Is my mother entitled to NHS medical services?

I am a British citizen originally from Africa, my mother who is in her early 50s suffered a stroke attack three years ago while in Africa where the health system care system for this type of condition is virtually non existent and thus has failed to provide any basic adequate care and treatments for my mother. Lately, I have been seriously considering bringing my mother (with my younger sister to look after her while my partner and I carry on with our full time jobs) over here in UK on a visit visa and once she is here I would eventually try to get her to the NHS and see if there is anything that they do for her. I have contacted several heart stroke charities and organisations seeking their advices, most of them have been very supportive and understanding. I am 29 years old while my girlfriend whom we own a two bedroom mortgaged flat is 30, we both work full time and bring home a combined total income of 50K a year and have no children so far; so my mother and my sister would not need to claim any benefits as we will be more than capable of supporting them financially. I would like to know if anyone knows if this is possible at all. After all I pay all my NHS insurance an I have never needed to visit a GP, in fact I have never had a GP or had any need to visit one or any hospital since I have been in this country,10 years next March!
Thank you in advance for sharing your immigration knowledge with me.

In a word - no. Sorry.

MujyA wrote:I am a British citizen originally from Africa, my mother who is in her early 50s suffered a stroke attack three years ago while in Africa where the health system care system for this type of condition is virtually non existent and thus has failed to provide any basic adequate care and treatments for my mother. Lately, I have been seriously considering bringing my mother (with my younger sister to look after her while my partner and I carry on with our full time jobs) over here in UK on a visit visa and once she is here I would eventually try to get her to the NHS and see if there is anything that they do for her. I have contacted several heart stroke charities and organisations seeking their advices, most of them have been very supportive and understanding. I am 29 years old while my girlfriend whom we own a two bedroom mortgaged flat is 30, we both work full time and bring home a combined total income of 50K a year and have no children so far; so my mother and my sister would not need to claim any benefits as we will be more than capable of supporting them financially. I would like to know if anyone knows if this is possible at all. After all I pay all my NHS insurance an I have never needed to visit a GP, in fact I have never had a GP or had any need to visit one or any hospital since I have been in this country,10 years next March!
Thank you in advance for sharing your immigration knowledge with me.

Your mother can apply for a visa other than a visitor's visa.

If you are a parent or grandparent under the age of 65, you may qualify if:

you are living in the most exceptional compassionate circumstances
you are completely or mainly financially dependent on children or grandchildren living and settled in the UK
you have no other close relatives in your own country to help you
your children or grandchildren can support you without needing help from public funds, and
your children or grandchildren have enough accommodation, which they alone own or live in, where you can live without needing any help from public funds

http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply ... members#Q4

Thank you for your very informative reply indeed Brownbonno, do you know by any chance what type of visa that my mother should apply for instead?

MujyA wrote:Thank you for your very informative reply indeed Brownbonno, do you know by any chance what type of visa that my mother should apply for instead?

That type of visa (family dependant) is extremely difficult to get and from what u've posted u don't qualify anyway.

I agree with Wanderer,this type of visa is the hardest of visas to obtain cos the essential criterias one has to meet are so rigid and take if from me there is no give.

Thank you all of you nice people who took time to reply so far... given these it would appear that visit visa is perhaps my only option? But I am not confident that I will achieve anything with this route, how about applying for this (family dependat visa) when my mother and sister are in the country?? Does anyone have any experience with or can relate to this process at all?? Views?? Opinions??? all welcome please!

I personally would not try this as it will almost certainly lead to a refusal as regulations doesnt allow you to do this. You can not apply for such visa (entitling your mum and sister to stay here permanantly after arriving on a visitor visa)

Beside above its called "jumping the queue" and the HO doesn not like this and will almost certainly refuse you.

You can obviously call her here for medical treatment visa, but it would not be free but could cost you an arm and a leg

MujyA wrote:Thank you all of you nice people who took time to reply so far... given these it would appear that visit visa is perhaps my only option? But I am not confident that I will achieve anything with this route, how about applying for this (family dependat visa) when my mother and sister are in the country?? Does anyone have any experience with or can relate to this process at all?? Views?? Opinions??? all welcome please!

