SanDiegogirl

EU citizens and their families are eligible for NHS services where the EU citizen is working in the UK.

Where an EU citizen enters the UK as self sufficient (ie retired, not working, private income) they are not eligible for NHS services, but need to provide comprehensive medical insurance.

EEA family members You must show that your EEA family member has a permanent right of residence or is one of the following if they’ve been in the UK for more than 3 months:

working, eg employment contract, wage slips, letter from employer
self-employed, eg contracts, invoices, or audited accounts with bank statements, and paying tax and National Insurance
studying, eg letter from the school, college or university
financially independent, eg bank statements
Your family member must have full health insurance (comprehensive sickness insurance) if they’re studying or financially independent.

Pulaski

The school transition for your 16 year old is going to be difficult, because at 16 she is half way through what is effectively a four year program of exams every two years. It is probably not possible to do the second set (A'levels), without the foundation of the first set (GCSEs, aka O'levels). I am not sure how the system might process her, other than to start her at the beginning of the GCSE courses, effectively setting her back two years. Be prepared for your thirteen year old to be set back a year too, based on what she has studied.

Richard8655

This is what I found:

The UK has a publicly-funded health care system: the National Health Service, or NHS. The National Health Service aims to provide free, quality health care for all, but must limit eligibility to ensure that the system is not exploited. The following people are entitled to health care from the NHS:

British citizens resident in UK
Anyone who has been a UK resident for at least twelve months
Anyone with a British work permit
Foreign students studying for longer than six months in the UK
EU nationals currently in the UK
Nationals from: the EEA*, Anguilla, Australia, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, the Channel Islands, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, St Helena, Switzerland, Turkey, and the Caicos Islands.

Downton Gabby

I wonder if EU nationals have to be resident in the UK for 12 months, or if they are eligible upon becoming resident....

Richard8655

It looks like the rules were changed earlier this year. NHS eligibility is now based on the concept of "ordinary residence". This means if you're a legal and settled resident living primarily in UK (England at least), you have immediate access to NHS hospital care and services regardless of employement status.

Per link:
https://www.interhealthworldwide.org...-access/#.dpuf

Changes to free NHS care in England
17 March 2015

Changes in entitlement to free NHS care in England come into force on 6th April 2015. Many staff and volunteers who work overseas may now be considered “former UK residents” and will be charged for NHS care. Organisations and individuals should consider whether they need to extend their healthcare insurance to include cover for medical care in the UK.

This applies to secondary care (eg hospital outpatient and inpatient care). Treatment in Accident and Emergency departments remains free for all, but inpatient and other care will be charged. Access to primary care (eg GP surgeries) is unchanged and remains free.

The changes apply to NHS care in England. Access to care in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has not changed.

Background
One aim of the Immigration Act 2014 was to review entitlement to free NHS care so the NHS does not lose out on income from migrants, visitors and former residents of the UK who have left. The government wanted to ensure these groups all paid for their care while in the country.

The government announced their decision in February. They have made it clear that entitlement to free NHS care will be based on 'ordinary residence' (OR) in the UK with very few exemptions.

The UK’s healthcare system is a residence based one. Free NHS treatment is provided on the basis of someone being ‘ordinarily resident’. It is not dependent upon nationality, payment of UK taxes, national insurance contributions, being registered with a GP, having an NHS number or owning property in the UK.

What is 'Ordinary Residence?'

'Ordinary residence' should not be confused with terms such as usual, permanent or habitual residence. It has been considered in the courts to mean, “living lawfully in the United Kingdom, voluntarily and for settled purposes as part of the regular order of their life for the time being.”

The concept of ‘settled purpose’ has been developed by the courts: “there must be an identifiable purpose for the residence here, there can be one purpose or several and it may be for a limited period. The purpose for living in the UK must have a sufficient degree of continuity to be properly described as 'settled'.”

It is not necessary for a person to be living permanently or indefinitely in the UK to be deemed ordinarily resident. They can be ordinarily resident in two countries at once. They can be absent from the UK for a temporary or finite period and still be ordinarily resident here. There is no minimum period of residence that confers ordinarily resident status and ordinary residence can be of short or long duration. But it seems likely that in general, the longer someone is out of the UK, the more difficult it may be to establish OR status. Citizens who return to the UK on a settled basis will be classed as ordinarily resident, and will be eligible for free NHS care immediately.

