Can you be self-sufficient, self-employed at the same time?

[Lucilla]

Good afternoon everyone, I am an EU national and I have been living in the UK since march 2016 as a self-sufficient person. My parents upload all the money I need on my Mastercard each month (and I of course can get the online receipts that prove it), and I wanted to apply for an EEA registration certificate.

Months ago, I took out private healthcare with AVIVA. I was told that the very expensive option I was purchasing was the most comprehensive healthcare they had to offer, and that I could use it in a visa application. Today, I phoned AVIVA just to get some general information, and I was told very casually that this healthcare cannot be inserted in a government application because it is not valid, none of their policies are.

So what the lady has basically told me is that all this time I was not properly following the rules to remain here in the UK as a self-sufficient person, despite having taken out an extremely expensive yearly healthcare policy with them. To say that the news has been devastating is putting it mildly.

She advised me to talk to a broker, and to get advised on how to get another, more suitable healthcare insurance. My only luck in all this is that thankfully I am in a financial position which allows me to do this!

I was wondering whether you have any advice for me, on how to proceed. I live in Edinburgh and I have no idea how to find a reputable broker, and I do not want to get scammed a second time. Do you know of any reputable companies which release healthcare insurances that can be put in a government application?

I haven't had the need to see a doctor ever since I have been here, and I have never claimed any benefits either. All the same, of course in my application I will have to mention that I have arrived last march, and I would simply hate not to specify that I have actually taken out private healthcare to cover myself during all these months! There is a part of the application that asks you to elaborate on how much money you receive each month, so they can determine whether you are properly self-sufficient. I was thinking of using that section to specify something along the lines of: 'Apart from my monthly allowance, my parents also send the money necessary to cover any extra expenses. Months ago, they covered the cost of a private healthcare policy I took out. I recently found out that policy is not enough to ensure me, so I filed a complaint, went to a broker, and took out a new one which I have included in this application. I received extra money from my parents to cover all the costs.'

Do you think that is a good or a bad idea? I think it might help my case a little bit because just filing an application which states I got my private healthcare in december despite having been here since march looks bad, and is simply not how things went at all. Any ideas on what else could help me navigate through this? I will definitely file a complaint with AVIVA, but that will not help me much in practical terms, I believe.

Thank you very much in advanca for reading and for your help

Thank you so much for your time.

[Lucilla]

Hello, I am sorry, I have another query regarding the Registration Certificate for EEA nationals. I will put all my question in this post, so I can avoid creating too many new topics.

When you make an application for a Registration Certificate, you are asked whether you have other sources of income except for instance the money you get from your family which lives abroad in another EU country (this is my case). Currently, I do not have another source of income. But imagine that I published an ebook, for instance, and as a result became self-employed as well as self-sufficient, would I have to submit a new application? Would I automatically not be self-sufficient anymore even though I retain my private healthcare and still receive most of my money from my family?

A related question: what if I do not earn enough to be able to pay taxes (that is, if I don't make the 11,000 bracket)? I would not want to get this source of income that is basically not declared anywhere if I do not earn enough to pay taxes, and later have problems as a result. Am I looking at this from the wrong angle? Could you please give me some advice on this matter?

Thank you very much for your help

[noajthan]

Yes, all questions in same topic - that is the IB way.

Get up to speed on qualified persons here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf

[noajthan]

Good afternoon everyone, I am an EU national and I have been living in the UK since march 2016 as a self-sufficient person. My parents upload all the money I need on my Mastercard each month (and I of course can get the online receipts that prove it), and I wanted to apply for an EEA registration certificate.

Months ago, I took out private healthcare with AVIVA. I was told that the very expensive option I was purchasing was the most comprehensive healthcare they had to offer, and that I could use it in a visa application. Today, I phoned AVIVA just to get some general information, and I was told very casually that this healthcare cannot be inserted in a government application because it is not valid, none of their policies are.

...

Thank you so much for your time.

What did the rep mean by not 'valid' ? not valid for which 'government applications'?

CSI for selfsufficient qualified persons is mandated by EU law not by UK government and the definition of CSI is imprecise.
So its unclear why the policy you have got does not fit the bill.

[Lucilla]

Yes, all questions in same topic - that is the IB way.

