Comprehensive Sickness Insurance for EEA Nationals
If you are an EEA national , you may travel anywhere in the EU and live in any country of the EU for up to three months.
You do not need to apply for permission to officially live in the UK for more than three months if you are a student, a self employed person or you have enough money to live here without working. However, you may need to obtain a registration certificate or a registration card to prove that you have a right to live here beyond the three month threshold.
Comprehensive Sickness Insurance Quotes for EEA family residence permits
The Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 set out the rules and requirements for members of the European Economic Area (EEA) who are seeking to remain in the UK.
The Regulations have always required ‘self-sufficient’ EEA members and ‘student’ EEA members to have Comprehensive Sickness Insurance. The Regulations have also required the family members of self-sufficient individuals to have Comprehensive Sickness Insurance. However, these Regulations now also apply to EEA family residence permits and family members of EEA students.
What kind of registration card or certificate will I need?
There are different types of cards and permits that can be issued, depending on your work status and your level of education:
- Blue certificates are normally issued to highly skilled workers. Such workers will normally have a degree, a Master’s degree or a PhD and will be assessed on a points system:
- your experience and age will play a part in determining the points you receive. Bulgarian and Romanian nationals are the only people who may apply through the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme.
- Yellow certificates are normally issued to people who are self employed, self sufficient or come to the UK as students. Students will normally be required to prove their enrolment in a UK university and provide evidence of their financial support arrangements. Self employed people will normally be asked to prove that they are self employed.
- Purple cards (accession cards) are issued to anyone who needs to obtain work authorisation. Before you can be issued with an accession card, your employer may need to obtain a work permit.
- Residence cards and family member stamps are given to family members who are not EEA nationals. You must have a registration certificate before your family can obtain a residence card.
To apply for a registration certificate confirming your Treaty right to live in the UK, there are a number of rules you need to follow. Registration certificates will only be issued if you have the right documentation.
- You must be able to provide a valid EEA passport or national identity card, as appropriate. Estonian, Lithuanian, or Latvian Alien passports are not valid for this purpose.
- You must provide evidence of employment or your university course or a contract from an employer.
- You must provide proof of insurance to cover the cost of your healthcare bills. This is known as EEA comprehensive sickness insurance.
The requirement for comprehensive sickness insurance is covered in Regulation 4 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006.
Who needs EEA comprehensive sickness insurance?
People who have a job or plan to find a job in the UK need to obtain a comprehensive sickness insurance policy, but it is also required if you are self-sufficient or self employed and want to settle here long term. Comprehensive sickness insurance is essential if you plan to stay permanently in the UK.
Also, note that your family members must be able to show that they have a valid comprehensive sickness insurance policy, or you need to make sure you have provision which provides adequate cover for all family members. Your family cannot access free medical care (or use your policy provision) simply because they are related to you: they must make their own arrangements, or you must arrange cover for them.
Why must I arrange comprehensive sickness insurance?
The idea of taking out this insurance is that you remove yourself from the NHS system as far as possible. Once you have comprehensive sickness insurance, you do not rely so heavily on the NHS for medical care. This is so that you are not considered a ‘burden’ on the NHS and its limited resources.
What does comprehensive sickness insurance cover?
Comprehensive sickness insurance is similar to private medical insurance, but you must ensure the cover is adequate for your specific needs.
Private medical insurance will normally pay for inpatient care – in other words, the cost of being admitted to hospital for treatment. However, many policies provide very limited outpatient care.
Outpatient care covers a lot of the ‘day to day’ medical care you are likely to need. A comprehensive policy is so called because it covers outpatient care as well, but the degree of care will vary. It is very important to check the wording of your EEA comprehensive sickness insurance policy to make sure that the outpatient care you are covered for is sufficient. The UK border agency say that you should be covered “for medical treatment in the majority of circumstances”.
How do I arrange cover?
One of the most common ways to arrange comprehensive sickness insurance cover is by arranging a private medical insurance policy.