Going to UK for Childbirth

Hello all,


Please forgive me (and share the link) if this has already been addressed in the forum somewhere. I've found some related info, but would like some more specific advice if possible.


My partner and I are discussing having our first child. I am a UK citizen but received my citizenship by decent. My partner is not a UK citizen, and neither of us are ethnically Chinese. Since any child of ours would not have HK citizenship anyway, we are considering going back to the UK to have the future baby so he/she could have that citizenship. Citizenship in my country of birth will be passed on anyway by decent, but UK citizenship offers many more options and advantages.


Having realised that our BUPA insurance through our employer will not cover maternity costs either place, cost is also a part of the equation.


How often do people go back home to the UK or anywhere else primarily to give birth? Is it actually feasible or is it unnecessarily taxing on the mother/baby?


Has anyone gone back to the UK for childbirth and had it covered by insurance? If so, what insurance?


Has anyone gone back to the UK for childbirth and paid out of pocket? (I would not qualify for NHS) What was your experience like?


Any experiences/knowledge/related advice is welcome!

Hi Malaika,


I have dual nationality (one of them is British!) and have lived in the UK for 13 years - now based in HK. Not an expert on babies, but have had a lot of experience with immigration issues in the UK.


First thing to investigate is whether your child is 100% eligible for British citizenship. As far as I'm aware, there is no such thing as right to British citizenship by birth these days. I will be having my child in HK, but as both my husband and I are British, it will be passed on to the child without my having to give birth in the UK.


Secondly, if you're not eligible for NHS, private arrangements will quite easily set you back >10,000GBP. A friend of mine, who was eligible for the NHS, but chose to go private after the NHS practitioners refused to offer her a life-saving and entirely medically necessary caesarean section (it saddens me to think that both my friend and her baby could have died because of this), ended up paying in the region of 16,000GBP.


But because NHSdoes exist in the UK, it is very unusual for private medical insurance plans to cover pre-natal and maternity costs in the UK. My job in the UK was supposed to have a pretty decent private medical insurance, but they certainly didn't cover anything to do with childbirth. In HK, Western employers will often offer private maternity coverage - but only after you've been employed for at least 10 months (in other words, you can only get pregnant 10 months after commencing your employment and taking out the insurance policy if you want to be eligible). But watch out, as the costs covered may be limited to a fairly basic package at a private hospital (i.e. no elective caesarean, no private room etc.).


At the same time, I hear HK has a pretty good public health system of its own where you would only need to pay monthly contributions in order to qualify for childbirth coverage - I think it's something pretty affordable, like $250HKD/month.


You will also need to take into account your maternity benefits, if you're employed. According to HK law, you commence your maternity leave 2 weeks before the due date - and frankly, at that stage no airline will let you onboard nor would you want to take a 13h flight back to the UK. But if you're unemployed, of course, you could head out to the UK sooner.


Hope this is of help.

I haven't heard of insurance for giving birth even if you buy special 'female body' insurance. The company will only give you a red packet once the baby is born.


Are you looking for birth insurance and hospitalisation?