when do you qualify for NHS?

Is it when you get your visa...when you enter the country...after you've found a home (and therefore have proof of residing in the UK)...?

Thanks for any help!!

When you enter the country on a valid visa.

Depends on the Visa...which one do you have?
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Entitlementsandcharges/OverseasVisitors/Browsable/DH_074379

ETA the link to the specific site from the Department of Health.

I will have a work visa and my husband will be entering on a spouse visa.

I will have a work visa and my husband will be entering on a spouse visa.

Do you mean that your husband will be a dependant on your work visa? Do you have a Tier 1 or 2?

Sorry, I just thought I should've been more specific, but you beat me to it! 

I will be entering on a Tier 2 sponsored visa and my husband will be entering dependent on me.

Sorry, I just thought I should've been more specific, but you beat me to it! 

I will be entering on a Tier 2 sponsored visa and my husband will be entering dependent on me.

That does make a difference, because had it been a Tier 1 and you did not have a job you wouldn't be eligible until you found work or had been a resident for 12 months according to the guidace on the link that I posted.

Since you have a job that you're going to you'll both be eligible under the following http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Entitlementsandcharges/OverseasVisitors/Browsable/DH_074379

Who does not have to pay?
People Entitled to Full NHS Hospital Treatment free of charge

*Anyone who is working in the UK for an employer who is based in the UK or is registered in the UK as a branch of an overseas employer (this includes self employed people). You must be actually working, not just looking for work;...

*The spouse or civil partner and any dependent children of anyone who is exempt under the above criteria, if they are living permanently with the exempt person. Coming to visit the exempt person for a few weeks or months does not give exemption.

wait, so has something recently changed with the Tier 1 visa that wasn't announced? because NHS coverage used to be available with this visa, and there was nothing in the guidelines to say it would not be allowed (as opposed to Tier 5, where they DO state that you can't access the NHS without employment until the end of 12 months).

this thread seemed to confirm that you could use the NHS on a Tier 1 before you've found a job:  http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=50250.0

was there a change in the past 6 or 7 months that no one noticed?!

This is what the Department of Heath Guidance on the NHS states (http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Entitlementsandcharges/OverseasVisitors/Browsable/DH_074379):

Who does not have to pay?

People Entitled to Full NHS Hospital Treatment free of charge

Anyone who is working in the UK for an employer who is based in the UK or is registered in the UK as a branch of an overseas employer (this includes self employed people). You must be actually working, not just looking for work;
Any unpaid worker with a voluntary organisation offering services similar to those of a Health Authority or Local Authority social services department;
Any full time student on a course of at least 6 months duration, or, if less than 6 months, a course substantially funded by the UK government;
Anyone who has come to live permanently in the UK. If you make an application for permanent residence after you get here you are chargeable until your application is approved;
Anyone who has been lawfully living in the UK for twelve months immediately prior to treatment;
Refugees and asylum seekers whose applications are still being considered;
Anyone employed on a ship or vessel registered in the UK or working offshore on the UK sector of the Continental Shelf;
Anyone who receives a UK war disablement pension or war widows pension;
Diplomatic staff working in embassies or Commonwealth High Commissions in the UK;
Members of Her Majesty's UK armed forces*;
UK Civil Servants working abroad who were recruited in the UK and employed by Her Majesty's Government*;
Anyone recruited in the UK who works abroad for the British Council or the Commonwealth War Graves Commission*;
Anyone who is working abroad in a job financed in part by the UK Government in agreement with the Government or a public body of some other country or territory*;
Anyone working abroad for not more than 5 years as long as they have lived legally in the UK for ten continuous years at some point (including self employed people);
Anyone working in an EEA country member state and contributing compulsory (not voluntary) UK national insurance contributions (class I or II);
Anyone who is a national of an EEA member state, a refugee or stateless person or their dependant or survivor living in an EEA member state who is referred to the UK for specified treatment with an EC form E112 or E123;
Anyone who is referred by their home country authorities for specified treatment in the UK under the terms of a bilateral agreement;
Anyone who is detained in prison or by the Immigration Authorities in the UK;
Serving NATO personnel, posted in the UK, who are not using their own or UK armed forces hospitals;
UK state pensioners who have lived lawfully in the UK for 10 continuous years at some point, who now live for not more than 6 months each year in another EEA member state and not less than 6 months each year in the UK;
Missionaries working overseas for an organisation principally based in the UK, regardless of whether they are receiving a wage or salary*;
Those who have been formally identified or suspected as being a victim of human trafficking;
The spouse or civil partner and any dependent children of anyone who is exempt under the above criteria, if they are living permanently with the exempt person. Coming to visit the exempt person for a few weeks or months does not give exemption.
* These categories of exemption provide that the spouse/civil partner/dependent children are exempt from charge in their own right so that the principal exempt family member does not have to be in the UK with them at the time of their treatment.

