Benefits and moving to another EU country

dalem_2

clemmatis wrote: »

you should check whether you'd be entitled to free medical care:

We do have EHIC cards and that entitles you to free emergency treatment.

Soot2006

My in laws are Greek-Cypriot and they would probably dispute that life is much cheaper in the long-term. Housing prices are on the rise in many areas and it seems unlikely that you would be entitled to any subsidised rent over there. Can you afford renting in the long-term? Or buying something there?

Maybe no winter heating bills (though, again that is not my experience - last time I was there I was COLD! in winter) ... but also currently no air conditioning for a significant portion of the day. No electricity at all, in fact, due tot he explosion. Overall I get the sense of a country in very near political meltdown ...

anmarj

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Mmmmmmmmmmm am not totally sure about your IS.

why would they pay Income support if they moved abroad?

Oldernotwiser

dalem wrote: »

We do have EHIC cards and that entitles you to free emergency treatment.

You cannot use an EHIC card when you're resident abroad but, for temporary visits, they cover all normal healthcare, not just emergencies.

If you claim ESA or IB you can have an S1 card (formerly E106) but don't forget that this doesn't necessarily cover you for 100% costs but gives you the same cover as someone who is part of the EU country's health system.

I think you'll have difficulty supporting yourself in any other EU country on just your DLA care and tiny pension, particularly as you'll have to pay rent on a property. Why not look to spend a couple of months in Cyprus during the winter, whilst remaining resident in the UK?

seven-day-weekend

Income support, AFAIK, is not exportable. DLA care component is. I doubt very much whether there will be any entitlement to Cypriot Benefits.

The EHIC card entitles you to the same medical care as the natives of the country (not necessarily free treatment, it depends whether it is free to the citizens of that counry).

Oldernotwiser

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

The EHIC card entitles you to the same medical care as the natives of the country (not necessarily free treatment, it depends whether it is free to the citizens of that counry).

But it doesn't cover you at all if you actually move to another EU country.

paddedjohn

how would you pay your rent and any local tax's?

clemmatis

dalem wrote: »

We do have EHIC cards and that entitles you to free emergency treatment.

as other posters have said, EHIC is not relevant if you move to live there. The link I posted gives some details of eligibility, and this link discusses the healthcare system

http://www.expatforum.com/articles/health/health-care-in-cyprus.html

seven-day-weekend

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

But it doesn't cover you at all if you actually move to another EU country.

Quite correct, it is for visitors only.

pmlindyloo

Have been trying to find out some more information about IS and moving to Cyprus, with, I'm afraid, not much luck!

I agree that you cannot claim IS usually when you move to another EU country but from what the OP has said I believe he is receiving IS paid on incapacity grounds and would, if he stayed in this country, be transferred to ESA sometime in the future.

Now I am unsure exactly what the OP is receiving - he mentions the 'higher level' of IS. I also wonder if OP is receiving IB and not IS?

From what I have read, the key question is whether the OP would be transferred to contribution based ESA (and this may be ported to Cyprus though I don't know for how long) or income based ESA (and not ported to Cyprus).

I suspect the the OP will be transferred to income based ESA but I suggested he asked a specialist since it is very complicated and would seem to be based on different criteria none of which we know about.

Of course the other question is whether they would transfer him to ESA before he moved!

I hope anyone interested is following me!

As you can no doubt tell I am fascinated by these things (how very sad!) as I have found some very strange anomalies when researching benefits!

I hope the OP lets us know what he finds out.