Yep, ours also run out in September, going to renew them on our return, next week.

sanji

I applied online on Tuesday night and the cards arrived this morning. New expiry date June 2013.

luci

Hi I have just tried the link and it didn't work where do I go from here.

Don't panic, unless you are going away in less than a week.

I believe they keep changing the website address which David has been updating on Page 1. However it is unavailable at the moment. I did manage to find an alternative on http://www.ehic.org.uk but this is for new applications only and not for renewals.

You can apply by telephone on 0845 606 2030, lines open Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 3pm.

luci

Hi I have just tried the link and it didn't work where do I go from here

The link on page 1 is still valid (I think it's the same one as luci has posted) and seems to be working okay at the moment for new applications and renewals. I notice you were trying quite late on at night nasher, and their website does sometimes seem to be unavailable through the night, perhaps due to updates or maintenance. Try through the day if possible and you should be okay.

David

Yes I can confirm that the site wasn't working during the night, but I managed to find that alternative page which has a slightly different address from the one on Page 1.

However the link on Page 1 is working fine for me now.

luci

Thanks for the advice, the link must only work during the day. have now sent for my EHIC . thanks again.

The reason that the link only works sometimes, and you found a slightly different address, is that we use more than one server to ensure 24/7 availability.

The DH website is always linked to the correct one so is the best way of making sure you always get through, though it does mean another step.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/travellers

Hi DH Advice ... thanks for the update, I have edited the link into your post above.

David

I must say, before I read this topic, the expiry date on our current EHIC cards had slipped my mind and prompted me to go check them...they expired in Sept 2008.
I finally got around to renewing the cards on-line on Tuesday afternoon of this week.....
New cards arrived this morning, expiry date 2013.....that's what I call an excellent service.

Sanji

My son applied on line last Thursday, card arrived this morning, how quick is that. Very impressed. He is going to Nice this week so he thought he had left it too late!

I was also impressed by their service. Stupid me didn't realise that it was now a card so I almost left it too late when I went into the post office and found out that it would take 3 weeks or so to do it postal and at the time I didn't have 3 weeks! So I phoned up the offices and got it back within the week, perfect and phew.

Tarry

And you didn't even use the quickest route, going online should have shaved a day or two off of that.

To be fair to snail mail our guideline turn around times are set at the worst pos case - 7 days for online, 10 by phone and 21 by post.

Also can I remind people that EHIC's start to run out this month. Three million expire between Sept 08 and March 09 so if you have an early card and you are going away it's best to check it, the date is in the bottom right hand corner of the card.

Thanks for that, didn't even realise there was an expiry date!! Thankfully mine is 2011.

I wanted to ensure that it DEFINETELY went through that's all

I know what my luck is like.

Remember to renew your EHIC card if you were one of the first to apply as they expire this month.

luci

strange i applied for ours when the first came out and they dont expire till 2010 just taken them out and checked..you had me worried

The E111 was discontinued in December 2005. In the months leading up to that, the Department of Health received in excess of 13 million applications for the new EHIC. To process and issue that number of cards was obviously a mammoth task and so rather than have all 13 million cards expire at the same time this year, creating that same mammoth task all over again, the validity of cards varied so that expiry was spread over a 3 year period.

DH Advice mentions that 3 million EHICs will be due for renewal between September and March, so presumably validity of the remaining 10 million of the original batch of cards is spread over the next couple of years. It's therefore important that everyone checks validity of their own EHIC. Don't assume that because one family member has an EHIC which is valid until 2009 or 2010, that yours will be the same. I applied for cards for several family members and we all have completely different expiry dates. Yours may well be about to expire now !!

You can renew your EHIC up to 6 months before its expiry, details of how to renew can be found on page 1 of this topic.

David

That is perfectly correct, the next batch, again of three million, will expire between September 2009 and March 2010.

We avoided issuing cards which expired in the peak travel months, when people used to order E111s, to try and leave capacity for new EHIC orders.