Job Seekers Allowance Advice

[davehend]

Hi

 

I have been working abroad (Tanzania, East Africa) for the last 5 years, I am going to be returning to the UK in June and am going to be looking for work.

 

I am a British citizen and have made voluntary National Insurance payments for the last 5 years.

 

How long after I return can I begin my claim?

 

Am on holiday in the UK now, shall I start the process now?

 

Any other information would be great

 

Many Thanks

[privatehudson]

To receive JSA you have to be actively seeking and available for work from the moment you claim. You also usually have to be in the UK, and even though you are at present you probably aren't seeking work whilst holidaying here, and will be going back for a few months shortly anyway, so I don't suggest asking to claim from now. What you can do though is start the ball rolling so that some of it is done in advance of your return to the UK.

 

There is a process whereby they can do an advanced claim but they would need to know what date you want to claim from. This would require you to know the date you're returning to the UK. Assuming you know this you could ring 08000556688 and inform them that you want to make an advanced claim. You'll need to mention this early on otherwise they may mistakenly assume you want to claim now. What should then happen is that they'll arrange an appointment either on or soon after the date you want to claim from and send out a claim pack for you to fill in. I doubt they can send this abroad so if you have a UK correspondence address that would help. You'd then fill out the form and bring it to the appointment they have booked for you along with any documents it recommends.

 

This process can be done up to 13 weeks in advance and whilst it doesn't speed things up that much it does save you having to do it in the first few days after you get back when you'll no doubt be busy.

 

Alternatively you could wait until you've come back here and try claiming through the normal route, but if you're busy and leave it a few days you'll be unlikely to be able to backdate the claim to the date you came back into the country.

[insyder]

You also need to be aware of the Habitual Residence Test which you will need to complete and pass to receive JSA. You will need to show that you are habitually resident in the UK - this can be through a mixture of things such as showing that you have set down roots on return, that you had contact with the UK during your time abroad, etc.

 

This is a test that everyone regardless of nationality needs to complete if they have returned to the UK in the last two years and have been out of the country for an appreciable amount of time to be considered to be living abroad. This isn't set down in law so it tends to be a changeable amount of time. I have seen anything from two weeks to six months used.

 

Due to the confusing nature of the test and the fact that even the law lords chose not to define "Habitual residence" it is not an easy thing to understand. Here is the pdf giving you more information