Schengen Travel Insurance Requirements

Every Schengen visa applicant must present travel medical insurance with at least €30,000 of cover, valid across all 29 Schengen states for the entire stay, including emergency medical repatriation and repatriation of remains. This page sets out the statutory rule, what consulates actually check on the certificate, and how insurance gets applications refused.

Requirements verified 25 August 2026 against Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 (Visa Code), Article 15 · Always confirm on your consulate's own page before you buy a policy.

What the law requires

The requirement comes from Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 (Visa Code), Article 15. It is not a consulate preference — it is a condition of issuing the visa, and it is identical in every Schengen state.

Minimum €30,000 of medical cover. The amount must be stated on the certificate in euro. Policies quoted only in USD, GBP or another currency are regularly questioned.
Valid across all 29 Schengen states. Not just the country issuing the visa, and not "Europe" loosely defined.
Covering the entire stay, including arrival and departure days. Both the day you enter and the day you leave count as days of stay, so the policy has to span them.
Emergency medical repatriation and repatriation of remains. Both must be included, and both must be named on the document you submit.

Not sure how many days your stay actually is? Both the entry and exit day count — use the 90/180 day calculator before you set the policy dates.

What consulates check on the certificate

The officer reviewing your file spends seconds on the insurance document. These are the five things they look for, in order:

Cover amount, stated in EUR — at least €30,000, printed as a figure and not buried in a policy-wording PDF.
Validity dates spanning the full requested visa period — not just the nights you booked. If you request a visa to 30 June, the policy runs to 30 June.
Geographic scope naming the Schengen Area — "Schengen Area" or "all Schengen states", not one country and not "worldwide excluding …" wording that could be read to exclude part of the trip.
Applicant name matching the passport — exactly, including middle names and the transliteration used on the machine-readable zone.
Repatriation named explicitly — "emergency medical repatriation" and "repatriation of remains" as words on the certificate. "Assistance services" is not the same thing.

Your dated documents must reconcile with each other. The insurance start date, the flight arrival date and the first accommodation night are the three dates most often found in conflict — and inconsistency between them is read as a file that was assembled rather than planned.

Type C vs Type D — the rules are different

Short-stay (Type C)

The Visa Code rule applies directly: €30,000 minimum, all 29 states, the whole requested period, repatriation included. A single trip policy from any compliant insurer satisfies it. For a multiple-entry visa, consulates require cover for the first intended trip plus a signed undertaking to hold cover for subsequent trips.

Build your Type C document checklist

Long-stay (Type D)

National law governs, not the Visa Code. The consistent requirement across routes is that the policy must cover the initial period in-country until you are enrolled in the national health system — in Portugal, until you register with AIMA and obtain an SNS number; in Spain, until you are registered for public healthcare or hold the required full-cover private policy with no co-payments. Most routes expect at least the first year of cover.

Requirements by route:

Full overview on our long-stay (Type D) hub.

How insurance gets an application refused

Insufficient travel medical insurance is its own refusal ground under Article 32(1) of the Visa Code — it appears as Code 5 on the standard refusal form. These four defects account for nearly all of them:

Cover under €30,000. A €25,000 policy is refused on its face, however good the rest of the file is.
Dates short of the stay. A policy ending the day before your return flight leaves the departure day uncovered — and the departure day is a day of stay.
Single-country policies. Cover naming only France when your itinerary crosses into Belgium and Germany does not meet the geographic requirement.
Missing repatriation. The most common defect of all, because standard domestic health plans and many card policies simply do not include it.

Refusal rates vary widely by consulate — see refusal rates by country for the current official figures.

Where to get cover

We do not sell insurance, and we do not recommend a policy we have not verified against the rules above. A provider comparison is being prepared for this section.

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy a policy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Provider comparison coming soon

Until this section is published, check any policy yourself against the five certificate checks above before you buy.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need travel insurance before my visa appointment?

Yes. The insurance certificate is part of the supporting-document file you hand in at the appointment, so the policy must already be issued. Most insurers issue a certificate valid from your intended entry date, which is what the consulate wants to see — you do not need the cover to start on the day you apply.

Does my credit-card travel insurance qualify?

Only if the certificate says everything the Visa Code requires: at least €30,000 of medical cover, validity spanning the whole requested visa period, the Schengen Area as the geographic scope, your name as it appears in your passport, and emergency medical repatriation plus repatriation of remains named explicitly. Most card policies fail on scope or on repatriation wording, and a benefits summary from the card issuer's website is not a certificate.

What happens if my trip is extended after the visa is issued?

The policy must cover the visa's period of validity, not just your original booking. If you extend a stay inside the Schengen Area you must extend the policy too — border officers and, later, any application you make can both check the dates. Buy cover for the full period you requested rather than only the nights you booked.

Is travel insurance required for a long-stay (Type D) visa?

Yes, and the rules are national rather than the Visa Code. Most long-stay routes require private cover for the initial period until you are enrolled in the national health system — in Portugal, for example, until you register with AIMA and obtain an SNS number. Check the requirement on the route page for your destination.

Does the insurance certificate need to be in English?

It must be readable by the consulate that receives it. In practice English is accepted everywhere, and the official language of the destination state is always accepted. A certificate only in a third language is routinely rejected as unreadable, so ask your insurer for an English-language version.

Can insurance alone get my application refused?

Yes. Insufficient or non-compliant travel medical insurance is its own refusal ground under Article 32(1) of the Visa Code (Code 5 in the standard refusal form). Cover below €30,000, dates that fall short of the stay, a single-country policy, or missing repatriation are all enough on their own.

Insurance is one line on the checklist

Get the rest of the file right too — cover letter, day-by-day itinerary and a personalised checklist built from your nationality, route and dates.

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