# EU citizen with non-EU spouse - married in Spain - over-stayed visa - help!



## sisaksson (Apr 26, 2013)

Dear all,

I am an EU citizen and I recently married a man that has been my partner for the past two years. We married in Pamplona and he is a non-EU citizen who overstayed his visa. We are now going to apply for the Tarjeta de Residencia de Familiar de Ciudadano de la EU at the Extranjeria and we were told that he need to have a public or private health insurance.

We popped into a local insurance branch who explained that we can't get a Heath insurance for him, unless he is a legal resident in Spain? It's all very confusing as we were told by acquaintances that previously it's only been required for the EU- spouse to provide a photo copy of the EHIC card.

This is what is stated on the form:

"Seguro de enfermedad publico o privado del ciudadano comunitario y del familiar. Si tienen seguro publico con el justificante del reconocimiento a la asistencia sanitaria expedido por el INSS (no es valida la tarjeta sanitaria)"

At the moment none of us are employed, but we are not receiving any government benefits as we have enough money saved not to have to rely on financial support from the government. We have no children.

We are both in our mid-twenties and we would like to get an insurance that covers him only in Pamplona/Navarra and only for what's necessary for the application (and the cheapest).

Could you please tell me what you think it will cost? Any recommendations for companies to approach since the one we tried did not offer insurances to someone who does not yet reside in Spain legally i.e. overstayed his visa?

Any other words of wisdom or if you've been in a similar situation recently, please do share!

Best regards
Tired and somewhat frustrated


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

sisaksson said:


> Dear all,
> 
> I am an EU citizen and I recently married a man that has been my partner for the past two years. We married in Pamplona and he is a non-EU citizen who overstayed his visa. We are now going to apply for the Tarjeta de Residencia de Familiar de Ciudadano de la EU at the Extranjeria and we were told that he need to have a public or private health insurance.
> 
> ...


:welcome:

yes - I can see that this would be frustrating

I assume that you're registered as resident yourself, and have been for some time?

since last August, even EU citizens have had to prove healthcare provision & income in order to register as resident, so it's no surprise that a non-EU citizen has to as well

I'm afraid I don't know of any company offhand which provides health insurance in the circumstances you describe though- perhaps another member will 

can he not be added as a family member on yours - I'm guessing that since you aren't working you have insurance yourself? You aren't using your EHIC are you?


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## elisa31bcn (Jan 23, 2013)

I'm not sure if this will be helpful now, but I successfully signed up for healthcare when I was on an expired tourist visa, and waiting for all the paperwork to be done so I could get married here. The company was Sanitas, and they just asked for ID and bank info....
Obviously it's possible that now the rules have changed, as this was a couple years ago.


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## sisaksson (Apr 26, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> :welcome:
> 
> yes - I can see that this would be frustrating
> 
> ...


I have been registered in Spain since August (which is when we registered on the same address) last year and have my green NIE card, but unfortunately I wasn't aware of the health insurance requirement and have got only my EHIC card :-/ We have been seeing each other for 2+ years and only recently got married.

Since I had a reasonably decent salary before relocating to Spain working in finance, I had no issue with getting the green NIE card and we have heard of at least one other couple with similar circumstances who applied for the same residency card about three weeks ago where the EHIC card for the female was sufficient! Everything seems to change on a weekly/monthly basis...

I'm beginning to wonder if I misunderstood the form, perhaps they are saying that I need to get an insurance where he is added as a family member and that that might be possible as you are suggesting...?

If that's the case Im hoping to find a cheap public health insurance, hopefully some boardie out there will have some info on costs or which companies to approach?

Thanks a million for your reply


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## sisaksson (Apr 26, 2013)

elisa31bcn said:


> I'm not sure if this will be helpful now, but I successfully signed up for healthcare when I was on an expired tourist visa, and waiting for all the paperwork to be done so I could get married here. The company was Sanitas, and they just asked for ID and bank info....
> Obviously it's possible that now the rules have changed, as this was a couple years ago.


