If you’re planning to move to France, make sure that you get the right medical insurance for your Visa application.
Moving to France (from a non-EU country) will involve applying for a long stay visa. Amongst one of the things required to support your application – the right type of medical insurance is a must, and it’s something that can catch people out.
The French Government website states that when applying for a long-term visa “You must have an insurance certificate covering all medical and hospital expenses for which you may be liable for the duration of your stay in France, as well as medical repatriation costs and expenses in the event of death.” This isn’t the same as holiday insurance or normal insurance, it’s a specific health insurance policy, and without it, your application will be rejected.
We asked Fabien Pelissier, founder of FAB French Insurance who have a specialist division that provides insurance services to English speaking clientele, to explain more about medical insurance.
“The first thing to know is that approximately 30% of applications are rejected – and 80% of those rejected are due to the wrong type of medical insurance. It can be really confusing to know what documents you need because most people will never have come across the requirement for such a specific type of insurance before, and it’s not always obvious when you’re filling in the forms. Most of us are used to travel insurance which covers health – but for the visa to be successful, that’s not enough, it’s mandatory to have private health insurance.
“One of the questions we’re asked most is ‘How fast can I get the certificate of insurance?’ And it really depends on the plan you choose, but our best-selling plan comes without a medical questionnaire and can be paid with a card online – so it can all happen pretty fast. We will send the certificate of insurance once the policy is signed off and the upfront payment secured, so on average it takes just 1 to 2 working days from start to finish. All of our staff speak fluent English – many are in fact British or American – and will be able to help you with all of your questions.
“The other question we get is about cost. It’s a fact that medical insurance is more expensive than the normal travel insurance that covers your health – it’s a specific type of insurance that’s required for the visa and proves that you have sufficient cover for any medical costs you may incur in France. The good thing is that once you move from visa to carte de sejour status – the residency card – you can apply for state healthcare and drop the medical insurance (though you may need, or want, to have an extra level of insurance to top up the state healthcare coverage, and we can help with that too). As everywhere, insurance gets more expensive as you get older, but we work with more than 30 insurers in France to get the best, and most affordable offer possible. We’re also very experienced in sorting out insurance to suit pretty much every situation regardless of age and medical conditions. Over the years, we’ve helped thousands of people from all over the world with their medical insurance for their visa applications. And we love it when a visa application come through and we know that we’ve played a small part in our client’s journey to a new life in France.”
Find out more about medical insurance at fabfrenchinsurance.com/medical
