Health care for asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland

What happens when I register as an NHS patient?

• When you go to the GP surgery, the staff will ask you for some personal information – for example, your name, address and date of birth.

• The staff will ask to see some documents to help them decide if you can register as an NHS patient. If you need hospital care, staff at the hospital will also ask to see these documents.
  

• If you are seeking asylum, NHS staff may ask you to show:
  
  
• your Application Registration Card (ARC) – you may have been given this card at your asylum screening interview, or 
• documents from the UK Border Agency saying that you have applied for asylum. 
  
  
  
• If you are a refugee, they may ask you to show:
  
  
• your passport
• your travel document, or
  
• a letter from the Home Office that says you are allowed to stay in the United Kingdom.
  

• If you don’t have the documents they ask for, staff at the GP surgery may not be able to register you as an NHS patient.

Page last edited: 24 December 2010