For a dependent visa u have to fill all the criteria above brownbonno's post plus u will most likely be required to give maintenance guarantees, ie you will underwrite health costs, pension etc so u r back to square one.

NHS is not a charity, it's a business machine now and won't a miss a trick when it has a chance to charge or deny an entitlement.

WRT to visit visa only emergency health is covered, for anything else ur mum will need private health cover, and she won't get that with an existing condition.

Hi,
I am in a slightly similar position. So I have been through some of these experiences. I am hoping to brign my mother to the UK not for NHS treatment but more for taking care of her in her old age. If your mother comes to the UK on a visitor visa she is not entitled to NHS treatment. She can however access the A& E for emergencies. Any hospital treatment/ non-emergency treatment (like access to GP) can only be as a private patient. Any GP will reject registration of your mother if she is only here on visitor visa. However if you are seriously concerned about your mothers health and that is you primary reason to bring her here- then it may pose a problem. As i am not sure Home office will encourage settlement visa/dependant visa for elederly parent merely for the purpose of accessing NHS. HO is very touchy about it. However, as 'brownbonno' had suggested you may be able to apply for dependant visa for parents if she is financially dependant on you(fully or mainly). HO will also assess your mother life back home to decide if she is living in 'most compassionate circumstances'. It is very very tough espcially if she is younger than 65 years old, but worth a try if you are desperate and are heavily concerned abt ur mom's health and standard of treatment. Of course HO should feel that you are finacially sound and have enough resources to maintain your mother. Have a look at the visa application to get an idea of the kind of questions you will have to answer-that will give you an idea if you stand a chance. http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply ... ilymembers
Good luck.

Thank you 'Day1n2',

The problem with these dependant/family visa is that they are so mean and tough to actually qualify for. I do and have supported my mother since she became paralyised 5 years ago... one of these visa requirements is that you have to prove that one has no other relatives capable of looking/supporting them... which absolutely difficult in its own light!!! Of course I do will not be telling the home office that my mom mainly came here for treatments (she is officially visiting me)... I know this will be impossible, but I feel this is the only way to obtain a UK visa??
I feel so annoyed because I have never needed to use the NHS services for all these years while I am folking nearly £500 a months to the NI service and yet my own mother is dying in Africa!!?? Where is justice in this world??!!! I am cure my plot will not work and I totally agree with you that she will be refused any medical, but you never know until you try I guess, eh? My mother has been in the 'most compassionate' of circumstance for nearly 6 years!!! But I am certain she would not qualify for that visa... Anyway, what are YOU planning to do with your mother's?

You can't transfer your contributions towards NHS to someone else, even if it's your mother. As you are young most of your NHS contributions will be consumed when you get older.

It's not really fair for a taxpayer to foot the bill for your mother's treatment.

Note;

The NI deductions cover more than NHS costs, ie unemployent, pension etc. And an elderly dependent sponsor will usually be required to undertake to maintain them and not use any public fund for the first five years.

There is also a visa for visitors for private medical treatment.

Why not do this the right way rather than have her turned away from hospital because she is not entitled to the NHS.

You could also get advice from an immigration advisor or a solicitor about the chances of getting entry clearance as a dependent relative.

I also pay NI and could cobble together quite a few relatives who wouldn't mind using the NHS without paying and who are not entitled to free treatment, and I am sure there are many hundreds of thousands of people in the UK with parents who live abroad and are not able to use the NHS for free.

Imagine what would happen if they all came to the UK and expected to be treated for free.

Hi

Let me summaries here what all said..

Your mother is not entitle to free Nhs treatment...If she go for medical treatment then she has to pay all dues....

She can apply for visitor visa for medical treatment..she has to pay for all medical dues and she has also prove that she has sufficient funds to accommodate and maintain herself..If you are sponsor then you have to prove that you can accommodate and maintain her without resource to public funds and remember NHS is a public fund..

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