Any information is appreciated at this point and thanks a mill, I'll look that up


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

sisaksson said:


> I have been registered in Spain since August (which is when we registered on the same address) last year and have my green NIE card, but unfortunately I wasn't aware of the health insurance requirement and have got only my EHIC card :-/ We have been seeing each other for 2+ years and only recently got married.
> 
> Since I had a reasonably decent salary before relocating to Spain working in finance, I had no issue with getting the green NIE card and we have heard of at least one other couple with similar circumstances who applied for the same residency card about three weeks ago where the EHIC card for the female was sufficient! Everything seems to change on a weekly/monthly basis...
> *
> ...


that might well be the case

also, where were you working previously? If it's a country with a reciprocal health agreement with Spain, contact the work & pensions dept (in the UK it's the DWP) & ask about that for yourself (form S1) - you might be able to get your husband listed as your dependant with that & access state healthcare for you both

you must have registered as resident just as the rules were changing & there was still a lot of confusion - you shouldn't have been able to register with the EHIC - it's only valid for emergency use on holiday!!


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

sisaksson said:


> Any information is appreciated at this point and thanks a mill, I'll look that up


I think the best solution would be for you to apply for private health insurance (which you need anyway) and have him added to the policy.

You certainly should NOT be using the EHIC as this is fraud! Once you are resident in Spain, you must not continue to use your EHIC.


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## sisaksson (Apr 26, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> I think the best solution would be for you to apply for private health insurance (which you need anyway) and have him added to the policy.
> 
> You certainly should NOT be using the EHIC as this is fraud! Once you are resident in Spain, you must not continue to use your EHIC.


Thank you for the information, I was certainly not aware of that! Yikes, fraud, I don't like the sound of that at all. I have never been to the hospital here and to be honest I've never used my EHIC card other than when I was requested to at the time of registering to get my green NIE card. I only did what I was told but since the rules have changed, I will look into getting a private health insurance. Hope it won't be too expensive :-/


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## sisaksson (Apr 26, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> that might well be the case
> 
> also, where were you working previously? If it's a country with a reciprocal health agreement with Spain, contact the work & pensions dept (in the UK it's the DWP) & ask about that for yourself (form S1) - you might be able to get your husband listed as your dependant with that & access state healthcare for you both
> 
> you must have registered as resident just as the rules were changing & there was still a lot of confusion - you shouldn't have been able to register with the EHIC - it's only valid for emergency use on holiday!!


Oh dear what a mess :-/ I'm not a UK citizen but graduated from uni, lived and worked there for about 5 years and for the past 3 years Ive worked in Malta for almost two years and in Ireland for almost one year (with a UK company) before joining hubby in Spain.

Many thanks again, I'll make some calls on Monday and see what the score is.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

sisaksson said:


> Oh dear what a mess :-/ I'm not a UK citizen but graduated from uni, lived and worked there for about 5 years and for the past 3 years Ive worked in Malta for almost two years and in Ireland for almost one year (with a UK company) before joining hubby in Spain.
> 
> Many thanks again, I'll make some calls on Monday and see what the score is.


if you were paying tax & NI in the UK or Ireland you might well find that you qualify for the S1 - it's pretty complicated & depends upon how much NI you have paid & how recently - it's certainly worth asking - one year of contributions wouldn't get you far though, tbh - or were you working for the same company all that time?


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## sisaksson (Apr 26, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> I think the best solution would be for you to apply for private health insurance (which you need anyway) and have him added to the policy.
> 
> You certainly should NOT be using the EHIC as this is fraud! Once you are resident in Spain, you must not continue to use your EHIC.


Hey, whilst we are on the topic. Do I need a private health insurance since I am an EU citizen? I've never had to have that before and I've lived/worked in 3 EU countries in total. Also, if it's true that I have to get a health insurance, is it possible to purchase a public health insurance or does it have to be private?

