Hello.
I have been reading the threads on this forum & I have to say MANY THANKS to you all - some great advice. Most of my questions / concerns have been answered, but I still have a nagging doubt & hope that someone can put my mind at rest.
Background:
My wife is Finnish and has been in the UK since 1997.
She started working (no plans to stay for in the UK for any considerable amount of time) but then went on to become a university student in London 1998. graduating in 2001. No CSI for this period (didn't know what it was!).
After Uni, she worked until 2002, when we had a child and went onto maternity leave, then left as we moved out of the area. We got married in 2004 & moved again (south coast).
She worked for a while then started on another degree in 2007 and graduated 2009 as an Occupational Therapist. I had BUPA cover (family covered) from 2007.
Since 2011 she has been working for the NHS as an OT, and can provide the necessary paperwork etc (bills, statements, p60's etc). She is also self-employed, but these earnings are very low. Has self-assessment tax forms etc.
On the face of it, this seems straight forward. Our chosen "five-year continuous qualifying period is between 2011-2015", and we can provide all that is required......but the ONLINE FORM is a little confusing!
Question #1
"Have you been a student or done vocational training since entering the UK?"
Answer = Yes, and she can provide the details of her 2 university courses (no problem)
Question #2, confuses us!
"Were you a student or self-sufficient person?"
We presume we answer Yes, as it refers to the above periods.
Or does the question relate to our 'chosen qualifying period' and we should answer No?
Question #3, is the killer
"How did you meet the requirement to hold comprehensive sickness insurance while you were a student or self-sufficient person during the relevant period? "
My wife does not have CSI for the 1st degree (98-01)
She has CSI for the 2nd (07-10) under my bupa scheme
But we are confused by the selection of answers offered to us, by the online form, as we have a mixture of answers!
- EHIC, SI, S2, S3, Private Health, Not held any
Should we just select "I have not held any of the above ".....and not worry as our chosen qualifying period is 2011-2015 and therefore this will be discounted?
How do we ensure that the HO does not get confused and ONLY focuses on her time period of 2011-2015?
Currently we have ticked as I have listed....and we finally get the final 'documents' section which list the docs we need to provide....which seems a bit odd (in our case)
"Evidence that 'my wife' is self-sufficient, such as bank statements, a building society pass book, or evidence of receipt of pension"
"Evidence that 'my wife' is studying or doing vocational training - or evidence of both, if they have been studying and doing vocational training"
These things are BEFORE the qualifying period, so do does she need to supply them?
I maybe worrying unnecessarily, and I know others have far more tricky circumstances, but I also know friends who are in a similar position to us & confused!
Please help
