1. Health insurance for Schengen visa

Anyone applying for a Schengen visa for a short stay of up to 90 days in the Schengen area must provide proof of travel health insurance . This requirement arises directly from Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No. 810/2009 (Visa Code) and is one of the basic requirements for visa issuance. Exceptions to this requirement are only granted in a few special cases, such as for diplomats or certain family members of EU citizens with the right of free movement. It is particularly important to note that even if a declaration of commitment is provided, it does not replace health insurance – both forms of proof are legally required independently of each other.

The insurance can be purchased either by the applicant themselves or by a third party —such as the host or a company. Companies and hosts can also purchase travel health insurance for the invited person. However, for reasons of transparency, this must be clearly stated in the documents submitted to the embassy.

2. Scope of health insurance

The health insurance requirements for Schengen visas are strictly regulated. The health insurance must be valid for the entire planned stay and for all Schengen states that are to be visited. In particular, it must cover the costs of regular medical treatment and medically necessary repatriation to the home country. The costs of any repatriation in the event of illness or death, as well as the costs of emergency medical assistance and/or emergency admission, must also be included. The minimum coverage for travel health insurance for a Schengen visa is €30,000 , which is expressly regulated in Article 15, Paragraph 3, Sentence 2 of the UK . In cases of travel for the purpose of medical treatment, separate evidence of reimbursement of medical treatment or therapy costs must also be provided.

In practice, it is often observed that insurance policies are rejected if the insurance policy reveals a problematic weighting of individual risks such that certain types of services (e.g. repatriation, emergency dental treatment, etc.) are only covered with manifestly insufficient amounts. Insurance policies with inadequate benefits, for example in the case of COVID illness or with an unreasonably high deductible , are also usually not recognized. Policies with a limited period of validity that do not cover the entire stay are also not sufficient. Although the insurance does not have to cover the additional period of 15 days at the end of the visa validity ( Article 24 of the Visa Code ), it does have to cover the actual length of stay requested. Applicants should therefore, in their own interest, choose a flexible policy that seamlessly covers the entire period from arrival to departure.