A Somali mother-of-four is entitled to claim thousands of pounds in benefits because two of her children are attending UK schools, EU judges ruled today.
Nimco Hassan Ibrahim was denied housing assistance because she and her estranged husband - a Danish national - failed to qualify for residency rights.
She appealed the decision by Harrow Council in north-west London, claiming that as her children's 'primary carer' she should be allowed to stay on in Britain and qualify for state handouts.
Today the European Court of Justice directed the Britain's Appeal Court to find in her favour.
It said that parents of children in school have the right of residence even where they cannot support themselves.
The ruling paves the way for Ms Ibrahim to claim thousands of pounds in benefits each month.
EU rules say that members of the family of a migrant worker who is a national of one EU country and employed in another have residency rights with that worker, whatever their nationality - a right that continues even if the migrant worker no longer lives or works there.
The same judges also backed the case of Portuguese Maria Teixeira, divorced from her Portuguese husband, who was turned down for housing assistance on the grounds that she had no right of UK residence because she was not working and was not therefore self-sufficient.
She argued that she had residency rights because her daughter - the child of an EU national who had moved from one EU country to another - was continuing education in the UK.
The EU judges said the right of residence of the 'primary carer' parent normally ends when the child reaches 18, 'unless the child continues to need the presence and care of that parent in order to be able to pursue and complete his or her education'.
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