Renewing Your EHIC Card -

Did you know that over five million European Health Insurance Cards expired last year in the United Kingdom alone? It is imperative to renew your European Health Insurance Card to keep it in date and to stop it from running past its expiry date. If you travel in Europe with an out of date European Health Insurance Card, you run the risk of not being covered for state provided medical care within the country you are residing in and in the worst case scenario you could even be refused healthcare all together. A study, carried out by the Department of Health, revealed that over 52% of people in Britain were unaware of the existence of the expiry date of the European Health Insurance Card.

Please note that even if you have registered online prior to an EHIC renewal, it is still necessary to complete the application form again with all of your correct details. Even if any of your details have changed since you last renewed your European Health Insurance Card, such as your surname or address, you can still renew your European Health Insurance Card online with the updated amended details. If you need to renew a card for a child under the age of eighteen, you can do so by putting yourself as the main applicant and all dependent children on the same application.

You can renew your European Health Insurance Card online by filling out the relevant application form. Each European Health Insurance Card application can accommodate two adults (a main applicant and their partner) and up to our children. The application requires you to input details such as your surname and forename, date of birth, a valid National Insurance Number or National Health Service Number, a United Kingdom address and a contact number. Once you have completed your online application form (and upon approval) your renewed European Health Insurance Cards should arrive by post in three to ten working days.

A European Health Insurance Card is valid for up to five years. You can check the expiry date of your European Health Insurance Card by looking at the date located towards the bottom right hand corner of your current European Health Insurance Card.

You can renew a European Health Insurance Card up to six months before the expiry date. If you try to renew your European Health Insurance Card prior to the six months before the final expiry date, your details will register as being valid (or already existing) and you will have to wait up to six months before the expiry date before you can renew your European Health Insurance Card. No remaining time on your current European Health Insurance Card will be carried over on to your new European Health Insurance Card. You can renew your European Health Insurance Card by completing an application form online.