# Being pregnant and flying back to NHS for baby - not allowed for tax payers only



## slr722 (Feb 8, 2015)

Hi Guys

VERY stressed. My wife is pregnant here in Dubai 32weeks

We are both UK expats. My wife does not work here if that helps.

My wife is on a career break from her employer in the UK (officially documentation)

So were planning to fly out this week so she can have the baby with the NHS 

Problem is my sister in law went to pick up the self cert midwife request form and they have informed her that NHS only supports people paying UK tax and you have to be 6 months in the UK at least.

Been reading various sites on the web including news websites too that we can be stopped and turned back at the airport. Believe it or not - we can be billed up to 2000 pounds for the maternity bill where in Dubai it is a little less...

I was thinking my wife can get the form her self from someone else and fill it. Our plan is honesty. She has been living with me in Dubai and she is on legal tax paying career break. She is coming back home to have the baby. Were not scroungers..

Please please advice. This is real time situation.


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## LesFroggitts (Dec 30, 2013)

If you're both UK passport holders there's surely no way that they're going to stop you entering the country.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

You will not be prevented from entering the country. They won't even notice if the wife is pregnant, given how heavy many UK women are these days. The issue is that the NHS may want proof of local residency - they'll still deliver the baby but it's the proof of local residency that's needed to avoid receiving a bill. 

Two thousand quid doesn't seem like much to me for a safe, responsible delivery. And your wife will presumably be in a place where family can visit her and she can stay with the family afterwards? She won't be allowed to fly for a certain period before and after the birth.


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

Hi,
If you still have a UK registered address and GP - then she should not have a problem.
You are allowed to leave the UK for a long holiday - that is why she has not had any ante-natal scans on the UK!
Don't stress - she should be fine!
Cheers
Steve


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

slr722 said:


> She has been living with me in Dubai and she is on legal tax paying career break.


She either pays tax or doesn't - I can't see how you can have a tax paying career break and earn nothing. Your employer may consider it official but from an HMRC perspective its irrelevant.

But your relative is spot on - the system is designed exactly to stop things like this. If you havent been paying in for the last six months, then you cannot avail yourself of the service.

Its utterly ridiculous though as you may have been paying in for the last decade but that counts for nothing.

Personally, I'd suggest what others have - just go to your Doctor, don;t even mention Dubai and pretend you live in your UK home and have evidence of driving licence, bills etc etc.

Just pretend you havent been in Dubai . Don't even mention it.


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## Windsweptdragon (Aug 12, 2012)

Just to be on safe side get a letter from your doctor here stating that baby has been checked and your wife is safe to travel. If you have that they have no reason to stop you from travelling. Its something like 29 weeks where airline has right to reject you to board for your own (and the babies) safety. We needed to get same letter when my wife was flying while 7 months pregnant. 

Back home... no idea. We had the baby here, but my wife's family all live here so it made sense to do that.


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## slr722 (Feb 8, 2015)

Thank you all. 

I have done the following. We land in the UK next week and that same day we are visiting another clinic to see the midway directly.

I was worried that they will ask questions and all sorts of things. Our first little jimmy and we have been married a small time so we are both a little frantic.

All the forms, medical data, scans and Dr letters here are already prepared for flight and to show the midwife when we return. 

The worrying thing was that the first center she rang said were not tax payers (and also that we need to register the pregnancy in six months) or being in the UK for the last 6 months.


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

slr722 said:


> The worrying thing was that the first center she rang said were not tax payers (and also that we need to register the pregnancy in six months) or being in the UK for the last 6 months.


This suggest that your husbands non-tax status and the rules for limited ties to the UK may have given away the game.

When he did his last tax return to claim 'non-resident for tax purposes' he probably answered the questions in such a way as to state that you were out here and not in the UK ..... maybe miracles do happen and HMRC actually read what he put and did their job for once ?

No-one is suggesting you are scroungers but non-taxpayers overseas are not permitted to use the NHS for free and the 'career break' isnt relevant in the slightest.


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

slr722 said:


> Thank you all.
> 
> I have done the following. We land in the UK next week and that same day we are visiting another clinic to see the midway directly.
> 
> ...


Hi,
Don't panic and read the leaflet in the link:-

http://www.pah.nhs.uk/files/c) Non Resident UK Citizens.pdf

Key point is, if asked, can you prove that you have been abroad for less than 5 years?
Cheers
Steve


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## Racing_Goats (Sep 5, 2015)

I think the new rules from last year imposes the cost of treatment plus 50% on uk nationals who live overseas - as others have said this is a bit pish if you've been paying into NI and taxes for years before moving overseas..

