Schengen Visa Travel Insurance

Schengen visa travel insurance is mandatory for getting a Schengen visa, required for citizens of many countries when visiting any of the member countries of the Schengen Area – 27 countries in Europe.

What is Schengen visa travel insurance?

There are many countries in Europe that are comparatively smaller and people earlier needed to get visas for each country they wanted to visit.

Therefore, an agreement was signed in a town called Schengen where three countries initially agreed to provide a single visa to visit any of their member countries. That list currently has expanded to 27 countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.

Getting a Schengen visa allows the travelers to visit any of the member countries in the Schengen Zone as there are no border controls among the member countries. You just clear the immigration and customs in the first country you enter in the Schengen Zone. Following that, you can travel to any of the member countries in an airplane, train, bus, taxi or driving, just like traveling domestically within the country, all on the same visa. That makes it quite convenient avoiding the hassle of visas for individual countries.

Why do I need Schengen visa travel insurance to visit Europe?

If you need to get Schengen visa, it is mandatory to get a travel medical insurance that covers all the countries in the Schengen area with the minimum medical coverage of €30,000 and it must cover emergency medical evacuation & repatriation of mortal remains. The currency exchange rates keep changing, when purchasing from the US based company, you will choose at least $50,000 policy maximum.

Citizens of several countries such as USA, Canada, Australia etc. do not need to get Schengen visa for visiting up to 90 days. However, if they are traveling for over 90 days, they would need to get the visa and hence, they would need to buy travel medical insurance as well.

Even if you don’t need Schengen visa, it is highly recommended to purchase travel medical insurance to cover your unexpected medical expenses as well a variety of other coverages such as emergency medical evacuation, repatriation of mortal remains, loss of checked luggage, 24 hours emergency assistance and a lot more.

Even though Schengen visa travel insurance requires coverage in all Schengen countries, most travel medical insurance plans from the US based companies do not restrict the coverage only to the Schengen area. Therefore, even if you are traveling to other European countries such as the United Kingdom or Eastern Europe, you can still purchase a single travel health insurance to cover you outside your country of residence and outside the US.

Is my Schengen visa ensured if I get Schengen visa travel insurance?

While getting Schengen visa travel insurance is one of the mandatory requirements to get Schengen visa, that is not the only one. You will have to provide other supporting documents such as purpose of your visit, your itinerary, your accommodation plans and proof of sufficient finances to support yourself while visiting the Schengen Zone.

The final decision to issue you a Schengen visa is made by the Embassy or the Consulate of the country that you apply with. As long as your documents are in order, it is not difficult to get a Schengen visa.

What documents will I get after purchasing Schengen visa insurance?

As soon as you purchase Schengen visa insurance, within less than 30 minutes, you will be able to download a Visa Letter, also called the Confirmation of Coverage Letter.

Such letter will have the necessary language that the European Embassy/Consulate is looking for. They are well aware of various US based travel medical insurance plans we offer and they have been accepting such letters for many years.

The visa letter will mention your medical coverage limit, and also mention the medical evacuation and repatriation of remains coverage and specific language that says the coverage is valid for your entire length of stay in the Schengen area. Of course, you will have to purchase the insurance for your entire length of stay for it to say that.

What should I keep in mind when buying Schengen visa travel insurance?

A few tips would be helpful:

Even though it is not mandated by law, a few embassies or consulates demand that you purchase the insurance with $0 deductible.
If you are visiting multiple countries, and if the insurance application allows only a single destination, you should mention the country whose embassy/consulate you will be visiting to get the Schengen visa. That will usually be the country that you will visit the first or where you will spend most of your time during your stay.
You must purchase Schengen visa travel insurance before submitting your application for Schengen visa as you must submit it along with the application.
If you don’t get Schengen visa, and if you show the proof of your denial from the embassy/consulate before the effective date of the policy, you will get the full refund.

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