FREEPOST DWP

Universal Credit

Luminita Hasan If you call us, please have

the answers to your security
questions ready

www.gov.uk/universalcredit

Telephone: 0800 328 5644

Your Universal Credit claim 03/03/2021

Habitual residence test decision

Dear Luminita

We have decided that you have failed the habitual residence test. More information
This is because you are subject to immigration control.
Use your journal to
How we made this decision contact us if you have
any questions.
We have used all the information we have about you, including: Find out more about
Universal Credit at
• information provided in your Universal Credit application www.gov.uk/uc
• information provided during your habitual residence test
interview
• any other information you have sent us

If you want a more detailed explanation of this decision or need

more information, call us on 0800 328 5644.

What happens next

We will implement this decision and you will receive a further letter
confirming your Universal Credit claim outcome.

Yours sincerely,

Universal Credit

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If you disagree with a decision
Call Charges
You can ask us to explain why
You, or someone who has the authority to act Calls to 0800 numbers are free from landlines
for you, can call 0800 328 5644 or use your and mobiles.
journal to request a written explanation. You’ll
need to do this within 1 month of the date of
this letter.

You can also ask us to reconsider a

decision
Tell us if you think we’ve overlooked, or
you’ve more, information that affects the
decision. Do this within 1 month of the date
on this letter.
When we’ve looked at what you’ve told us,
we’ll send you a letter to tell you what we’ve
decided and why. We call this letter a
‘Mandatory Reconsideration Notice’.

When you’ve done this you can appeal

If you disagree with the Mandatory
Reconsideration Notice, you can appeal to a
tribunal.
You must wait for the ‘Mandatory
Reconsideration Notice’ before you start an
appeal.

Equality and Diversity

We are committed to treating people fairly,

regardless of their disability, ethnicity, gender,
sexual orientation, transgender status, marital
or civil partnership status, age, religion or
beliefs. Please contact us if you have any
concerns.

How DWP collects and uses information

We will treat your personal information

carefully. We may use it for any of our
purposes. To learn about your information
rights and how we use information, please see
our Personal Information Charter at
www.gov.uk
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How we make our decision

We use all the information and evidence we have about your circumstances, to decide if you
have the right to reside in the UK as a qualifying person for the purpose of being awarded
Universal Credit.

What we check

The following list gives a summary of what we check for. We only look at the parts relevant to
your circumstances.

Please see the rights to reside we have considered when making our decision.

EEA stands for European Economic Area.

HRT category Brief description

Habitual Residency To be habitually resident in a country a person must

have actually taken up residence and lived there for a
period. It is not sufficient that the person came to this
country voluntarily and for settled purposes.

They must be resident in fact for an appropriate period

of time which demonstrates that their residence has
become, and is likely to remain, habitual in nature.

Certain rights to reside do not require a person to be

habitually resident to qualify (shown by *).

EEA Jobseeker A person who is looking for work. For Universal Credit
purposes this does not count as a right to reside.

Non EEA - Person Subject to A person who is not an EEA national and who doesn’t
Immigration Control (PSIC) have a Biometric Residence Permit or Visa giving
them a right to reside in the UK. Or, they have a
Examples of individual rights to Biometric Residence Permit or Visa but this is subject
reside issued by the Home Office to the condition that they do not have recourse to
(list not exhaustive) public funds or the Permit or Visa was given as a result
of a maintenance undertaking.
EEA - Indefinite leave to remain

EEA - Limited leave to remain (In some exceptional circumstances an EEA national
may have been granted leave to remain before their
Non-EEA – Settlement country joined the EU, which could still be relevant.)

Non-EEA - Permanent right to reside

Non-EEA - Indefinite leave to remain

Non-EEA - Limited leave to remain

Non-EEA - Humanitarian protection *

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Non-EEA – Refugee *

British Citizen or national of the These people have the right of abode in the UK but
Common Travel area (comprising the they have to show they are actually habitually resident,
United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of and intend to remain. This would normally be a period
Man, and the Channel Islands. The of continual residence between 1 and 3 months.
British Overseas Territories are not
included)

EEA Permanent right to reside A person can get a permanent right to reside in the UK
if they can show that they have resided here, as a
qualified person, for a continuous period of 5 years.
This will be lost if they are away from the UK for a
period of 2 years. (There are other circumstances that
qualify permanent right to reside that are outlined in
Reg 15 of the EEA regulations.)

