Spouse Settlement Visa and NHS

[yeuikwon]

Hello,

We got married in June 2018 at the British embassy in S.Korea shortly before entering the UK.

The plan was to have a honeymoon in London and prepare her spouse settlement visa with some help from my end. So she was visiting the country between June 2018 and October 2018.

During this time, she became pregnant at the end of June and unfortunately she miscarried at the mid September. As a result, we had to receive some NHS treatments.

Now that my wife has returned to her home country to start the visa application, I have received a NHS bill for my wife's attention (my wife wasn't eligible for free NHS services). Looking at the invoice, we believe that we were incorrectly charged for the services we received, therefore we are currently going through an appeal process.

For her online visa application where there is an additional information section, we will be mentioning the above in more detail but was wondering if we have to enclose all of our email communications with NHS.

When I checked with Credit Control team at the hospital, they haven't yet reported our case to the Home Office due to the invoice being less than 3 months old (currently it's about 20 days old).

The fear that if we enclose our email communications as an evidence for additional information section of the online application is that it will make things more complex and subsequently delay her application.

FYI - I am British. We intend to use the premium service and finalise the submission during the course of next week.

We would appreciate your thoughts/ideas how we should approach this matter.

PP

[Casa]

Why do you believe you were incorrectly charged

[yeuikwon]

Why do you believe you were incorrectly charged

One example - when we visited due to severe bleeding we were not offered any scan, test or even blood pressure check. The doctor literally told us that she wasn't bleeding enough for the scan and we were sent home without any advice other than to visit A&E if it gets serious. For this they've charged us something outrageous.

[Casa]

Unfortunately visitors are charged at 150% of the cost. In order not to risk a refusal of your Spouse visa, in my opinion it would be wise to settle the outstanding invoice before submitting the application.

Were the NHS charges over £500?

[yeuikwon]

GBP 2,800 in total... on the day when she miscarried, we were initially at A&E then admitted to the ward. It came out at about almost GBP 2,000.

If we had known the price in advance we would've gone privately or even her home country but we were never told at the point of time....

[Casa]

I believe that private treatment may well have been equal in cost, or even higher.

You are required to declare any outstanding NHS fees in the Spouse visa application. Withholding the information will be seen as deception and could result in a lengthy ban for any future visa applications. See the following guidance for Entry Clearance Officers (ECO)
Refusing the applicant or applicant’s entry clearance to the UK where one or more relevant National Health Service (NHS) bodies have notified the Secretary of State that the person seeking entry or leave to enter has an outstanding healthcare debt or cumulative debt:
• of £1000 or more incurred between 1 November 2011 and 5 April 2016
• debts of £500 or more incurred on or after 6 April 2016
• further charges after 6 April 2016 bringing the total outstanding NHS debt since 1 November 2011 to over £1000

Also note:
Consideration
You must check if the applicant has an outstanding total NHS debt that meets the above
thresholds.
AND
NHS bodies use their own internal processes to recover the monies owed, and will only
notify the Home Office once the debt has been outstanding for 2 months and there is no
agreement to pay by instalments.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... 9.0EXT.PDF

[yeuikwon]

Thank you for your advice. As mentioned in my initial post, we will declare that there is an outstanding invoice but in dispute at the moment. Do you still believe that we should settle the bill without resolving the dispute?

[Casa]

Thank you for your advice. As mentioned in my initial post, we will declare that there is an outstanding invoice but in dispute at the moment. Do you still believe that we should settle the bill without resolving the dispute?

I've added to my previous post. *

If I was in your position and had the available funds to pay the NHS fees or to at least arrange to settle in debt in instalments, I would do so. You need to consider that the Home Office aren't interested in whether the bill is contested due to the level of fees, only that your wife has an outstanding bill.

[Edwardo]

My condolences re the miscarriage.

On the visa, we always must try to remember we need to do all we can to get the odds in our favour. It is never wise to leave questions unanswered so you will need to cover this area but the question for you and your wife is how best to do so?

My feeling is it is best for you to pay and then leave it out of the application completely (as you are not being deceptive by stating there are no debts).

You could pay and add you will be contesting it and the hope will then be the Home Office care not as they know the debt is settled and any further adjustment is between you and the NHS.

As the poster above says, the Home Office just wants to know this area is clean and without concern.

The ONLY way you can do that is by paying up.


You can then argue your case about exaggerations in the prices and take that up with the NHS through its formal complaints procedures. You may get money back, you may not.

That will not be as painful as paying thousands for the visa, getting the priority status annulled due to 'this not being straightforward' AND possibly being refused as you are seen as a risk to public funds.

It is annoying and it is worse that it all revolves around a very hard time for you both but you need to try all you can to take a step back and be objective.

The best way for you to get the visa is to have the NHS debt settled before you apply.

[CR001]

FYI - I am British. We intend to use the premium service and finalise the submission during the course of next week.

What 'premium service' are you referring to? Has your spouse left the UK now to submit the application in Korea??

[yeuikwon]

Thank you. It is quite a lot of money for us. I guess we will have to settle in installments and explain this on the additional information section.

[yeuikwon]

FYI - I am British. We intend to use the premium service and finalise the submission during the course of next week.

What 'premium service' are you referring to? Has your spouse left the UK now to submit the application in Korea??

Apparently there is a premium service which grants the visa relatively quicker than the normal application. As the name refers, we have to pay the premium to use this service.

[CR001]

FYI - I am British. We intend to use the premium service and finalise the submission during the course of next week.

What 'premium service' are you referring to? Has your spouse left the UK now to submit the application in Korea??

Apparently there is a premium service which grants the visa relatively quicker than the normal application. As the name refers, we have to pay the premium to use this service.

Has your spouse left the UK to apply from home country?

Overseas applications have a priority service or standard service. No guarantee of a quicker decision though.

Premium service is relevant to applications in the UK, ie. same day decision. This doesn't apply to your spouse.

[yeuikwon]

FYI - I am British. We intend to use the premium service and finalise the submission during the course of next week.

What 'premium service' are you referring to? Has your spouse left the UK now to submit the application in Korea??

Apparently there is a premium service which grants the visa relatively quicker than the normal application. As the name refers, we have to pay the premium to use this service.

Has your spouse left the UK to apply from home country?

Overseas applications have a priority service or standard service. No guarantee of a quicker decision though.

Premium service is relevant to applications in the UK, ie. same day decision. This doesn't apply to your spouse.

She's back at her home country and I meant priority service.
Thanks

[physicskate]

I agree you should pay the NHS bill. If your wife had travel insurance, she would have been charged the cost of treatment but would be able to claim through insurance. Without travel insurance, a visitor will have to pay 150% the cost of treatment - this means her actual treatment cost less than £2000, but she is required to be charged more because she was a visitor. Being on a ward is expensive, but her A&E 'treatment' was free.

Did she have travel insurance?

I am very sorry for your loss - miscarriages are the absolute worst... I hope you both recovering from your loss. Disputing this NHS bill when it is not unreasonable will not help you both move forward...

I agree that private treatment is often more expensive - for example a 20 minute consult with my (private) infertility clinic cost £200. So there is absolutely no guarantee you wouldn't have a similarly crazy medical bill had you made different decisions during a very stressful time.