other members living in France re IB to ESA

I'm really pleased to hear your news Berlioz...I thought that everyone who lived abroad and was claiming IB had to have a medical, I'm thinking that your problems are so severe that after looking into your claim the DWP realised this and have given you this positive decision..you will be able to sleep easy from now on.

I was interested to read your posting David Mckay, this brings up an interesting point for those of us living in France....NI credits..If a person living in France is put into the WRAG(CB) after a year this is means tested, if your partner is working or you have more than 16k, ESA would be stopped, BUT if your condition has not changed and you are still unfit for work, surely they cannot take away your E121 which as we all know gives us access to the French health system. Stop your money, yes, but as you are still deemed unfit and have paid NI contribs into the British system surely you should still be 'insured' under the British system as this is where you paid your contributions before leaving the UK which should mean continuation of your E121?? Any thoughts guys??

Well, as per our ‘pact’ agreement of us ex-pats here in France I feel duty bound to report our latest situation, although I must admit I do not read B&W forum too often now as I find it all a bit depressing.

After taking nearly 3 weeks to complete my wife’s ESA N50 form and submitting 15 pages of written information how it affects her daily living, a report by our GP and 10 pages of specialist reports, this is obviously not good enough for DWP, as she has now been informed she must attend a medical here in France. I find it incredible considering the state she is in, I was at least expecting for her to be placed in WRAG without a medical, and to have to appeal the decision, but not even that, we may just as well have left the form blank, complete farce.

So the worry and stress continues, reading back through this thread I see Windmill it took 8 months for the French authorities to contact you with a date for your medical, I know this prolongs the waiting but I think we would settle for that at the moment. The longer the process takes the closer to completing the 5-years residency we need to be allowed into the French health system.

I am sure if any of you on this thread have received a decision from DWP after your medical you would have posted the decision on this thread, so I guess you are all still playing the waiting game.

Better stop here so as not to make the post toooooooooooooo long for bro, and face his wrath again.

Hi Landlord,
sorry to read your thread. As you know I had my medicial before Christmas and I am still waiting. My medicial came 3 months after I had sent back my ESA N50. I have the same problem as you with the 5-year residency. I will post when I know the outcome of my medicial. The french forums has no talk of our terrible situation.

Hello Worried
Many thanks for the info as to how long it took for the French authorities to send you a medical appointment, and reporting that you are still waiting for a decision from DWP. Could you clarify that it took 3 months after you were informed that a medical was required, or 3 months from the date you sent back your ESA-N50 form. Sorry just clutching at straws now, hopefully it took 3 months for the appointment to arrive after you were informed you had to have a medical. Although I guess it will depend on how efficient CPAM are in your department, we live in Deux Sevres and unfortunately we have found our CPAM pretty efficient with most of our dealings with them, lets hope this time they are a complete shambles!

Quite agree with you the lack of postings on the French forums regarding our situation, and probably many others who may lose their health cover, or even the people whose E106s have run out and are left without any cover. I guess if you are relatively healthy then they will all have taken out private medical insurance. We have lived in France for 3 years 7 months now, so if it takes a while for the medical appointment to arrive, and then another long time for a decision from DWP, we may be able to eek out our 5-years residency if my wife in put in WRAG, a decision we will appeal, but at least it may take us past 5-year mark.

Hope you are coping with all the stress and worry of the situation we find ourselves in.