Worrisome application issue!

Hi everyone. I just began filling out the VAFA4A form for my spousal visa application, but I came across something that worries me greatly. Section 6 Questions 6.17-6.19 refer to the NHS. I was in England living with my husband for 6 months last year. At which time he insisted on registering me with the NHS in case I needed medical treatment. It turned out that I did become a bit ill and had to go to his doctor. At that time, the doctor also insisted that I get a cholesterol test and then put me on statins. I had travel medical insurance and tried to use it, but they said if I wanted to use it that I would have to go to a hospital because they didn't deal with it. So I did not pay for the visits. I did pay for the prescription though. I am very concerned about these questions on the application. It wants to know if I have used medical treatment in the UK, if I was given an NHS number, if I paid for the treatment, and the surgery's info. I do not want to put false information on the application but I am afraid of admitting that I did not pay for the medical treatment in the UK. Could anyone please advise me about this? Or at least prepare me for issues that may occur with my application once I admit to having an NHS registration. I am very worried.

 

I just spoke with my husband and we looked online to try and figure this out. According to what we could find - this should be ok because it is up to the GP if they accept me and choose to register me with the NHS. My husband explained the entire situation to the GP when he first called about how I might see a doctor (how I was living with him and his family for 6 months [Oct 2013-March 2014)on a tourist visa and had travel insurance), and the GP told him that it was fine and that they would register me for the NHS for my duration there. Can anyone elaborate on this? I am going to write an explanation of this Part 9 of the form (where I can add/explain anything). Can someone tell me how much of an issue this would be?

You need to request a bill from the GP and pay it.  Unfortunately GP's are not experts in immigration and are not used to visitors using their services and having to charge.  You were not on a visa that allowed use of the NHS.  If the bill is greater than £1000 and you do not pay, the visa will be refused.  It's likely your treatment was significantly lower than this, but you still need to pay.

If the surgery refuses it charge you, you will need a statement from them stating that they will not charge you.

Registering with the NHS isn't an issue - they can register anyone, whether they are entitled to care or not... it's the fact that you had treatment and didn't pay for it that could be a problem.

As KFDancer said, if you have more than £1,000 of unpaid NHS debt, your visa will be automatically refused.

It's very unlikely your treatment would have cost that much, but you need to get the NHS surgery to send you a bill and for you to pay it (or official confirmation that you are not being charged for it). Then you have to give the details of your treatment on the application and also include the receipt for the payment.

Unfortunately, a lot of the time NHS employees are not aware that some people are required to pay and so they try to tell you that you should not be charged. However, as a visitor, you were not entitled to ANY free treatment unless it was A&E emergency treatment, and so you have to insist that they bill you, even if they tell you otherwise.

Definitely be truthful on your application.  It asks if you have used the NHS and you have so put down those details.  You haven't committed some terrible crime; you sought medical treatment when you were ill.  Follow up on the bill and pay what is owed.  Chances are that your application will be fine.  Include what information you receive from the GP and focus on getting everything ready to submit.

When I visited my husband, then fiance, for 5 weeks I too needed to see the doctor. Out  local health center didn't register me. They did charge me 50 quid for the appointment, 15 quid to get the actual prescription and then I paid the pharmacy for the prescription which was about 7 quid. All in all it was still cheaper to go to the Doctor  and get a prescription filled here then it would have in the states for me.

I'm pretty sure the "standard" appointment fee is 50 quid, or it was this time last year. We were researching costs to decide if it would be worth it to go see a doctor or not.

They didn't have me fill out any paperwork though. They weren't sure what to have me fill out. haha. I was their first visitor.

Thanks everyone. This is an unfortunate situation that will likely put my application back at least a month. I believe tomorrow is my husband's day off, so hopefully he can go down there to talk to the surgery but who knows how long it will take to get them to actually bill us. Unless they are more efficient at dealing with billing issues than here in the US. But this is still so helpful. Thank you all so much.

And just to be clear, if they refuse to bill me for some reason - they have to provide a letter explaining that they won't? Does it have to say anything specific?

Just thinking - would my husband be able to request a bill for me? Or do I have to call then internationally? I dread that cause we all know how long you can be on hold with them. Also, I feel like it would be done faster if he went to the surgery to ask. I mean, I doubt they would think he's trying to commit fraud or anything - who would actually ask to be billed for healthcare in England other than this situation? How would you all recommend we get them to bill us?

I don't really have any advice for this, other than to suggest that if you do need to call them Skype phone calls are super cheap between the UK and the US. I think it's like .029 (2.9) cents a minute. I put $10 on my Skype account in January and I still have about $5 left. 

If they won't bill you, you should get that in writing.  When I used the NHS as a visitor (back in 2009-ish), it was very difficult to get them to bill me even though I offered my travel insurance and credit cards.  It was a small surgery in a village; I don't think they had much experience with visitors not entitled to free NHS care.  (or as DH likes to say, they didn't want to be bothered with the extra paperwork) 

In the end, they ended up writing a letter confirming that I did attempt to pay, but the practice manager of the surgery had taken the decision to not charge me as the amount I would have owed was minimal and they classed it as emergency/urgent care (even though it was at a GP surgery and not A&E).  I didn't have much luck over the phone, so I explained my situation in a letter and got a better response that way.  I told them the dates of my visits, what treatment I received, why I needed to pay and have appropriate documentation, and requested a response from them in writing. 

I know you are frustrated that this will add time to submitting your application.  But if you submit it without doing the legwork, UKVI will pull your NHS records, contact the GP surgery, and have them submit a bill.  That will take WAAAAY longer.

I would imagine the surgery will work with your partner after he explains the situation.  I get the impression that medical stuff isn't as confidential in the UK as it is the US. 

hi guys, i'm the husband in question.

I got in touch with the surgery this morning and they couldn't do much, it had to be requested by my wife in letter form. I could take it in or she could fax it over.

I used to have a number for the immigration dept which now seems void, does anyone have a contact number that you can actually get through too and doesn't charge you ridicoulous amounts of money per minute?

I did pay for the prescription though.

The prescription was most likely at the NHS subsidised rate too and not the true cost for the medication.

I got in touch with the surgery this morning and they couldn't do much, it had to be requested by my wife in letter form. I could take it in or she could fax it over.

In that case, she needs to write the letter and get it to them, and take it from there.

I used to have a number for the immigration dept which now seems void, does anyone have a contact number that you can actually get through too and doesn't charge you ridicoulous amounts of money per minute?

It's virtually impossible to get through directly to UKVI, and in the past, their expensive helpline through Worldbridge wasn't known for giving accurate information either.  If you need professional advice about an application, your best bet is to hire a solicitor experienced with immigration.

They accepted the letter she wrote, signed and emailed over. Just waiting on the GP to actually do something with it ...

I just remember getting through to the immigration lot on a number that didn't charge ridicoulous prices but the numbers since been disconnected since the beginning of the year from the looks of things ¬.¬