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Will your Travel Insurance pass the Schengen Test?

Will your Travel or Health Insurance pass the Schengen Test?

If not then your visa will be rejected or at best delayed until you buy a policy that does pass the Schengen Test.

If you are travelling to any of the European nations listed below from a country that requires you to have a Visa, the Embassy will demand that you hold a valid travel / health insurance policy to cover your stay which must be acceptable to the Schengen Treaty. If your policy is not acceptable then your Visa application may be rejected or at best delayed until you obtain a policy from an Insurer that is Schengen Friendly.

Schengen Approved Travel Insurance
Once taken out, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
for your free Schengen Letter

What is the Schengen Treaty?

The Schengen Treaty was originated in Luxembourg in 1985 to create an agreement between European States to permit free travel within and to eliminate cross border controls and to create an external border around all European states that signed up to the treaty. The purpose of the Agreement is to eliminate border controls at the shared international borders of these States. Foreign visitors require only one visa for the entire Schengen Area and will be able to move freely between these countries. However, you always have to apply at the Embassy or Consulate of the country, which is your primary destination.

As a visitor to the Schengen area, you will enjoy the many advantages of this unified visa system. Generally speaking with a Schengen visa, you may enter one country and travel freely throughout the Schengen region during the validity of the visa. Internal border controls are now limited with only few stops and checks.

However, the purpose of the visit must be leisure, tourism, or business. Upon issuing of the visa, the visa holder is allowed to enter all member countries and travel freely throughout the Schengen area. It is strongly recommended to plan your journey within the timeframe of the Schengen Visa as extensions will normally be very difficult to obtain, thus forcing you to leave to stay in compliance with the Schengen rules and regulations. A Schengen visa allows the holder to travel freely within the Schengen countries for a maximum stay of up to 90 days in a 6 month period.

A Schengen Visa holder is not allowed to live permanently or work in Europe.

Travel insurance including medical cover and repatriation is required when you apply for your Schengen visa (the actual repatriation clause needs to be presented to the Consulate) and it must cover the duration of the requested visa.

Why do the Embassies want a Schengen Friendly Insurance Policy?

Insurance Policies from Schengen-Friendly Insurers from within the European Union have agreed to the Treaty terms of easy settlement of claims and hospitals and providers are assured that their bills will be paid promptly whereas past problems have occurred with hospital bills being long over due and sometimes unpaid by obscure insurance companies in non European countries who do not share the common goals and interest of the Union.

Schengen Approved Travel Insurance
Once taken out, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
for your free Schengen Letter

Visa Sections of Embassies Acceptance of Travel / Health Insurance

They will only accept a valid travel / health insurance policy for your intended stay in the Schengen country from an Insurance company that is based within the European Union and has agreed to be bound by the Schengen Terms and NOT from an Insurer outside of Europe.

This means Insurance you take out must be from an Insurance company based within Europe and not from your home country outside of Europe. For example insurance policies from American Insurance Companies are Not acceptable.

The following are all Member States of the Schengen Agreement, which came into effect on March 26, 1995:

Austria - Belgium - Denmark - Finland - France - Germany - Greece - Iceland - Italy -

Luxembourg - Norway - Portugal - Spain - Sweden - The Netherlands - Switzerland

For further information on the Schengen Agreement please visit the Website of the European Union.

As of 21st December 2007, the following countries also signed the Schengen agreement:

Czech Republic – Hungary – Estonia – Latvia – Lithuania – Malta – Poland – Slovakia – Slovenia

To obtain a Schengen Visa, an individual must take the following steps... click here