Illustrative content written for a fictional insurer: the advice is general and replaces neither your policy nor a professional.
What the consulate asks of your insurance
For a short-stay visa to the Schengen area, the EU Visa Code requires travel medical insurance. Each consulate words its checklist in its own way, but the underlying requirements are the same everywhere.
- Medical expenses covered to at least €30,000: emergency care, hospital treatment and medicines.
- Repatriation on medical grounds, and repatriation of remains in the event of death.
- Validity in every state of the Schengen area, not only in the country issuing the visa.
- Cover for the whole stay, from the day you enter to the day you leave.
The consulate may also ask for other documents, or spell out a requirement in its own terms. Read your own consulate’s checklist, not the one a relative used last year for another country.
The strictest reading, which is the one we apply
Some consulates also look at the excess. A certificate that leaves part of the medical costs for the traveller to pay can be judged insufficient, depending on how the checklist is read. At Hima we therefore take the strictest reading: no excess on medical expenses. It is the only one that cannot get an application turned down on that point.
When you ask our site for a travel quote for a Schengen visa, we check five things before showing you the result: the medical ceiling, repatriation, the zone, the length of cover and the absence of an excess. If one is missing, we say so and tell you what to change.
Leave a margin of a day or two either side of the trip, so that a delayed flight or a shifted entry date never leaves a day uncovered.
What the certificate has to show
Check the certificate before you attach it: the officer reading it should find everything they need without guessing.
- Your surname and first name exactly as they appear in your passport, letter for letter and in the same order.
- The start and end dates of cover, which must take in the dates of the trip.
- The zone covered: the Schengen area, or something wider such as all of Europe or worldwide.
- The amount of medical cover, and a mention of repatriation.
- The policy number and the assistance number to call from abroad.
A single letter that differs from the passport, a spelling of the name that does not match the passport’s, or dates that stop the day before you fly home are enough to raise a doubt. It is better to have the certificate corrected before the appointment than to explain the difference at the counter.
When to buy it
The insurance is taken out before your appointment to submit the application, since the certificate is part of the file. In practice, you buy it once the travel dates are fixed and the booking is in hand.
- Settle your entry and exit dates, then add your margin.
- Choose a zone that covers the whole Schengen area.
- Check the medical ceiling, repatriation and that there is no excess.
- Read the name on the certificate again, then print it with the rest of the file.
If the visa is refused or the trip is moved, your contract says what happens to the certificate: the dates changed, the cover cancelled, or nothing at all. Read that clause before you pay.
Multiple-entry visas: covering the first trip
For a multiple-entry visa, the Visa Code asks for insurance covering at least the first planned stay. On the application form, the applicant also undertakes to be insured for every stay that follows.
That undertaking matters. Having been covered for the first trip is not enough: each time you enter, you need insurance valid for the dates of that stay, and you may be asked to show it at the border. An annual multi-trip policy can be simpler if you travel often, as long as you check the longest single stay it covers.
Multiple-entry visa or not, every stay has to be covered from its first day to its last.
Studies and long stays: different rules
Everything above concerns the short-stay visa. Studying, a long internship or settling abroad calls for a long-stay visa, which is a national visa: each country sets its own insurance requirements, often different from the short-stay ones.
For these stays, start from the checklist of that country’s consulate and from the requirements of the institution receiving you, and ask us for a certificate that answers them precisely.
Ill or injured while you are there: what to do first
- Call the assistance number printed on your certificate first, before going to a clinic, if the situation allows. In a life-threatening emergency, call the local emergency services, then the assistance line as soon as you can.
- Give your policy number, where you are and what has happened. The assistance service will direct you to a facility and, depending on the contract, may settle the bill directly.
- Keep every prescription, invoice and medical report.
- Do not arrange a repatriation yourself: the assistance service organises it, together with the doctor treating you.
Before you leave, save the assistance number in your phone and keep a copy of the certificate in your luggage and in your email.
