EEA Family permit - 6 months and NHS

[Assad]

Hi Guys

hope ur all well

My wife's got a 6 month EEA Family permit and the GPs here say that they cannot register anyone with a 6 months visa..

has any one been through this situation?

Is private treatment the next step and if so, how do you go about finding/seeing a private doctor/hospital??

thanking you in advance

[SYH]

Never heard of that
are these doctors just taking the piss lately??
No one asked me anything about my visa

[Wanderer]

We had (still have) a problem cos the surgery staff don't understand that Russia and The Russian Federation are the same country....

[yankeegirl]

As the spouse of an EEA national, your wife is most certainly able to use the NHS. I was able to register with no problems, in fact they never even asked. I think some areas are more diligent about checking this than others. Let me see if I can find any relevant info and if so I'll post it.

[SYH]

We had (still have) a problem cos the surgery staff don't understand that Russia and The Russian Federation are the same country....

Oy they certainly must recognize your guru status and bow to that Wanderer?

[Assad]

yes, unfortunartely, they say the visa should be atleast a year...

thanks yankeegirl

[VictoriaS]

The visa needs to be over six months UNLESS it is a category leading to settlement, such as fiancee visa or EEA dependent. You must insist, and if they still refuse say that you will be notifying the Primary Care Trust, who will tell them of their obligations.

Victoria

[thsths]

The visa needs to be over six months UNLESS it is a category leading to settlement, such as fiancee visa or EEA dependent. You must insist, and if they still refuse say that you will be notifying the Primary Care Trust, who will tell them of their obligations.

Exactly. You have to intend to stay in the UK for at least 6 months to be eligible for free NHS treatment. Obviously with a 6 months visa that is not usually possible. The EEA family permit is an exception, but not everybody may be aware of that.

So you can either argue your case, or you can send the application for a residence card (EEA2). With the certificate of application it should be obvious that you want to stay longer.

[mastermind]

My wife and I have registered with a GP recently (for the first time). She is an EEA and I'm non-EEA with a 6-month EEAFP (though it is not the first one, as we go back and forth frequently). We did not show our passports to them at all. Just gave them a council tax bill (it is in both our names) and a gas bill (also in both names) as proof of address. They only asked what country did we come from (which is a EU country) and whether we intend to stay in the UK permanently (yes).
The registration forms they asked us to fill in had questions like "what country do you come from?" (not "what is your nationality") and "is it a EU or EEA country?" and beside this question there was a statement saying something like "EEA family members should answer YES to this question"!

[Assad]

The visa needs to be over six months UNLESS it is a category leading to settlement, such as fiancee visa or EEA dependent. You must insist, and if they still refuse say that you will be notifying the Primary Care Trust, who will tell them of their obligations.

Exactly. You have to intend to stay in the UK for at least 6 months to be eligible for free NHS treatment. Obviously with a 6 months visa that is not usually possible. The EEA family permit is an exception, but not everybody may be aware of that.

So you can either argue your case, or you can send the application for a residence card (EEA2). With the certificate of application it should be obvious that you want to stay longer.

the letter of aplication wasn't accepted either

[Assad]

My wife and I have registered with a GP recently (for the first time). She is an EEA and I'm non-EEA with a 6-month EEAFP (though it is not the first one, as we go back and forth frequently). We did not show our passports to them at all. Just gave them a council tax bill (it is in both our names) and a gas bill (also in both names) as proof of address. They only asked what country did we come from (which is a EU country) and whether we intend to stay in the UK permanently (yes).
The registration forms they asked us to fill in had questions like "what country do you come from?" (not "what is your nationality") and "is it a EU or EEA country?" and beside this question there was a statement saying something like "EEA family members should answer YES to this question"!

here, they want to see the passport and the visa on it first..

[Platinum]

Have you tried another surgery? I think sometimes they just don't know what they're doing, or what their own rules are.

My husband is British, and has come back to the UK to live after spending three years in Ireland. The GP he went to said they couldn't register him until he could show he had been living here for at least six months! Ridiculous! He's a British citizen!

Anyway, he looked through the NHS website and went back and told them they were crazy and he demanded to be registered. They hemmed and hawed and said, "Well...we'll enter your details and put in an application to register you, but it may not be accepted..." Of course it was accepted!

[avjones]

Actually, the GP was more right than your husband is.

Being a British citzen doesn't necessarily entitle you to NHS care - I think the test is that you have to be "habitually resident". SO the GP wasn't being ridiculous, I think.

Not 100% sure, though.