Hello all...

Please accpet my apologies if this question has been covered before elsewhere but it's just a quick enquiry:

My girlfriend intends to come and stay with me for good in Zurich after she has finished her studies in the UK. She is full English and has a British passport. While she is looking for a job in Zurich and while she is staying with me being non-Swiss resident, does she have to obtain health insurance or is this optional? I know that if you become resident and have a job, health insurance is mandatory, but what happens during the period while she is looking for a job while staying with me as a visitor?

She can come to Switzerland as a tourist and if she obtains an EHIC from the Department of Health in the UK she will be covered for emergency medical treatment. However, they also advise taking out a tourist insurance to cover items that the EHIC does not cover, for example, repatriation if she had to go back to the UK as on a stretcher, which is very expensive.

Thank you very much... That is very useful!!!

Any chance this EHIC can be obtained retrospectively? Or do you know whether British citizens are automatically covered by the NHS for a month or 3 perhaps? I need to backdate insurance but am hoping that the NHS covers us for a while. Am i dreaming?

I suggest you check the link above where you will find all the information including an online application.

The websites are clear thanks. After following the usual chain of phone numbers in British bureaucracy it sounds like the EHIC would be useful as long as you don't intend to be resident here. It sounds to me like a straight replacement for the E111.

If you are intending to work then i think you can get up to several years cover with a 'Residual E106' if you have contributed enough National Insurance in the last 3 tax years. This may be acceptable in place the most basic of private paid Swiss insurance. There is also a 'non-working E106' and an E101 for people who are working but i'm not so sure about those.