Schengen Visa Travel Insurance: The Official Requirements

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If you are applying for a short-stay Schengen visa, travel medical insurance is not an optional extra. It is one of the conditions the consulate must verify before a visa can be issued, and a missing or inadequate policy is an explicit ground for refusal. This page sets out the official requirements so you can check that your certificate will be accepted.

The legal basis: Article 15 of the Visa Code

The rules for Schengen short-stay visas are set out in Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 (the Visa Code), which applies directly in all Schengen states. Article 15 makes travel medical insurance a condition for a uniform short-stay visa of one or two entries, and Article 32 lists the absence of adequate insurance among the grounds on which a visa must be refused.

A short-stay (type C) Schengen visa allows visits of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. The European Commission's visa policy page confirms that the same rules apply across the Schengen area, while stays of more than 90 days are handled under each country's national procedures.

What the insurance must cover

Article 15(1) of the Visa Code requires the insurance to cover any expenses that might arise in connection with:

• repatriation for medical reasons;
• urgent medical attention;
• emergency hospital treatment; or
• death.

The European Commission's application guidance puts it the same way: the medical insurance must cover emergency medical care, hospitalisation and repatriation, including in the event of death. France-Visas, the official French visa portal, states that the insurance must cover any possible costs for medical repatriation and for emergency and/or hospital treatment.

Minimum cover, territory and duration

Three conditions must all be met, and they are checked literally by the consulate:

• Minimum cover: EUR 30,000 (Article 15(3) of the Visa Code).
• Territory: valid throughout the territory of the Schengen member states, not only the country you are visiting first.
• Duration: the entire period of your intended stay or transit.

The French government's official information service Service-Public states the same requirement for entry into France: insurance covering medical and hospital expenses, including social assistance, with a minimum cover of 30,000 euros. Germany's Federal Foreign Office, the Auswärtiges Amt, likewise lists, among the conditions for issuing a Schengen visa, a travel health insurance valid for the whole Schengen area and for the whole duration of the stay with a minimum sum insured of 30,000 euros.

Multiple-entry visas

For a multiple-entry visa the rule is lighter at the application stage. Article 15(2) requires applicants to show insurance covering only the period of their first intended visit, and to sign the statement in the application form declaring that they are aware of the need to have travel medical insurance for every subsequent stay.

This does not mean the later trips are uninsured. France-Visas points out that holders of multiple-entry visas must carry a valid health insurance certificate on every trip, and that border police may ask to see it together with your passport.

Who is exempt

Article 15 sets out two explicit exemptions, and a third group is simply outside the requirement because they need no visa at all:

• Holders of diplomatic passports are exempt from the travel medical insurance requirement (Article 15(7)).
• People whose professional situation already presumes adequate cover. The example given in Article 15(6) is seafarers, who are already insured through their work.
• Visa-exempt nationals: if you do not need a Schengen visa, the visa insurance rule does not apply to you, although you may still be asked to prove the purpose and financing of your stay at the border.
• Airport transit passengers: an airport transit visa only lets you stay in the international transit area, so the short-stay insurance requirement is not applied.

What consulates check in your certificate

When a consulate assesses whether your insurance is adequate, Article 15(5) of the Visa Code requires it to check that claims against the insurance company would be recoverable in a Schengen member state. In practice this usually means the insurer has an office or a claims partner inside the EU/EEA, so a claim can be pursued there. The Visa Code also directs consulates to verify the type of coverage and any excess (deductible) amount.

A practical checklist of what should appear in the certificate:

• your name and the dates of the intended stay or transit;
• a sum insured of at least EUR 30,000;
• the whole Schengen area as the territorial scope;
• coverage for emergency medical treatment, hospitalisation, medical repatriation and death;
• an excess or deductible the consulate accepts, where one is set.

Common reasons for refusal linked to insurance

Article 32(1)(a)(vii) of the Visa Code makes failing to prove adequate and valid travel medical insurance an explicit ground for refusing a visa. Refusals linked to insurance usually follow one of these patterns:

1. No insurance certificate at all, or a certificate that has already expired before the trip.
2. Cover below EUR 30,000.
3. A policy limited to one country rather than the whole Schengen area.
4. A period of cover shorter than the intended stay or transit.
5. Insurance with a company against which claims could not be recovered in a member state.
6. For a multiple-entry visa, not signing the declaration that you will hold insurance for later trips.

Short-stay vs long-stay visas

The EUR 30,000 rule in Article 15 concerns short-stay (type C) visas. Long-stay (type D) visas for stays of more than 90 days follow national rules, not the Visa Code. The European Commission confirms that visas for stays exceeding 90 days are subject to national procedures.

France illustrates the difference. France-Visas states that at the border a long-stay visa holder is asked only for the passport containing the visa, with its entry stamp, whereas a short-stay visitor must be able to present the insurance certificate. If you are preparing a long-stay file, check the insurance conditions for your specific status with the consulate, because they differ from the Schengen short-stay rule.

Official sources

• Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 (Visa Code) — Articles 15 and 32
• European Commission — Visa policy
• European Commission — Applying for a Schengen visa
• France-Visas — Frequently asked questions
• Service-Public — Un étranger a-t-il besoin d'un visa pour venir en France ?
• Auswärtiges Amt — Schengen-Visa (Kurzaufenthalte)