Tax credits if you leave or move to the UK

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Immigration control

You usually cannot get tax credits if you’re ‘subject to immigration control’, although there are some exceptions. You’ll still need to meet the other qualifying rules, for example work the right number of hours.

When you arrived in the UK your passport may have been stamped. The stamp shows the conditions of your stay in the UK, for example ‘no recourse to public funds’. Public funds include tax credits and most benefits.

Exceptions

You may continue to get tax credits if:

  • your partner lives in the UK and is not subject to immigration control
  • one of the examples below applies to you or your partner

You have permission to stay in the UK because someone else supports you

You may continue to get tax credits if someone else is responsible for your maintenance while you’re in the UK. This means they pay for your upkeep and provide you with somewhere to live. This person is often called your ‘sponsor’, and could be a friend, employer or relative.

All of the following must apply:

  • your sponsor has given the Home Office a written statement saying that they’re sponsoring you
  • your sponsor has permission to stay in the UK
  • you’ve been living permanently in the UK for at least 5 years, either since you came into the UK or since you started being sponsored (whichever date is later)

You may also continue to get tax credits if you’ve been living in the UK for fewer than 5 years, but:

  • your sponsor has died
  • all your sponsors - if you had more than one - have died

You’re from Albania, Morocco, San Marino or Tunisia

You cannot get Working Tax Credit.

You may continue to get Child Tax Credit if you’re either working in the UK or you’re not working because you’re:

  • retired
  • pregnant or looking after children
  • sick or disabled or your partner has died

You’re from Turkey

To continue to get Working Tax Credit you need to be lawfully present in the UK and a Turkish national.

You may continue to get Child Tax Credit if you’re either working in the UK or you’re not working because you’re:

  • retired
  • pregnant or looking after children
  • sick or disabled or your partner has died

You’re from North Macedonia

You may continue to get Working Tax Credit if you’re a national of North Macedonia. You’ll need to be lawfully present in the UK.

You cannot normally get Child Tax Credit. However, you may continue to if you’ve been getting payments for your children through Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance.

You claimed asylum before 5 February 2006

You may continue to get Child Tax Credit if you received financial support for your children through Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance.

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