Which situation this guide covers
This guide is only about travel medical insurance as a document in a Schengen visa application at a consulate. If your question is which countries require insurance as an entry condition checked at the border, whether or not you hold a visa, that is a different question, answered in the mandatory travel insurance guide. If your passport is visa-exempt for short stays, this Article 15 requirement does not apply to you: there is no consular file to submit insurance into.
What Article 15 of the Visa Code requires
Regulation (EC) 810/2009 (the EU Visa Code), in Article 15, requires every short-stay visa applicant to hold adequate travel medical insurance meeting all of these conditions at once:
- Minimum cover of €30,000 (or the equivalent in local currency).
- It must cover emergency medical expenses, emergency hospital treatment, and repatriation for medical reasons, including repatriation in the event of death.
- Valid throughout the territory of the Member States fully applying the Schengen acquis, not just the destination country.
- Valid for the entire duration of the intended stay or transit.
All four are checked together. A policy that meets three of the four is not enough.
Multiple-entry visas
If you apply for a multiple-entry visa, the insurance must cover at least the first intended trip. You will also sign a declaration on the form undertaking to hold compliant insurance for later stays. You do not have to buy five years of cover up front for a long-validity visa.
Where the policy is bought
The Visa Code expects the insurance to be taken out, in principle, in the applicant’s country of residence. Only where that is not possible may it be taken out in any other country. In practice, most consulates accept policies from recognised international insurers as long as the certificate makes the four conditions above unambiguous.
Who is exempt
- Diplomatic passport holders: Article 15 itself exempts them.
- The requirement may be treated as satisfied where an adequate level of cover can be presumed from the applicant’s professional situation.
- Family members of EU, EEA, or Swiss citizens relying on free-movement rights are not subject to this requirement under the facilitated procedure.
Outside these cases, not holding compliant insurance is a direct ground for refusal on incomplete documentation: the consulate can reject the application without assessing the rest of the file. What to do then is in the guide to a refused Schengen visa.
What the consulate checks on the certificate
The certificate you hand in should show, legibly:
- The medical cover amount, and that it reaches or exceeds €30,000.
- The validity dates, covering the whole requested stay (some consulates want a few extra days’ margin in case the visa is issued for slightly different dates than requested).
- The territorial scope, stated explicitly as “Schengen area” or “all Schengen States”, not a single country.
- The repatriation clause for medical reasons and for death, expressly mentioned.
- The policyholder, matching the applicant (a family policy must name each insured person).
Some consulates also require the certificate in a specific language, either the destination country’s or English or French; check the consulate’s checklist before buying.
Policy flaws that get applications rejected
The ones that recur in consular checklists and official notices:
- A generic annual travel policy whose medical expense cap is below €30,000, or that excludes repatriation.
- Insurance that names only the destination country and not the Schengen area as a whole.
- Dates that cover only the booked hotel nights rather than the full validity of the requested visa.
- A certificate stating generic “travel assistance” cover without breaking out the medical amount or the repatriation.
- Credit-card or employer cover that the applicant assumes is valid without a certificate proving the four conditions.
After you get the visa
The insurance is an application requirement, not a document border guards routinely ask for on entry. Even so, carrying the policy with you on the trip is sensible: public healthcare rarely covers non-residents, and the costs of an emergency can far exceed the price of the policy.
Where to buy it
On the VisaRadar passport-and-destination pages that already have confirmed providers you will find recommended travel insurance options, with the affiliate disclosure we apply across the site. Before buying, check the certificate against the four Article 15 conditions and against the specific consulate’s checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Does the insurance from my credit card count? Only if you can produce a certificate proving all four Article 15 conditions (amount, content, Schengen scope, dates). Many card policies cover medical expenses but not repatriation, or cap cover below €30,000.
What about the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)? No: the EHIC is for EU/EEA residents and is not travel insurance. It does not cover third-country nationals applying for a Schengen visa.
Does the policy have to cover COVID-19? Article 15 names no specific illness; it requires cover for emergency medical expenses and hospitalisation without exclusions that hollow that out. Check that the policy does not expressly exclude pandemics.
If my visa is refused, do I get the insurance premium back? That depends on the insurer’s cancellation terms, not the consulate. Some refund the premium if the trip does not happen because of a visa refusal and you provide proof; others do not. Read this before buying.
Can I buy it after booking the appointment? Yes, as long as you have it ready on the day you lodge the application: it is one of the documents handed in at that point.
Guide verified 09/09/2026. Sources: Regulation (EC) 810/2009 (EU Visa Code), Article 15 (travel medical insurance: minimum cover, content, territorial scope, exemptions); European Commission, Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, official page “Applying for a Schengen visa” (home-affairs.ec.europa.eu); consular information published by Schengen states’ consular offices. The €30,000 figure is set in the Regulation and does not track inflation; the other conditions are those in force at the verification date.