The way I read the above is that you either have to be in residence for 12 months (if you don't have job) or be employed by a UK employer. Tier 2's are sponsored and have employment right off the bat, Settlement visas are dependants of UK citizens who are eligible to NHS services and there by eligible upon arrival,  Tier 4's of 6 months or more are eligible on arrival...I'm not too versed on Tier 5's but with Tier 1 wouldn't be eligible unless they had already secured employment. I do recall discussions where if the visa was issued for a period in excess of 6 months then NHS eligibility applies however I cannot find any reference to that on the DHS or NHS pages.

Here is an additional page for those coming to work in the UK: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Entitlementsandcharges/OverseasVisitors/Browsable/DH_074381.

I could be wrong in my understanding of the pages above and would welcome any additional pages or reference that anyone may have that differs.

Hm, you ARE allowed to use NHS on a fiance visa right? I don't see it in the list (though I did just skim) but a friend of mine was turned away and told to return when she got her FLR (M). Then another friend used it no problem. I'm just curious.

Hm, you ARE allowed to use NHS on a fiance visa right? I don't see it in the list (though I did just skim) but a friend of mine was turned away and told to return when she got her FLR (M). Then another friend used it no problem. I'm just curious.

Hmm...good question. I think that would fall under this catagory: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Entitlementsandcharges/OverseasVisitors/Browsable/DH_074376 since there intent is to settle in the UK and the fiancee visa is just part of that process for some, though the intent is to remain in the UK. Where as Tier 1 the intent is to work in the UK which can lead to permanent residence which is where the difference may lie.

I am by no means an expert or anything but I'd suggest that she try a different GP or call NHS direct and see what they say as we've had stories of people even on spousal visas being refused to be registered which is way wrong.

Hmm...good question. I think that would fall under this catagory: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Entitlementsandcharges/OverseasVisitors/Browsable/DH_074376 since there intent is to settle in the UK and the fiancee visa is just part of that process for some, though the intent is to remain in the UK. Where as Tier 1 the intent is to work in the UK which can lead to permanent residence which is where the difference may lie.

I am by no means an expert or anything but I'd suggest that she try a different GP or call NHS direct and see what they say as we've had stories of people even on spousal visas being refused to be registered which is way wrong.

She already has her FLR(M) now. So she's now being seen... I always thought fiancees automatically qualified for the NHS, but perhaps it is a grey area?

see, i interpreted this paragraph

Anyone who is deemed to be ordinarily resident in the UK is entitled to free NHS hospital treatment in England. “Ordinarily resident” is a common law concept interpreted by the House of Lords in 1982 as someone who is living lawfully in the United Kingdom voluntarily and for settled purposes as part of the regular order of their life for the time being, with an identifiable purpose for their residence here which has a sufficient degree of continuity to be properly described as settled.

to mean that anyone on Tier 1 or a fiance visa would be covered since both are residing 'for the time being'.  but then what is quoted above contradicts that by specifying someone has to be living in the UK for 12 months before they qualify.

luckily, i have a job lined up before my move and don't have to worry about whether this applies to me or not, but it makes me incredibly angry, nonetheless.  i honestly would have thought twice about coming over on a Tier 1 if i knew i wouldn't have access to health care in the first year!  it seems to me that a spousal visa is just as temporary as a Tier 1...anyone can move over for a temporary purpose with no intention of settling permanently. 

see, i interpreted this paragraph

to mean that anyone on Tier 1 or a fiance visa would be covered since both are residing 'for the time being'.  but then what is quoted above contradicts that by specifying someone has to be living in the UK for 12 months before they qualify.

luckily, i have a job lined up before my move and don't have to worry about whether this applies to me or not, but it makes me incredibly angry, nonetheless.  i honestly would have thought twice about coming over on a Tier 1 if i knew i wouldn't have access to health care in the first year!  it seems to me that a spousal visa is just as temporary as a Tier 1...anyone can move over for a temporary purpose with no intention of settling permanently.  

Except in UKBA terminology a 'spousal visa' is also called a 'Settlement visa'. Semantics I know but they're not mine. Don't shoot the messenger.

Like I've said before, we have often had people refused to be registered based upon their visa status be it spousal, finace/e or work visas. Heck I know of at least one who was overstaying a VISITOR VISA BY 4 YEARS that got registered. It seems to be at the whim and interpretation of the GP.

Except in UKBA terminology a 'spousal visa' is also called a 'Settlement visa'. Semantics I know but they're not mine. Don't shoot the messenger.

Like I've said before, we have often had people refused to be registered based upon their visa status be it spousal, finace/e or work visas. Heck I know of at least one who was overstayinng a VISITOR VISA BY4 YEARS that got registered. It seems to be at the whim and interpretation of the GP.

hah! yes...this may have been something in place all along that was not always enforced, rather than a change in the rules?  i now see why some people had so much trouble registering, given all the confusion with how things are worded.