NickRitson

Good Morning,

I wanted to find out, i have a ancestral visa and am immigrating to the UK in the next 3 weeks. I am trying to work out travel insurance and when to cancel my current medical aid from South Africa. If someone could help me out with some information on this, for example, do i get 90 days travel insurance or do i need it to be longer? Do i qualify for National Health as soon as i register for it within the first few days of arriving and with that is there a need for further insurance or medical?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

BritInParis

If you've paid your IHS then you'll be eligible the moment you arrive and take up residence in the UK. Probably safest to cancel any existing cover after you have received your biometric residence card however.

formula

90 days travel insurance seems to be too long? You need travel insurance for your journey from SA to the UK. You must collect your Biometric Resident Permit within 10 days of entering the UK from the Post Office. The Post Offices are open 6 days a week and some open Sundays too. You can check the opening times of where you are collecting your BRP from here http://www.postoffice.co.uk/branch-finder
You must collect your own BRP. The BRP will need to be presented for free NHS.
https://www.gov.uk/biometric-residence-permits/overview

Not sure how it would work if you fell off the plane steps when you arrived and needed treatment but hadn't yet collected your BRP? Billed, then collect your BRP and the NHS bill then cancelled??? This mandatory checking from April 2015 to force all the NHS to check who must be billed, and the BRPs, is all a bit new at the moment. Patch up type treatment just on the A&E ward is free for all anyway even if they don't have a BRP with valid NHS cover: it's any treatment off the A&E ward that is not free for everyone i.e. the expensive stuff.