I would like to know how I can apply for both of these cards online, I’m not exactly sure what they are called over in the UK but I assume I will need a social insurance/security number. I also dont know if there is national health care and if I need a health card. Also will I need a residency card or is a UK passport enough?
UK dopers please advise. The only thing I have is a UK passport, what other cards, documents will I need to apply for to live there?
If you have a UK passport and you are living in the UK you are entitled to health care on the NHS. You will not have to pay for this (except prescriptions which are about £6, no matter what drug is perscribled).
My advice is to visit your local surgery when you arvie and get put a GP (General Practitioner).
You will also need to find your local Dentists and join that. This runs seperatly from the GP surgery. I think most health care is free with them also. If it isn’t there will only be a small charge.
If you are coming back to the merry old United Kingdom check out these sites that have better advice than I could give.
I am not complety certain on what I said. I believe that is how it works over here. I am not an expert though.
Don’t hold me to what I said. Contact UK officials for more help. Follow the contact links on the addresses above. The first and second links will probably be best.
Thank you kris and Andy for the links I will have a look at them. I do have a UK passport already but I am not sure if i need a social insurance number to work or if a passport is enough. I assume that I’d need to get more cards for certain things and thought I could start the process.
You need a National Insurance number to work, this shouldn’t be too difficult to obtain. Probably the local job centre would be the best place to find out how exactly to get one.
well my sister went to go apply for one at the local office and was refused one because she holds dual citizenship, so what besides your british passport do you need to get your national insurance number? Where do you get the application. The lady at the office said that you need a job first and your employer needs to apply for your insurance card in order to work in the UK if your a UK citizen. Is this right because she is not getting anywhere over there.
Most people are assigned a National Insurance (NI) number automatically when they reach 16. I wasn’t as i had lived abroad a lot as a child, so i had to apply for one. I went to a DSS office (these are usually in jobcentres) with my birth certificate and passport, filled in a few forms, and the NI card arrived a few weeks later.
I would imagine you can’t do it online - you would actually have to visit the offices.
To get a NHS number you would have to register with your local GP once you have moved here.
I assume you are actually a full British citizen? It should say on your passport. If you are just a British national then i don’t think you have the right to live and work in the UK - you would have to apply for citizenship first.
She (my sister) is a British citizen (but has lived abroad most of her life) and she has a british birth certificate and a british passport, but she was refused a national security card because the lady at the office told her that she needs her employer to petition on her behalf to get one. I dont think this sounds right since if you are a citizen by birth then why do you need an employer to get your papers. She didnt do this online she walked into the office and they turned her down. So we are kind of unclear as to whether shes wrong and perhaps being british by birth is not enough to get your sin card.
Well i would imagine the lady at the DSS office knows better than i do…
But all i needed was my passport, and birth certificate. I didn’t have a job then, and i didn’t get one for a few months after i got my NI number. They never said anything about needing to get an employer to apply for the NI number for me. This was about 8 years ago though - maybe its changed since.
I wouldn’t worry about it too much though. If you’re a full British citizen you have the right to live and work in the UK. All the NI number is needed for is to pay national insurance contributions, and claim benefits. If the worst comes to the worst and you get a job before getting a NI number then its in the governments interest to give you a NI number quickly - otherwise you can’t pay national insurance (ie tax)!
You don’t need to be a citizen for a NI number, I got mine when I was still a resident alien. I needed to get one because I was working and paying taxes. I’ve heard the time needed varies from office to office, but it took about 6 months for mine to come thru. It took 3 weeks to get an appointment at my local DSS office, I spent about an hour working with the DSS person filling in forms. These then get sent off to another office where they sit for a few months before they are reviewed. If they find something wrong, you have to start over.
The social security card (actually just a card with your national insurance number on it) is only necessary after you’ve got a job, or if you want to claim benefits. Once your sister’s got a job her employer can apply for an NI number on her behalf; she doesn’t really need to worry about it herself. Medical cards you also get after registering with a doctor. You don’t need one to get emergency treatment.
Emergency treatment is free, as is most healthcare, all the general practitioner appointments, referrals, most procedures. Prescriptions, however, cost £6.20 a go, dentists always charge, as do opticians, chiropodists, and a few other specialist fields.
Some people get complete help with prescription charges and other costs: pregnant women and women within one year of giving birth; recipients of certain benefits; over-65’s; and children under 16 or under 19 and in full-time education. Students can apply for help with medical costs, but they will usually only get a reduction in optician’s fees, not full help. I’m not sure how kris managed to wangle free treatment, unless he or she is under 19.
There is no residency card.
Perhaps you could contact the British Embassy in the city nearest to you - if they can’t give you the information you need, they could certainly pass you on to someone who can.