Get up to speed on qualified persons here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf

Sorry for doubleposting! Thank you very much for that document, it was very informative. It says that a self-employed activity which is not your main source of income and does not earn you enough money to pay taxes does not make you qualified as a self-employed person. So I guess I will just remain self-sufficient

Could you - or anyone else - please advise me regarding the private healthcare issue? Should I mention I have taken out a precedent health insurance in my application? As for the new one, does anyone have any information on which companies give out reliable health insurances which can be reported in government applications? I paid a lot of money for my AVIVA policy a few months ago, and now it turns out it is completely useless. That was a blow, so I'd rather ask those who know more than I (you) to give me a pointer in the right direction

[Lucilla]

Good afternoon everyone, I am an EU national and I have been living in the UK since march 2016 as a self-sufficient person. My parents upload all the money I need on my Mastercard each month (and I of course can get the online receipts that prove it), and I wanted to apply for an EEA registration certificate.

Months ago, I took out private healthcare with AVIVA. I was told that the very expensive option I was purchasing was the most comprehensive healthcare they had to offer, and that I could use it in a visa application. Today, I phoned AVIVA just to get some general information, and I was told very casually that this healthcare cannot be inserted in a government application because it is not valid, none of their policies are.

...

Thank you so much for your time.

What did the rep mean by not 'valid'? not valid for which 'government applications'?

CSI for selfsufficient qualified persons is mandated by EU law not by UK government and the definition of CSI is imprecise.
So its unclear why the policy you have got does not fit the bill.

What happened was that I called AVIVA a few months ago, and asked if they offered a healthcare policy that would qualify as comprehensive healthcare insurance for an EU national. They cheerfully said they had just the thing.

Today I called them for an unrelated matter and mentioned I was about to fill my application for the registration certificate, and they said none of the AVIVA policies can be used in government applications because they do not fit the bill. That is all they told me. I could not inquire any further at that time, but I do not know what to do. Should I call them back? How on earth do I know whether a potentially new healthcare (throwing away my current one means throwing away A LOT of money) is comprehensive?

[noajthan]

This may help you get your head around CSI:
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/compreh ... -needs-it/

See also HO guidance here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... a-students
- it refers to students who also require CSI but may give insights on CSI itself.

[Lucilla]

This may help you get your head around CSI:
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/compreh ... -needs-it/

See also HO guidance here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... a-students
- it refers to students who also require CSI but may give insights on CSI itself.

Thank you very much for those links. It seems that they almost intentionally leave out what qualifies as comprehensive healthcare insurance, almost in order to ensure that they can tell anyone that they are not sufficiently covered. Furthemore, because the line of what qualifies as healthcare insurance is so blurry, what the AVIVA lady told me over the phone about my policy not qualifying sounds very fishy.

Is there a particular thread or section here where other EU nationals talk of what kind of healthcare insurances they have taken out, and submitted? If they have been given the green lights by the HM, I would be glad to purchase their same healthcare insurance on top of my own. I could include both insurances in my application.

[noajthan]

Thank you very much for those links. It seems that they almost intentionally leave out what qualifies as comprehensive healthcare insurance, almost in order to ensure that they can tell anyone that they are not sufficiently covered. Furthemore, because the line of what qualifies as healthcare insurance is so blurry, what the AVIVA lady told me over the phone about my policy not qualifying sounds very fishy.

Is there a particular thread or section here where other EU nationals talk of what kind of healthcare insurances they have taken out, and submitted? If they have been given the green lights by the HM, I would be glad to purchase their same healthcare insurance on top of my own. I could include both insurances in my application.

There is not, in this instance, a conspiracy by UK gov.
As with most of the clauses from EU Directive, the implementation details are left imprecise; probably because they have to apply across all of the EU, in different countries with different systems.

Yes, if you search in forum you will find good members reporting on their CSI experiences.

[LilyLalilu]

I had Aviva and it was fine and accepted as CSI.
It obviously depends on your level of cover but as long as the policy covers you for the majority of circumstances it'll be accepted.
The Aviva representative probably just had no clue what you were talking about and did not want to make any promises.

[ohara]

The Aviva representative probably just had no clue what you were talking about and did not want to make any promises.

Sounds almost like the UKVI helpline.

[Lucilla]

I had Aviva and it was fine and accepted as CSI.
It obviously depends on your level of cover but as long as the policy covers you for the majority of circumstances it'll be accepted.
The Aviva representative probably just had no clue what you were talking about and did not want to make any promises.

Really?! This would cheer me up immensely if it is true. My policy is called Healthier Solutions. Is it a different one from yours?

[LilyLalilu]

Yup, I had healthier solutions and can confirm that it was accepted. It's as comprehensive as it gets if you look at what they cover.

