might be best (as well as doing that) to involve the MP - who might be able to get a quicker response.