American in U.K

americangirl

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Hi,

I live in America, my boyfriend lives in the U.K. We are planning on having a baby and i want to give a birth in the U.K. My question is i have a baby girl already by C - Section and i want to have a C - section again. But i am unsure if I need to be a U.K citizen, married to my bf , e.t.c to have c - section as i presume it will be on the N.H.S.

Any help is greatly received, thanks :)
 
I think what matters is whether you are a resident of the UK, not whether you are married to somebody living here. If you'd come over as a visitor, I'm assuming you'd need travel insurance to pay for healthcare, and you'll need to carefully check whether it covers birth (many insurers exclude birth if it was your intention to have your baby in another country).

If you go through the visa application process to come and live in the UK, it'll be a different deal. In that case, you would have to be (or get) married (or come on an employer-sponsored visa) though.

Hope this helps - anyone else familiar with this, correct me if I'm wrong. My husband is not a UK citizen, so that's why we've been through some of the steps.

And now back to bed...baby insomnia... :shock:
 
As I understand it you would not be eligible for NHS care as you neither live nor work in the UK, so would either need to pay for your treatment or have sufficient insurance to cover the birth and treatment at an NHS hospital.

You could also have the baby at a private hospital as there it makes no difference where you live, where you are from etc as everything is paid for by yourself anyway.
 
You would need to apply for a long term visa to be eligible for free NHS care and I think new rules mean you would be charged £200 a year as that makes you 'ordinarily resident' here. Maternity care is considered emergency care so if you were here on a short term visa and couldn't pay for your maternity costs then you wouldn't be refused care.
 
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To add though, generally the UK is less keen on scheduling elective caesarian sections without just cause.

If your medical history indicates you would be at high risk of trauma or emergency c section they would absolutely book you in for a c section. Your previous c section may qualify you for that.
However, if your only reason for wanting one is a previous c section you may find your midwife and/or consultant obstetrician would prefer you to consider a VBAC. It would be something you'd have to discuss at the time.
 
Hi, I'm an American and my husband is British. I can tell you right now that you have to be a uk resident to have a baby in the UK if you are using the NHS system otherwise you'll have to pay for it yourself through your own private insurance. I had a spousal visa and had been living and working in the UK for several years when i got pregnant. I for one would not go all the way to England to have a baby. No offense to anyone there but I didn't like it as I had a really bad experience with my first, I lost her at 21.5 weeks not due to NHS, she had genetic problems but I had horrible experience laboring and delivering her. When I got pregnant with my rainbow baby I moved back to the states to have my son. I had to pay insurance but I ended up having a wonderful experience.
 

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