[noajthan]

Really?! This would cheer me up immensely if it is true. My policy is called Healthier Solutions. Is it a different one from yours?

Laughter is the best medecine.
One day you will be able to laugh about all of this.

[Lucilla]

Hello everyone, I am assembling the papers necessary to make a Registration Certificate application. Proof of my private healthcare insurance is required. I was wondering whether I should send the original papers or make a photocopy? I don't want my application to be discounted if I do not send the original, but I am wary of parting with such an important document, and I am not sure I will get it back.

The application also requires two passport photos with my name written at the back, I hope they just mean I should write my name manually?

Sorry to bother you with these small bureaucratic questions, I am just really nervous and want to do everything correctly because I don't want my application to be rejected

P.S. Having to send them my actual passport is a tragedy. I wish I had gotten an ID card back in Italy, but I didn't.

Thank you very much for your help.

[noajthan]

Hello everyone, I am assembling the papers necessary to make a Registration Certificate application. Proof of my private healthcare insurance is required. I was wondering whether I should send the original papers or make a photocopy? I don't want my application to be discounted if I do not send the original, but I am wary of parting with such an important document, and I am not sure I will get it back.

The application also requires two passport photos with my name written at the back, I hope they just mean I should write my name manually?

Sorry to bother you with these small bureaucratic questions, I am just really nervous and want to do everything correctly because I don't want my application to be rejected

P.S. Having to send them my actual passport is a tragedy. I wish I had gotten an ID card back in Italy, but I didn't.

Thank you very much for your help.

Send originals. Translated (if not in English or Welsh).

You can write your name on photo. Its in case they fall off form or out of your bundle.

If you are EEA why not apply via a council that offers the new document check service?
- that way you get to keep hold of your precious.
How cool is that.

[Lucilla]

Good afternoon everyone, I am an EU national and I have been living in the UK since march 2016 as a self-sufficient person. My parents upload all the money I need on my Mastercard each month (and I of course can get the online receipts that prove it), and I wanted to apply for an EEA registration certificate.

Months ago, I took out private healthcare with AVIVA. I was told that the very expensive option I was purchasing was the most comprehensive healthcare they had to offer, and that I could use it in a visa application. Today, I phoned AVIVA just to get some general information, and I was told very casually that this healthcare cannot be inserted in a government application because it is not valid, none of their policies are.

So what the lady has basically told me is that all this time I was not properly following the rules to remain here in the UK as a self-sufficient person, despite having taken out an extremely expensive yearly healthcare policy with them. To say that the news has been devastating is putting it mildly.

She advised me to talk to a broker, and to get advised on how to get another, more suitable healthcare insurance. My only luck in all this is that thankfully I am in a financial position which allows me to do this!

I was wondering whether you have any advice for me, on how to proceed. I live in Edinburgh and I have no idea how to find a reputable broker, and I do not want to get scammed a second time. Do you know of any reputable companies which release healthcare insurances that can be put in a government application?

I haven't had the need to see a doctor ever since I have been here, and I have never claimed any benefits either. All the same, of course in my application I will have to mention that I have arrived last march, and I would simply hate not to specify that I have actually taken out private healthcare to cover myself during all these months! There is a part of the application that asks you to elaborate on how much money you receive each month, so they can determine whether you are properly self-sufficient.

Do you think that is a good or a bad idea? I think it might help my case a little bit because just filing an application which states I got my private healthcare in december despite having been here since march looks bad, and is simply not how things went at all. Any ideas on what else could help me navigate through this? I will definitely file a complaint with AVIVA, but that will not help me much in practical terms, I believe.

Thank you very much in advanca for reading and for your help

Thank you so much for your time.

[Lucilla]

Hello, I am sorry, I have another query regarding the Registration Certificate for EEA nationals. I will put all my question in this post, so I can avoid creating too many new topics.

When you make an application for a Registration Certificate, you are asked whether you have other sources of income except for instance the money you get from your family which lives abroad in another EU country (this is my case). Currently, I do not have another source of income. But imagine that I published an ebook, for instance, and as a result became self-employed as well as self-sufficient, would I have to submit a new application? Would I automatically not be self-sufficient anymore even though I retain my private healthcare and still receive most of my money from my family

Thank you very much for your help

[splinter]

Yes, all questions in same topic - that is the IB way.

Get up to speed on qualified persons here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf

Very helpful document, Thank you very much for sharing