Medical care question - will answering yes affect visa status?

Were you on a "Student visitor visa" or were you on a Tier 4 visa?

Tier 4 visa holders automatically get free use of the NHS, while people on a student visitor visa are not entitled to free care on the NHS.

 If you can, I would contact the NHS GP surgery with the details of when you used their services and ask if they can either give you a bill or confirm that you don't need to pay. If you're visiting in September you could try to talk to the GP and the university in person and clarify what the situation is.

Tier 4 for less than 6 months doesn't get free NHS. I had one back in 2012 and definitely didn't get free NHS. Everyone on my course had insurance for the trip.  Tier 4 for more than 6 months do have it though.


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Tier 4 for less than 6 months doesn't get free NHS. I had one back in 2012 and definitely didn't get free NHS. Everyone on my course had insurance for the trip.  Tier 4 for more than 6 months do have it though.


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Ah, okay - thanks for the correction... I assumed that since you could work on a Tier 4 valid for less than 6 months, you would also have NHS access as well.

Ah, okay - thanks for the correction... I assumed that since you could work on a Tier 4 valid for less than 6 months, you would also have NHS access as well.

Yeah it's a weird thing really. But I definitely avoided getting any healthcare while I was here in 2012 for that reason. I think it's to catch study abroad type programs that are a semester long. We only needed tier 4 generals because we were doing internships for course credit. Otherwise I was completely under an American university that had a hub in London and had nothing to do with any British uni. I think those are the kinds of situations the rule is meant to catch.


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I used the NHS for A& E in 2001. I disclosed that on my application. In my attempts to figure it out and resolve if I owed anything I came across some info that said they were only charging and billing people from 2010 going forward. I hope that's true. At the time of my injury I was told I didn't need to give them my health care information or pay anything and  that it was written off. Before we began this process I tried to find out how to be billed and ran into brick walls everywhere.
I will try to find that info about 2010. I think most of it is trying to catch people who were blatantly abusing the system ie: having a baby while on a 6 month visitor visa, coming back for non urgent health care etc. But I could be wrong as I am an authority on nothing at all.

I used the NHS for A& E in 2001. I disclosed that on my application. In my attempts to figure it out and resolve if I owed anything I came across some info that said they were only charging and billing people from 2010 going forward. I hope that's true. At the time of my injury I was told I didn't need to give them my health care information or pay anything and  that it was written off. Before we began this process I tried to find out how to be billed and ran into brick walls everywhere.

If you were treated in A&E it's free of charge anyway so you wouldn't have had to pay (emergency treatment at an A&E or NHS Walk-In Centre is free to all, including visitors).

However, if you were admitted to a ward or given extra non-emergency treatment (i.e. as an inpatient or outpatient), you would have to pay for that, though the initial A&E emergency care would still be free.

Were you on a "Student visitor visa" or were you on a Tier 4 visa?

Tier 4 visa holders automatically get free use of the NHS, while people on a student visitor visa are not entitled to free care on the NHS.

 If you can, I would contact the NHS GP surgery with the details of when you used their services and ask if they can either give you a bill or confirm that you don't need to pay. If you're visiting in September you could try to talk to the GP and the university in person and clarify what the situation is.

I was a visitor, I never applied for a visa in advance, just showed up at the border with a letter from my University and return tickets and that was it.

I can't imagine my University would intentionally have been instructing students to use the NHS illegally so I am sure they paid, my only worry is that something slipped through the cracks. I would hate to find that out by having my application rejected. I guess I will drop by the GP in September when I visit and see if they can tell me if I have any outstanding balance.

Probably not - most NHS establishments assume that nobody has to pay for anything and don't check because they don't often have the knowledge or facility to bill you (they aren't used to having to bill people).

So it's the visitor's responsibility to insist on being billed. Even if the NHS staff try tell them they don't have to pay, they MUST get a bill and pay it off.

What kind of treatment did you actually have:

- Was is emergency treatment at a hospital A&E or walk-in centre? (free treatment)

- Or did you have to register with a doctor at a GP surgery? (not free treatment)

- How much was the prescription? If it was a standard subsidised NHS fee (about £7 or £8 per item), then you were charged the wrong amount - only people who are entitled to free regular NHS treatment are entitled to pay the subsidised amount - you should have been charged the full price of the prescription.

It was emergency treatment at A&E

This is all really confusing! How are visitors supposed to know all the nuances and to demand to be billed?  I really don't know what to do about this. I have 0 information.  The question on the visa says you "must give at least one contact number" but I have absolutely no idea where I even went and have no contact with those friends anymore so no way to get it.

I'm confused as to why Melfrom still needs to disclose this as it happened in 1999 which is well
Over ten years ago?

Because you have to declare If you have EVER used the NHS - if it turns out she needed to pay and didn't and the outstanding unpaid amount was more than £1,000, it's an automatic visa refusal, so they have to check.

MelFromLou - if you can remember anything about  where you went (town, city, county), give as much information as you can and explain it in the additional info and/or in your cover letter - if it was just a basic appointment and prescription it wouldn't be £1,000 worth of treatment anyway, even if you did have to pay for it.

If the form won't let you move on without writing in the box - put something (I.e. all zeros for the phone number) and then cross it out on the printed version and explain the issue.


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Because you have to declare If you have EVER used the NHS - if it turns out she needed to pay and didn't and the outstanding unpaid amount was more than £1,000, it's an automatic visa refusal, so they have to check.

MelFromLou - if you can remember anything about  where you went (town, city, county), give as much information as you can and explain it in the additional info and/or in your cover letter - if it was just a basic appointment and prescription it wouldn't be £1,000 worth of treatment anyway, even if you did have to pay for it.

If the form won't let you move on without writing in the box - put something (I.e. all zeros for the phone number) and then cross it out on the printed version and explain the issue.


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Thanks! Desperate for information I dug out my old journal and my scrapbook (yes I was a dorky first time tourist who was so enamored I saved EVERYTHING) I have come up with exact dates of service. I still don't know exactly where I went. Turns out I went twice.  I went first on October 12th with the early symptoms.  Doctor wrote me a note to extend my stay for a week as I was contagious (airlines needed that). I paid 10 pounds for this letter.  This was in Morley, Leeds.  I googled and found one GP, though I am absolutely guessing as I have no idea if this is right.  From my journal it was my friend's GP so I know that much.

Then on the 17th while visiting her family in Cornwall my symptoms got much much worse. I wrote that we went to "the emergency care" but do not know if it was Truro for sure.  I have gotten an address for a hospital in Truro.  I also got  a prescription (which I said as a dork I even saved the box from that!) and I can't remember the cost at the moment but it's on there.

My biggest concern is the only facts I know for sure are the dates, how much I paid for the letter and how much I paid for prescription and that I did in fact have tonsilitis.  I am guessing on the doctors. Should I do that or just put the dates and towns and say that is all I remember?

Any advice on my question above?

Any advice on my question above?

Honestly, whatever you feel is best and what you feel most comfortable with doing

You could explain it in in your cover letter (and/or in the additional information) and say that you know the dates for sure but you are not quite sure the exact hospital/GP you went to.

Thanks ksand, should I include the receipts I found or just put the info on the information sheet.  The doctors receipt doesn't even have the name or anything, it's like a generic receipt book thing but it has the amount paid and someone's signature.

Thanks ksand, should I include the receipts I found or just put the info on the information sheet.  The doctors receipt doesn't even have the name or anything, it's like a generic receipt book thing but it has the amount paid and someone's signature.

I would include everything you have - the more evidence you can show, the better.