The insurance requirements for the France Visa are coverage for repatriation, emergency hospital treatment, coverage for 30,000 euros, zero deductible, covering your whole stay, and cannot be travel insurance or American health insurance.
Here is the requirements list for the Long Stay France Visa including what you need for health insurance:
Although it states “Travel health insurance”, travel insurance is actually not accepted and there are specific things that need to be covered by your health insurance in order to get accepted. We’ll go over that in the next section.
The Best Insurance for the France Visa
The only thing that you need to actually buy for your visa appointment is French Health Insurance. You could spend weeks researching the different plans and such, but I’ve simplified it here for you!
The best insurance that meets all the requirements for the France Visa is Insubuy.
From multiple friends who have done this process before me and hundreds of forums/blog posts/Facebook group posts that I’ve scoured, I have noticed one company that gets mentioned more than everyone else is Insubuy.
They have the cheapest plans AND they guarantee that their insurance covers everything that the Visa requires. Not every insurance company will be able to cover everything and provide what you need for your application.
Your France Visa Insurance needs to have:
- $0 Deductible
- $50,000 Coverage
- Repatriation (meaning if you die, it covers sending your body back to America. a little dark lol)
It also can’t be just travel insurance, it needs to have full medical coverage.
How to Sign Up for France Visa Insurance
Head to Insubuy.com and under the “International Medical” section, click “Schengen Visa.”
If you are planning to stay for 1 year, like us, then the only insurance is the “Patriot International” Insurance. It cost us $700 for the full year for BOTH of us.
Also, if you don’t get your visa, you can get it refunded. You just need proof that you didn’t receive the visa (ie all pages of your passport sans visa).
After you pay for your insurance, you will receive an email with your Certificate #. You will need that to log in to your account and download your ID Card and Confirmation Letter which are both required for your application.
There are conflicting opinions on how much of your trip needs to be covered by insurance. Some people believe only the first 3 months, depending on your VFS Center.
I didn’t want to risk it, especially since refunds are possible, so we bought the full year upfront.
Plus, the requirements list for the visa specifically states that your insurance needs to last for the duration of your stay in France.
As soon as you pay, the letter and insurance ID Card are available immediately, which is a huge reason why you can apply for the France Visa in such a short amount of time.
Read More About France:
- Free France Visa Document Checklist
- Here’s How Long it Will Take To Process Your French Visa
- What Accommodation Proof Do You Need for the France Visa?
- 30+ Things You Need to Do in Nice
- Should You Visit Eze Village?
- 10 Places in Lyon that Are 5 Star
Dayna Brockbank is a travel and language-learning blogger who has lived around the world but has now settled in Nice, France. She speaks 3 languages at varying levels of fluency: Spanish, Italian, and French, and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Spanish Education. She and her husband focus on making travel part of life by living cheaply and traveling on a budget.