AFF Cyprus - How we have helped
AFF helps many families locally with different issues but for confidentiality reasons we cannot give details of them all.
Foreign & Commonwealth
AFF Cyprus has dealt with a great deal of enquiries from BFC’s Foreign & Commonwealth community in recent times. Here is an example of one such enquiry:
Issue
A Foreign & Commonwealth family received a posting order from Cyprus to Germany but it transpired that they were unable to leave Cyprus because of immigration issues. In particular, the family had originally entered Cyprus without passing through the UK, the family members’ visas had expired and there were difficulties concerning the legality of the adoption of one of the family’s children. To complicate matters, there was a huge amount of pressure on the family since these issues were preventing the serving spouse from leaving Cyprus and taking up his post in Germany. The serving spouse was also under pressure to leave his family and to travel to Germany himself. The complexity of the issues meant that the family could have been split up for many months.
Action
AFF Cyprus worked closely with Katherine Houlston, J1, the British High Commission in Nicosia, the UKBA, the family’s UWO and Army Legal Services to explore exactly where the family stood on each issue, what we could do collectively to ensure that each issue was addressed and how long it might take to resolve the family’s problems. Everyone involved had the family’s best interests at heart and we pooled our knowledge, resources and expertise to ensure that everything was being done to try to resolve the problems as quickly and as competently as possible so that the family could leave Cyprus to start life in Germany.
Outcome
After a lot of hard work from each party involved we managed to resolve the issues so that the family could travel to Germany together. Owing to the complexity of the issues and the strict rules and guidelines that govern them it took longer than expected to address the problems but the depth of our work meant that the family could travel to Germany knowing that the family members’ immigration status was as it should be and would no longer need to cause them concern.
As a result of this enquiry and other similar issues across Cyprus, AFF Cyprus held two F&C briefings and family forums in the WSBA and the ESBA so that the Chain of Command and families alike could be briefed by Katherine Houlston about F&C specific issues. The briefings and forums were a great success and meant that families in particular could seek advice from AFF about any issues that they were facing at the time or that they might face in the future.
Housing
Over summer 2011 an unprecedented number of families from across British Forces Cyprus contacted us about difficulties they were having with regards securing SFA for their return to the UK. Despite having received posting orders months before contacting AFF Cyprus, none of the families affected had been allocated SFA by the relevant HIC. In some cases, the families were due to leave Cyprus a week or two after approaching us which meant that there were a number of knock on effects such as their belongings being shipped to the UK without a destination address having been provided and families not being able to arrange home or car insurance, again because of the lack of an SFA address.
In each case AFF Cyprus sought the assistance of our housing specialist to liaise with the relevant HIC on behalf of each family. Despite weeks of unfruitful communication with the HICs by the families our housing specialist managed to secure an address for each family within hours of AFF Cyprus contacting her.
State Benefits
A family contacted AFF Cyprus about problems they were experiencing claiming state benefits in respect of their child. They had been claiming numerous benefits whilst in the UK and Germany but they had been having difficulties since their arrival in Cyprus.
After arriving in Akrotiri and having done everything that they were advised to do in terms of letting the Benefits Agency know that they were moving to Cyprus, the family had continued to receive payments for child tax credits and they were also making use of the childcare voucher scheme. However, child benefit payments had ceased for no apparent reason.
When the family sought the assistance of AFF Cyprus they had been in contact with the Benefits Agency for months to try to resolve the situation. AFF Cyprus agreed to act as agent for the family and to contact the Benefits Agency on their behalf. Following a discussion with the Benefits Agency about the family’s lack of child benefit payments the Benefits Agency agreed that it had erred in stopping the family’s payments and resolved to (i) resume payments to the family and (ii) pay the family the 15 months of payments that had not been made. The family received payment very soon after AFF Cyprus contacted the Benefits Agency and payments have continued ever since.
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