Child Benefit, Non-EU parent but Irish child

helpmeplease

Hi

I would be very grateful if anyone could help me with my problem. My partner is a non-EU citizen who came to Ireland 15 years ago.

Her son was born in 2006 and has an Irish passport. She was able to claim child benefit for her son but in 2010 her immigration status needed to be renewed. Her legal status lapsed and the payments stopped.

She was unable to renew her status until 2014 as it involved travelling back to her home country to get documents. In 2014 she went back for 6 weeks to get everything she needed. She returned to Ireland again with the necessary documents and was able to regularise her immigration status. The approval from the GNIB came in mid-2015.

She then made an application for child benefit. They have backdated the payment to mid-2015.

Is the child not entitled to receive child benefit for the full period between 2010 and 2015?

The child is Irish and has been resident in Ireland since birth.

Can someone please clarify this for me? I was under the impression that she would receive backdated payments for at least some of the period 2010-2014?

Indeed, we even know people from the same country who received backdated payments in almost identical situations.

We are going to call the child benefit office about this but I am wondering if anyone can advise on this first.

Thanks:)

haveringchick

helpmeplease wrote: »

Hi

I would be very grateful if anyone could help me with my problem. My partner is a non-EU citizen who came to Ireland 15 years ago.

Her son was born in 2006 and has an Irish passport. She was able to claim child benefit for her son but in 2010 her immigration status needed to be renewed. Her legal status lapsed and the payments stopped.

She was unable to renew her status until 2014 as it involved travelling back to her home country to get documents. In 2014 she went back for 6 weeks to get everything she needed. She returned to Ireland again with the necessary documents and was able to regularise her immigration status. The approval from the GNIB came in mid-2015.

She then made an application for child benefit. They have backdated the payment to mid-2015.

Is the child not entitled to receive child benefit for the full period between 2010 and 2015?

The child is Irish and has been resident in Ireland since birth.

Can someone please clarify this for me? I was under the impression that she would receive backdated payments for at least some of the period 2010-2014?

Indeed, we even know people from the same country who received backdated payments in almost identical situations.

We are going to call the child benefit office about this but I am wondering if anyone can advise on this first.

Thanks:)

If she was not deemed to be legally resident here between 2010 and mid 2015 then how would she be entitled
To CB for that period?
Or have GNIB retrospectively awarded her a stamp for that period?

helpmeplease

haveringchick wrote: »

If she was not deemed to be legally resident here between 2010 and mid 2015 then how would she be entitled
To CB for that period?
Or have GNIB retrospectively awarded her a stamp for that period?

GNIB granted her residency under the Zambrano ruling.

I'm not sure if they can retrospectively award a stamp? Isn't that similar to what Zambrano is? That she has the right to live here because of her Irish citizen child.

I am wondering on what basis they would refuse to pay for an Irish child who has been resident here and attending school etc.

Can they refuse based on the mother's residency status at the time?

haveringchick

helpmeplease wrote: »

GNIB granted her residency under the Zambrano ruling.

I'm not sure if they can retrospectively award a stamp? Isn't that similar to what Zambrano is? That she has the right to live here because of her Irish citizen child.

I am wondering on what basis they would refuse to pay for an Irish child who has been resident here and attending school etc.

Can they refuse based on the mother's residency status at the time?

The payment is made to the mother, not the child
The child's nationality is neither here nor there
CB is paid in respect of plenty of children who are not Irish citizens
Indeed, it is paid, quite properly,in respect of plenty of children who have never been to Ireland
The payment is made to "qaulified " parents
In order to qualify, They have to tick certain boxes
Naturally, having a legal right to reside in
Ireland would be one of the tick boxes
What you need to ascertain before you raise a grievance with CB, is the exact position of the GNIB now with regards to this woman's immigration status in the years 2010 to 2015
If it is their position now that she is here legally now, and was here legally then , then she would be able to argue for backdating of the CB
If it is their position that she is here legally now but was here illegally then, then I would say she has a uphill struggle
Incidentally, GNIB should be able to clear this issue up for you, CB definitely won't

helpmeplease

Thanks very much for the clarification. Much appreciated. We will contact our local GNIB officer and take it from there. I will post an update when we know more.

Thanks again haveringchick

helpmeplease

haveringchick wrote: »

The payment is made to the mother, not the child
The child's nationality is neither here nor there
CB is paid in respect of plenty of children who are not Irish citizens
Indeed, it is paid, quite properly,in respect of plenty of children who have never been to Ireland
The payment is made to "qaulified " parents
In order to qualify, They have to tick certain boxes
Naturally, having a legal right to reside in
Ireland would be one of the tick boxes
What you need to ascertain before you raise a grievance with CB, is the exact position of the GNIB now with regards to this woman's immigration status in the years 2010 to 2015
If it is their position now that she is here legally now, and was here legally then , then she would be able to argue for backdating of the CB
If it is their position that she is here legally now but was here illegally then, then I would say she has a uphill struggle
Incidentally, GNIB should be able to clear this issue up for you, CB definitely won't

Update as promised.

You were absolutely correct with your answer above. They said she was deemed to have not met the habitual residence requirement. We have an address for sending a letter of appeal, but we might speak to the local GNIB officer instead and see if it is worth pursuing. I know of other non-EU nationals in a similar predicament (due to their country of origin) but they were deemed to have met the habitual residency requirements. Perhaps we didn't provide enough documentary proof or something like that.

Thanks again for your help, and if you have anything further to add, I'd be grateful.