UKHE4NOW

Hi,

As an EU citizen I did bring my wife over (non-EU) and it was a smooth affair. I am assuming that the 50K household income is a guesstimate as you are still to get the job or set up business, but it is not a high income. I live in Staffordshire which has advantages of good connectivity via the M6 and A50 (3 international airports in an hour's drive: Manchester, Birmingham and East Midlands), and affordable house prices (a third or even a quarter of London prices). Stoke on Trent has a large university hospital (Royal Stoke), a national level A-levels college (St Joseph's), and a lot of cheap property and cheap labour for renovation (cheap labour even applies for things such as PC repair and mechanics etc: the last two times I had my PC fixed I paid less than 10 pounds and a mechanic decided to fix the covering tray under my car for free). Living in nearby Newcastle-under-Lyme (a few miles out) provides for slightly nicer neighbourhoods. Healthcare is pretty good (short waiting times at the GP, well-organized hospitals), and NHS dentists are easily available. Traffic is a delight, and it is easy to get around. However, it is not a prestigious part of the country. Perhaps it is comparable to the Midwest in the US and suffered badly from the closing of industries in the 1980s and 1990s. Prior to this the pottery industry sustained the area. Of course, it is also not the warmest part of the UK, which is already a considerable step down from Florida.

FloridaFisch75

Thank you for such a detailed response! It clarifies a lot for me as I wasn't familiar with all these rules.

Editha

I just want to endorse the thumbs up for north Staffordshire as a place to live. I used to live in the Staffordshire Moorlands -- which is the rural area around Stoke-on-Trent, and I think it is a fantastic area for all the reasons UKHE4NOW gives, plus the gorgeous countryside and a good cultural life in the city too.

FloridaFisch75

Thank you for giving me some direction! Telling the truth the area was not on my list😀 I'll definitely take a closer look at it now

Pearlgirl

As an American recently arrived in the UK, I thought I would give my 2 cents worth (not much - lol). We live in West Sussex at the moment due to my British husband having bought a flat here years ago that he had rented out through the years. We've looked at Norfolk and Lincolnshire for the past several years due to lower housing costs and less population density. We just purchased a property in Branston, which is 5 miles from Lincoln. Lincoln is a beautiful cathedral city that seems to have a laid-back attitude with lots of uni students and all the major shops (I personally like living where there is a university due to usually there is more "happening").

However, we might have to rent this property out for a few years due to my getting a job offer in Bristol. And, again IMHO, Bristol seems like a great place, too! My husband is not as big a fan because he feels it's too far to the west.

We have also visited Norwich many times and, while I like it (not as much as husband does), it does seem just a tad rougher around the edges than Lincoln. And, sorry, I don't know much about the schools...

FloridaFisch75

Thank you for your great input!!! When you visited Norwich did you feel the area is like in the middle of nowhere and is isolated? Thanks again!

Pearlgirl

Actually, it did feel like it was the middle of nowhere. We lived in Richmond, Virginia, for 6 years, and while a fantastic little city, I felt very isolated from the rest of the state - Richmond IS geographically in the middle of VA It was always a trek to the coast (Virginia Beach and Norfolk) and to Washington, D.C., and to the beautiful mountains in the west. Unfortunately, I felt the same in Norwich. Which is perfectly fine if you like that kind of thing.

I'm actually looking forward to moving to Bristol. We have family in London and it's about the same distance to London as Norwich and closer to London than Lincoln I don't know why my hubby thinks it is more "isolated."

robin1234

It is and it isn't. Norwich has a superb train service to London. There's a train every half hour, and the journey time is usually a little less than two hours. So the best of both worlds; journey not too tedious, but generally a bit too long for daily commuters, so house prices in Norwich are reasonable.

Airport-wise, better than average for provincial UK. Three KLM flights a day to Schipol, and of course from there you can basically fly or take the train to anywhere. Also daily flights to Aberdeen and Edinburgh, I believe. Also a very full roster of holiday charters etc.

But, Norwich is stuck off in a corner, and not on train/motorway route to other parts of UK, unlike (say) Bristol, where you are well on your way to Exeter, Cardiff, Birmingham, and all other points.

Norwich is a big city, has theatres, museums (the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts is superb. It's the sort of art gallery you can visit several times a year and never tire of.) If you're into shopping etc it has that. Two universities. Beautiful countryside right on the doorstep.

FloridaFisch75

Sounds good to me! Proximity and easy access to the Continental Europe is also important to us for traveling purposes and to visit husband's family. We are used to looooong and endless distances here in the U.S.! 😀

Pulaski

IMO that pretty much defines Norwich. My sister used to live there, and it is not dissimilar to living on an island. Once you leave Norwich there is pretty much nothing happening for an hour by road or train in any direction.

It is also probably the least ethnically diverse city in the UK; minorities are in a very small minority, unless something dramatic has changed that since I was last there nearly twenty years ago.