derrick2005

Hi All,

I just signed up having spent the past few hours looking through the site. I am a US citizen (born in the UK to my USC dad) and lived in the states for 7 years for university but been in the uk the past 7 years. My wife and kids are uk born and citizens. We are seriosuly thinking about moving to NY next year. I know that its quite simple for me to get my kids to become citizens and I can see the process of getting my wife a visa but I have 2 questions,

1) Health insurance- from what I can tell from other people's posts, health insurance won't cover pre exsiting conditions within 6 months, is this true? I know that my UK health insurance requires 5 years - this is rly important for us to know.

2) Does anyone know of a London based law firm who can help with the mammoth amount of paperwork required to get my wife's application processed as well as the kids?

Thanks

Derrick

Bluegrass Lass

This can be true, but it depends on a few things. Health insurance is greatly associated with employment here. If you or your family have pre-existing conditions, you may find it next to impossible to purchase a private policy. Even if you can purchase a private policy, they may not cover a pre-existing condition at all.

For group coverage, they may have a stipulation that they won't cover a pre-existing condition for the first 6months. However, IIRC, HIPAA laws say that if you have had credible insurance coverage within the previous 62 days, they will cover the pre-existing condtion. You should be able to use the NHS coverage as credible insurance so that you can use HIPAA laws to get the 6mo requirement waived. I'm not quite sure I'm explaining that very well, but if you do a search on here for HIPAA, you'll probably find some threads on the topic.

I can't recommend a law firm, but it's not terribly difficult to do it yourself, if your wife has no criminal past and no previous visa overstays. All you need to do is file the form I-130 (can be found on USCIS's website) directly to the London Consulate, along with some supporting docs. Supporting docs are generally a certifed marriage certificate, proof of relationship docs (such as utility bills w/both names, insurance w/both names, joint accounts). There is also a sponsor form called the I-864 that will require you to meet certain income and/or asset requirements. Do not overlook the sponsor income/asset requirement as it can have major impact on the visa.

If you really want to understand the process, take a read of the wiki here. The visa you need to look at is the CR-1/IR-1 Immigrant Spouse Visa. Many people here did it all themselves, so if you're good at details you can consider doing it all yourselves and saving those lawyer fees for your relocation.

derrick2005

Thanks so much for your reply which really put things into great perspective for me!

Yikes about the private medical insurance possibly not covering any preexisting conditions. I have mild asthma and I don't reckon the medicine would be crazy for me to have to pay for but for the past 7 months my wife has had chronic migraines, although this has been treated by the NHS they dont know why she gets them so I don't know if this will count as pre existing.

Our move won;t be till next Spetmber so I guess I'll have to try my hardest to only go for jobs with insurance (but will they cover my family?) but if I can't find a job with insurance I couldbt move without some insurance for all of us (kids are 6,4 and 1 and always need to see the doc for something!)

derrick2005

it looks like a consultation with a ny based insurance broker would be a good idea...

The Horticulturalist

WE moved here and our son has a pre-existing condition, but it's not currently requiring treatment. We were able to get insurance and have had no problems.

I think it really depends on the condition, why don't you try a company like seven corners to see what they say? They insured us for the first six months here. I do know that some Ashtma medications can be expensive.
Are you able to say what your and your wifes prescription meds are? Maybe then someone here could tell you whether they are the type you'd get on a cheap prescription or how much they would be monthly.

Any yes, I wouldn't move without a job that gives you insurance coverage, how much (if anything) you'll need to pay and whether they'll cover your family will vary depending on the employer I think.

What type of work are you looking at?

AdobePinon

Some group insurances will cover previous conditions from day one. Some will not. Also note that your UK medical records will not be available to insurance here unless you provide them to your insurance or your doctor.

Perhaps you only develop asthma after moving here?

md95065

Another thing that you will need to do is to make sure that you are up to date with filing your US tax returns.

Once again you will find plenty of information on this site about how to go about doing that from the UK.

penguinsix

Maybe, but generally the last thing you want to do is buy insurance directly. Most people try to get it through their employer or at least through some other group, association or other collective buying unit to lower the costs. Heck your college alumni association may even have a plan they offer for their members.

You can try a broker but don't be sold on what they have to offer. Also try einsurance.com and read the wiki on health insurance processes

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Health_Insurance

celticgrid

If it isn't an obvious statement, make sure you get copies of your full medical records, for all the family, before you leave. There will probably be a small fee involved but we found having them helped a lot.

Kate2112

Ditto your wifes migraines

derrick2005

Wow thanks everyone for the replies: To respond..

The Horticulturalist: My son and I are on ventolin for the asthma. My wife is on a coccktail of medicines for the migraines: Daily Amitriptyline, occasional sumatriptan and Zomag nasal spray.

As for what I do - its slightly complicated (!), I qualified last year as a child and adolescent counsellor/psychotherapist. In order to convert this qualification I am currently working with the NY Dept of Education and have submitted the paperwork and am awaiting their reply which shouldn't be problematic as my Masters was from University of London and the Registrar has told me they have gone through the process many times with no problems. So, once that goes through I will be the equivalent of a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. My wife is a stay at home mum (although from what we hear living in the US requires 2 incomes!) and hopes to study there.

Adobepinon - I was sure that they would check out pre exisitng conditions before we move, the asthma isnt my major concern, but could my wife "only" get the migraines once we move there which may make things simpler??

Penguinsix - Here in th UK i am part of a group insurance scheme independant of my work, actually through my insurance broker and its way cheaper than any other quote i got. Are there similar schemes in NY/NJ?

md95065- You raise a really important point about US tax returns - I moved to the UK 7 years ago and my last us tax return is probably from 6 years ago. Havent filed since. I now have a memory of when my parents moved to the States 11 years ago (after living in the UK for 20 something years) my USC Dad couldnt sponsor my mum because he hadnt filed his returns. Will this affect me sponsoring my wife to get a spouse visa!?! This is one of the reasons I thought I may need to speak to a UK based lawyer when applying for my wife as I'm worried about screwing things up for her. Also, its in about 14 months that we want to move but I'm hesitating starting the process for her (even though the sooner the better) because we're going to want to go to the states to check out neighbourhoods etc and I'm worried about her being allowed into the states while her application is pending.

celticgrid - I will get our medical record but will that be for us to hold onto, from what was said above it seems best for me to dislose as little as possible to insurance companies.. or not?

derrick2005

*Its Zomig nasal spray..

derrick2005

Kate2112- Yes, I'm thinking that'll cause far less headaches (pardon the pun!!)

celticgrid

Essentially, yes, for you to hold onto. There are all sorts of rules and regs about things like the jabs kids must have before being allowed into school and you'll need some evidence that they've had them. (Assuming they have)

Medical records (medical EVERYTHING) seems to be a big issue from one angle or thirteen others over here. Should you ever need such copies, it'll be a right job to get them once you've moved over here, so bring with you.

derrick2005

celticgrid - thanks for that. i'm now juggling on the one hand telling our GP next year that we're moving, getting the full medical records and saying goodbye to the NHS (yikes after reading the health insurance wiki!) or if I should just keep us registered at our GP so that my wife and son and I can at least get refills on prescriptions. A horrible catch 22