Many migrants in the UK have no recourse to public funds when they are granted leave to remain, which means that they cannot access mainstream benefits and housing assistance. The definition of a ‘public fund’ specifies precisely which benefits these are and it includes, for example, jobseekers’ allowance, housing benefit and social housing. It does not include compulsory education or the NHS.
Migrants with many different types of visa or leave have a ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition attached. Student or work visas generally do not allow access to public funds.
Those who have no valid leave in the UK, such as overstayers and those who are appeal rights exhausted, have no recourse to public funds.
Avoiding No recourse to public funds
If an individual or family has been granted leave on the basis of family or private life after July 2012, they will normally have an NRPF condition on their visa.
However, there should be no NRPF condition on leave granted in cases where:
- The applicant is ‘destitute’; or
- there are particularly compelling reasons relating to the welfare of a child on account of the child’s parent’s very low income’; or
- the applicant has established exceptional circumstances in their case relating to their financial circumstances’.
When making an application, an individual or family will need to set out why they should be granted leave to remain with the NRPF condition removed. Even if the individual or family has had recourse to public funds in the past, the case will have to be made for applications to renew leave. This is because the Home Office will re-assess whether they continue to meet the relevant conditions for such a grant.
Removing no recourse to public funds condition
If there is an NRPF condition on a visa and the individual or family needs this removed, there is a process in which someone can ask for the condition to be removed. The Home Office has provided a form to help people to provide information and evidence about their changed circumstances. The form can be found here.
- An application to remove the no recourse to public funds may be made if the following conditions are met:
- Since being granted leave to remain, the financial conditions of the person or family have changed, and they have become destitute, or there are now particularly compelling reasons relating to the welfare of the child/children; or
- The person or family granted leave were destitute, or there were particularly compelling reasons relating to the welfare of the child/children, at the time the
- application was granted but they failed to provide evidence of this at the time and now wish to send in this evidence.
Where it is accepted that a person or family satisfies the above requirements, their conditions of leave will be amended, and they will be granted access to public funds
