If you are visiting Spain or any other Schengen country, you need a travel insurance before you apply for the Visa. You need to submit a copy of the travel insurance policy along with the Spain Visa Application Form in India. However, before you purchase a travel insurance for Spain, please consider the following important points:
1. Not all Travel Medical Insurances are accepted.
The VFS website for Spain Visa Applications maintains a list of Insurance Companies in India that are recognized and considered valid for Spain Visa Applications from India. This list is regularly updated. You can find the link to the list on this page. Scroll down to “Click here for list of Insurance Companies”.
2. There is a minimum duration and cover requirement.
As of writing this article, you need a travel medical insurance with a cover of at least 30,000 Euros and should be valid for your entire trip plus 15 days after you are scheduled to return. You can always check the current requirement here. I would personally recommend a minimum cover of 50,000 Euros.
3. Check with a few companies before you purchase.
Unfortunately, like any other insurance policy, there are 100s of options available with thousands of fine prints. Take your time to compare and go through a few policies offered by different companies. You will be surprised how much price difference is there in almost identical policies from various companies.
Travel insurance is important not only for Visa but just in case you need medical attention abroad, these policies will save you a lot of money. Medical treatment is crazy expensive in Spain and other European countries compared to India.
4. You can purchase a policy online
Good news is that almost every company provides an option to purchase travel insurance online. And policy issuance is almost instant.
5. Consider an annual plan with global coverage.
If you are planning to travel abroad again in next 12 months, consider a global annual travel insurance plan. That should not only turn out to be cheaper than taking 2 policies, it will also save you the trouble of purchasing another policy later. The difference in cost of single and multi-trip policy is surprisingly not much.
Have we missed anything? Let us know in comments.
And Happy Journey to Spain 🙂