In practice i think you become ordinarily resident (as any uk citizen living in the uk) immediately on the date you move back to settle in the UK again - worth double checking on government or nhs website for official rules but, of this is the case, just have a local address handy and say you were away but back now. 

And, if you ever did, dont vote tory again :/ . cu next tuesdays


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## Polly English (Jun 7, 2014)

The new rules have been written in response to the spiralling cost of health tourism in UK. Used to be that any Brit who'd lived in UK at some point within last five years was covered.

Gawd, if only the NHS was for taxpayers only! And, as Stevesolar says, your wife has simply been on a long holiday visiting you. Racing Goat's middle paragraph is spot on too.

Anyway, never mind some know-it-all Doctor's receptionist or general scaremongering, the facts can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...ent_data/file/496967/lawfully-resident-uk.pdf
With more detail at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/430967/OR_Tool__1_.pdf


If it comes to it (and it won't) these facts will tell you what you need to say. The general rule is to say as little as possible when dealing with any jobsworths or government departments.

I'd have replied sooner, but I was too busy laughing at the idea of HMRC systems tying up with NHS systems.

Please keep calm and enjoy this wonderful time instead of putting yourselves through unnecessary stress.......good luck and let us know how it goes. Xx


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## seanyyz (Jan 21, 2015)

*Citizenship*

It may be worth the expense to have the little feller/lass in the UK, from a citizenship perspective. I have a brother born abroad while my father was with the military (and paying taxes at home) and it was a lot of trouble and paperwork to get his citizenship. And they do ask at borders often "where were you born?". Sadly, life will be easier if he/she can say the UK.


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

Polly English said:


> And, as Stevesolar says, your wife has simply been on a long holiday visiting you.


Nice try but that would be interpreted as his wife being resident in the Uk and therefore he has closer tied to the Uk and less likely to be classified non-resident for tax purposes.

Again, introduced to stop one person living overseas while holding assets and family in the UK, using government services (kids at school, mortgage on house being lived in by family etc.), while not paying any tax in the UK.


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## Polly English (Jun 7, 2014)

twowheelsgood said:


> Nice try but that would be interpreted as his wife being resident in the Uk and therefore he has closer tied to the Uk and less likely to be classified non-resident for tax purposes.
> 
> Again, introduced to stop one person living overseas while holding assets and family in the UK, using government services (kids at school, mortgage on house being lived in by family etc.), while not paying any tax in the UK.


Going a bit off topic now, but I assume he's on full time contract of employment overseas, with at most only incidental duties performed in UK, therefore meets the new SRT no matter where rest of family resides. In any case, there's no link up with his tax status and her NHS records. Stop scaremongering.


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## chestnut (Apr 1, 2013)

seanyyz said:


> It may be worth the expense to have the little feller/lass in the UK, from a citizenship perspective. I have a brother born abroad while my father was with the military (and paying taxes at home) and it was a lot of trouble and paperwork to get his citizenship. And they do ask at borders often "where were you born?". Sadly, life will be easier if he/she can say the UK.


Absolutely!

I was born abroad while my father was working for the Foreign Office. My children who were also born abroad get then citizenship from my wife (who was born in the UK). They could have got it from me, but there were hoops to jump through.

My sister was also born abroad and her son was born in Switzerland before she married her (Swiss) husband. It took around 6 weeks to get the son's citizenship confirmed as British.


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## chestnut (Apr 1, 2013)

As a thought - check your UAE medical insurance policy. If I choose to be "treated" (terrible choice of words when we're talking about giving birth in your wife's case), my company's policy covers up to 80% of the charges, based on the UAE schedule of costs.


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## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

What makes you think you would be stopped at the airport? Are you UK citizens? Were you born in the UK?
I'm just wondering as one would never be worried about being stopped getting into their own country. UK are trying to stop health tourists and rightly so.

Is your company not providing a proper health insurance for both of you? If not, shame on that cheapskate employer. 

How long have you been in Dubai? If you were on a GP's patient register you might still be registered.


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

QOFE said:


> What makes you think you would be stopped at the airport? Are you UK citizens? Were you born in the UK?
> I'm just wondering as one would never be worried about being stopped getting into their own country. UK are trying to stop health tourists and rightly so.
> 
> Is your company not providing a proper health insurance for both of you? If not, shame on that cheapskate employer.
> ...


I think OP probably means, because his wife is pretty far gone into the pregnancy, that the airline could well refuse to fly her.


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