How does GHIC, the EHIC replacement EU travel insurance card, work?

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• TomH says:

  1 Aug1 August 06:44

  I hadn’t realised you could still apply for an EHIC from Britain if you were an EU national.

  Would this also be true for my son, who has a Swedish passport but has only ever lived in the UK?

  • gerjomarty says:

    1 Aug1 August 07:30

    The NHS site has a step by step application process with many questions around citizenship. If your son is also a UK national and has been since birth it *might* mean they’re notb eligible, but it’s easy to check.

  • Sandgrounder says:

    1 Aug1 August 07:48

    Yes. My wife has one, and I have one too via my connection to her.

    • Sandgrounder says:

      1 Aug1 August 07:55

      ‘you may not be covered if you‘re also a UK national or if you were born in the UK’
      Maybe not??
      More research required

      • Sandgrounder says:

        1 Aug1 August 07:57

        ‘If you were born in the UK to British parents or parents who were settled in the UK and have lived in the UK from before 1 January 2021, you’re not normally eligible for a new UK EHIC even if you’re an EU, Swiss, Norwegian, Icelandic or Liechtenstein citizen.’
        That’s a no then?

        • Bagoly says:

          1 Aug1 August 09:25

          Just ot clarify: that means you are entitled to a GHIC, so you are not left without anything.

  • Gosia44 says:

    1 Aug1 August 10:19

    I am both UK and EU citizen and have recently applied for a new EHIC card when the old one expired. Not all dual or EU citizens can apply for EHIC, only those who exercised EU treaty rights in the UK before Brexit. This means that if you were born British and also carry an EU passport you are unlikely to qualify but if you were born EU (not British) and later naturalised to become British then you are likely to qualify for the old style EHIC.

• Paul says:

  1 Aug1 August 06:56

  The card is a national embarrassment! A political stunt that is wholly misleading. It’s not a gobal insurance card. Simply a reminder every time I pick mine up of what was lost.
  I’d say a lot more but it would be deleted.

  • AJA says:

    1 Aug1 August 08:16

    If it’s such an embarrassment, would you prefer it that the GHIC didn’t exist?

    As the UK is no longer an EU country it doesn’t have to do any deal to allow reciprocal emergency treatment of UK citizens anywhere in the EU or Switzerland.

    We could’ve been forced to just take out travel insurance. That would save the NHS the costs of running the GHIC and being charged for emergency treatment of UK citizens inside the EU.

    • Paul says:

      1 Aug1 August 23:26

      Brexit is the embarrassment as is the look of the card. I particularly object to the image of Johnson’s underwear as a background.

      I would never dream of going anywhere without insurance as I have used it too often. Of course some may feel this card affords some protection but from painful family experience it’s often is not accepted (as indeed the EHIC card was not accepted.

• gerjomarty says:

  1 Aug1 August 07:24

  Sorry, my example is wrong. Replace Switzerland with Iceland. Obviously this isn’t a massive headache in the grand scheme of things.

  • Lady London says:

    1 Aug1 August 19:44

    It’s actually possible to have both EHIC and GHIC – some people do have both entitlements. Each is applied for separately.

• Nick Burch says:

  1 Aug1 August 07:36

  It’s not just EU citizens who can continue to get a full EHIC, their immediate family can too

  • NFH says:

    1 Aug1 August 16:47

    Not if those family are British-born, unfortunately.

    • George K says:

      1 Aug1 August 16:57

      Not sure if that’s true. If it is, then my British-born kid got one too by mistake…

• Matt says:

  1 Aug1 August 07:49

  As per another comment, UK citizens who are the immediate family of an EU citizen with settled status can apply for then EHIC. I’m a UK citizen married to an EU citizen living in the UK, so eligible for the EHIC.

  • TomH says:

    1 Aug1 August 07:58

    How would you unlock that option on the web form? It didn’t ask me any questions about relatives.

    • John says:

      1 Aug1 August 12:53

      I think the EU citizen applies and they can add details of their family (who can be British and/or not British)

  • NFH says:

    1 Aug1 August 16:53

    If their family are British born, then they can’t have an EHIC.

• mzb says:

  1 Aug1 August 07:54

  EHIC is also available to dual nationals (EU/UK) residing in the UK and their immediate families.

• TimM says:

  1 Aug1 August 08:01

  1) In some countries the state provision is very poor. In Greece there is minimal nursing care, basic personal toiletries such as toilet paper and soap are not provided – relatives are expected to provide all these.
  2) Many travel insurance policies require the traveller to hold an EHIC/GHIC when visiting Europe.

  In short make sure you have both an EHIC/GHIC and travel insurance.

• LittleNick says:

  1 Aug1 August 08:19

  So Eu Citizens in the UK can get an EHIC issued by the UK? If so, EU citizens are treated better than Brits by the UK Gov, ironic. Crazy the UK gov would agree to something like that

  • Barry says:

    1 Aug1 August 08:35

    EU citizens who have settled status. The principle being that nothing should have changed for them from pre to post Brexit

  • John says:

    1 Aug1 August 08:52

    One of the many ironies of Brexit.

  • J says:

    1 Aug1 August 08:56

    Wait until you find out about freedom of movement…

    • AlastairB says:

      2 Aug2 August 16:12

      Or the ‘Surrinder Singh’ route for bringing over relatives (although I guess that has become irrelevant now). Interestingly this leads to some raised eyebrows in my adoptive EU country of residence. Third country nationals who have now become citizens here have _fewer_ rights to bring over their family members than I do.

  • Bagoly says:

    1 Aug1 August 09:27

    UK citizens resident in the EU since before Brexit also get EHICs, which cover treatment in the UK when visiting.

    • abc says:

      1 Aug1 August 12:23

      Everyone legally residing in the EU gets an EHIC independent of their nationality or whether they moved there before or after Brexit, that’s the whole point of the scheme. And all EHICs are valid in the UK based on the reciprocal agreement that allows the GHIC.

  • John says:

    1 Aug1 August 12:55

    When we were in the EU, EU citizens also had more rights than solely British citizens, in terms of their family being able to live in the UK with them.

    • His Holyness says:

      1 Aug1 August 12:57

      Plus tuition fees in Scotland, Wales…

    • Rob says:

      1 Aug1 August 13:42

      I keep telling my kids that a key attraction to future partners will be their EU passports (and the London property we’ll buy them to get shot of them!) Should hopefully outweigh some of their annoying habits 🙂

      • Paul says:

        1 Aug1 August 23:34

        There is a simpler way. Live in Ireland for 5 years. Sadly I tried but my wife was having none of it. So Scotland and prayers for independence and a long life!!

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