Social Security No Longer Secure For Certain Migrants As ECJ Deny Them Non-Contributory Benefits

Benson Agoha | Social Security

Tuesday's ruling by the European Court of Justice regarding who can claim certain migrant benefits, settles a long running argument regarding the right of other EU member states to claim benefits on arrival in Britain.

In the past, EU immigrants ( immigrants arriving UK from other EU member states) who have been denied the right to claim have attracted support and defense from some political figures who argued that they should be paid the same benefits as local citizens because they have traveled from their respective countries, leaving friends and family behind and often have nothing within the UK to fall back on.

Such critics justify their position stating that whereas British citizens have their family and friends to fall back on, immigrants often times have no one else to lean on other than the benefits to survive till they find employment.

But in a land mark ruling in Judgment in Case C-67/14 of Tuesday September 15, 2015, the ECJ said "A Member State may exclude Union citizens who go to that State to find work from certain non-contributory social security benefits."

This means that people who travel within the EU for the sole purpose of finding employment may not be entitled to claim certain benefits available to citizens of the host country.

The ruling was in response to an application brought by Germany after a JobCenter in Berlin stopped paying benefit to some EU nationals who have arrived and settled for work. But when they traveled back home and spent ten years before returning to Germany, they were told they no longer qualify to claim life support allowance if they have not worked for up to a year.

As Britain has often been identified as a target by immigrants who simply target the benefit system, this ruling might serve as an elixir needed to curb immigration.