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Most will be full British Nationals with right of abode in the UK. The Department of Health’s view is that, given that the evacuees cannot go anywhere else, and have the right to live here if they wish to, they can be classed as taking up permanent residence here for the time being, and will therefore be exempt from charges for hospital treatment under the permanent residence exemption at Regulation 4(1)(a)(iv). It may be that they hope to return to Lebanon at some point, but there is no way of knowing when that might be possible and their intention at this moment will clearly be to reside here for as long as they need to.

A much smaller number of British Overseas Nationals (eg residents of Hong Kong and other ex-colonial territories) and other categories of British citizens without automatic right of abode in the UK who have been evacuated from Lebanon are to be granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK for a minimum of six months.

The Department of Health’s advice to the NHS has always been that although each case must be considered on its own merits, six months is the sort of time frame that would be sufficient to support a claim that someone is settling here permanently.

It would therefore be consistent to take the view that Lebanon evacuees who have been given leave to remain for six months can also be considered to be taking up permanent residence for the time being, and are therefore covered by the permanent residence exemption.

Although there is perhaps a bigger assumption that these persons will be leaving the UK at some point, there is still no way of knowing when it will be safe for them to do so and their present intention is to reside here.

Please call the Overseas Visitors Helpline (0113 254 5819) in case of any queries.

Overseas Visitors Team
Department of Health