Cheers'


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## sisaksson (Apr 26, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> if you were paying tax & NI in the UK or Ireland you might well find that you qualify for the S1 - it's pretty complicated & depends upon how much NI you have paid & how recently - it's certainly worth asking - one year of contributions wouldn't get you far though, tbh - or were you working for the same company all that time?


It was the same company, however, I joined in London working in one part of the business and for each transfer I worked in different parts of the company and was paid locally, so when I was in Malta I was paid into a Maltese bank account by the registered business in Malta and the same for Ireland (and London)... Guess that might complicate things even further..?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

sisaksson said:


> Hey, whilst we are on the topic. Do I need a private health insurance since I am an EU citizen? I've never had to have that before and I've lived/worked in 3 EU countries in total. Also, if it's true that I have to get a health insurance, is it possible to purchase a public health insurance or does it have to be private?
> 
> Cheers'


you will need private insurance unless you are 'contributing' as in paying into the system here in Spain - either by working here or by way of the reciprocal agreement/S1

in the last round of changes they did say that they would be introducing a way of 'buying in' to the state healthcare, but that hasn't yet happened



sisaksson said:


> It was the same company, however, I joined in London working in one part of the business and for each transfer I worked in different parts of the company and was paid locally, so when I was in Malta I was paid into a Maltese bank account by the registered business in Malta and the same for Ireland (and London)... Guess that might complicate things even further..?


yeah - that does seem rather complicated - might still be worth asking though - you've nothing to lose


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## sisaksson (Apr 26, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> you will need private insurance unless you are 'contributing' as in paying into the system here in Spain - either by working here or by way of the reciprocal agreement/S1
> 
> in the last round of changes they did say that they would be introducing a way of 'buying in' to the state healthcare, but that hasn't yet happened
> 
> ...


I'll give it a go, like you said, I've got nothing to lose. I really appreciate your input and advise, have a great weekend!


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## sisaksson (Apr 26, 2013)

Thought I'd let you know how it went, it might be useful for someone else who find themselves in the situation we were in.

We did opt for a private Health Insurance with Sanitas, which is very affordable and covers what we need it to cover. It was easy to sign up and they were very helpful. It helps that they have got English speaking staff, since I'm still working on my Spanish.

Crazy thing is at the time we submitted the application for the family residency card of an EU member, we had not yet received the Sanitas cards and explained to the extranjeria that we only have the EHIC card. 

Once we received the Sanitas cards we went back to the extranjeria to give them a photocopy of the cards, but they refused to accept it and told is they had everything they need for the application. 

I explained that I've been told that it's not OK to use the EHIC card and that I was under the impression that they just took a photocopy of my EHIC card to have on file until we brought in a photocopy of the Sanitas cards, but they still refused to add it to the application.


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## Thebaud (Aug 27, 2013)

sisaksson said:


> Dear all,
> 
> I am an EU citizen and I recently married a man that has been my partner for the past two years. We married in Pamplona and he is a non-EU citizen who overstayed his visa. We are now going to apply for the Tarjeta de Residencia de Familiar de Ciudadano de la EU at the Extranjeria and we were told that he need to have a public or private health insurance.
> 
> ...


Hello There,
I am in the same situation exactly like you and I(non-EU) want to get married to my boyfriend(EU citzen) here in Spain and we don't know what to do, what is the procedure exactly?I lived here in spain for 3 years legelly and now I am in my forth year were I am illegal.Is that valid?
Please advise me.
Thank you


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## Thebaud (Aug 27, 2013)

Thebaud said:


> Hello There,
> I am in the same situation exactly like you and I(non-EU) want to get married to my boyfriend(EU citzen) here in Spain and we don't know what to do, what is the procedure exactly?I lived here in spain for 3 years legelly and now I am in my forth year were I am illegal.Is that valid?
> Please advise me.
> Thank you


and I missed saying tto you to approach Sanitas for health insurance as they only ask for the passport..goodluck


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