EEA Worker A person currently doing genuine and effective work.

EEA Self-employed person A person who is currently doing genuine and effective
self-employed work.

EEA - Retained worker status A person who stopped working (from 24 July 2018 this
(looking for work) also includes self-employed work) involuntarily and
can demonstrate that they remained in the labour
market. A ‘genuine prospect of work’ interview would
be required after 6 months of entitlement to decide
whether the person had established another right to
reside or could continue to show they had a genuine
prospect of work.

EEA - Retained self-employed status A person who has stopped work or self-employed work
(ill health) due to sickness or accident and as a direct result
cannot return to work yet.
EEA - Retained worker status (temp.
incapacity)

EEA - Retained worker status A woman who gives up work due to the physical
(maternity period) constraints of the late stages of pregnancy (within 11
weeks of the due date) can retain their status as a
worker provided they intend to return to work within a
reasonable period of time (up to 41 weeks from when
the baby was born).

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EEA Retained Worker involuntarily A person who has stopped work (from 24 July 2018
unemployed and embarked on this also includes self-employed work) involuntarily and
vocational training has started vocational training.

EEA Retained Worker, voluntarily A person who stopped work (from 24 July 2018 this
unemployed also includes self-employed work) voluntarily to start
vocational training linked to their previous employment.

EEA - Self-sufficient A person who has enough resources to not be a

burden on the State and has comprehensive sickness
insurance. Such a person would not normally be
entitled to Universal Credit but periods where this right
to reside is satisfied could count towards determining a
permanent right to reside.

EEA – Student A person who is in full time education, has enough

resources to not be a burden on the State and has
comprehensive sickness insurance. Such a person
would not normally be entitled to Universal Credit but
periods where this right to reside is satisfied could
count towards determining a permanent right to reside.

EEA - Worker or self-employed A person who has retired, has a permanent incapacity
person who has ceased activity or works in another member state, whilst living in the
UK, has a permanent right to reside if they satisfy the
conditions in Reg 5 of the EEA Regulations.

EEA - Family member of an EEA A person who satisfies one of the conditions in Reg 7
national of the EEA Regulations would have the same right to
reside as the family member of an EEA national. Any
changes in the EEA national family member’s
circumstances must be reported.

EEA - Family member who has In some circumstances a person can derive a right to
retained the right of residence reside from a family member who has died or from
whom they are divorced. The relevant conditions are
set out in Reg 10 of the EEA Regulations.

EEA - Extended family member A person who satisfies one of the conditions of Reg 8
of the EEA Regulations and also holds one of the
following:

• a valid EEA family permit

• a valid registration certificate
• a valid residence card

This gives them the status of family member of an EEA

national and would have the same right to reside as
the EEA family member. Any changes in the EEA
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 national’s circumstances must be reported.

EEA - Family member of British The British Citizen and the claimant must have lived
Citizen together in another EEA country and the other
conditions in Reg 9 of the EEA Regulations must be
satisfied. Any changes in the British Citizen’s or family
member’s circumstances must be reported.

Primary carer of a child in education A person can have a derivative right to reside, if they
do not have any other right to reside (whether that
entitles them to benefit or not) and are the primary
carer, or joint primary carer, of a child in general
education, providing that one of the child’s parents is
an EEA national who has resided in the UK as a
worker since the child came to live in the UK. There is
no requirement for the worker to be part of the family
unit but the work must be genuine and effective.

If the child is a British Citizen this does not count as a

right to reside for Universal Credit purposes.
A derivative right to reside does not go towards the 5
continuous years required to acquire a permanent right
to reside.

Non-EEA - Family member of an EEA A person who satisfies one of the conditions in Reg 7
national of the EEA Regulations which allows them to be
treated as the family member of an EEA national. They
would have the same right to reside as the EEA
national family member. A non-EEA national would
normally hold a valid residence card confirming they
are a family member - but as long as they can
demonstrate they are a family member the card is not
essential. Any changes in the EEA national family
member’s circumstances must be reported.

Non-EEA /EEA - Primary carer of a A person who is the primary carer of a British national
British National child in education child in general education can get a derivative right to
reside, but for benefit purposes this does not count as
a right to reside.

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