Schengen travel insurance requirements 2026 (the EUR 30,000 rule)

For a Schengen visa you need travel medical insurance with a minimum coverage of EUR 30,000, valid across all 29 Schengen states and covering your entire intended stay. This is a legal requirement, not a guideline: it is set by Article 15 of the EU Visa Code, Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 (source: eur-lex.europa.eu). The policy must cover emergency medical treatment, hospitalisation, and repatriation for medical reasons or in the event of death. Applying without insurance that meets this EUR 30,000 minimum can make your file incomplete and lead to refusal.

The core Schengen insurance rules come from one EU regulation, so the minimum is the same at every consulate, although a consulate may add practical conditions such as a list of accepted insurers or no deductible. Your travel medical insurance must meet five requirements: a minimum cover of EUR 30,000; validity throughout the territory of all 29 Schengen member states; coverage for the whole period of your intended stay; cover for emergency medical care, hospitalisation and repatriation (including repatriation of remains); and a legal basis in Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009. The requirement applies to a uniform short-stay visa for the whole Schengen area. The table below lists each requirement in detail.

The EUR 30,000 figure and the whole rule come directly from EU law. Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 — the Community Code on Visas, better known as the Visa Code — requires applicants for a uniform short-stay visa to prove they hold adequate and valid travel medical insurance. It states the insurance must cover any expenses which might arise in connection with repatriation for medical reasons, urgent medical attention, emergency hospital treatment or death, and that the minimum coverage shall be EUR 30,000 (source: eur-lex.europa.eu). Because it is written into the regulation, the EUR 30,000 minimum is identical at every Schengen consulate; it is not a figure individual embassies can lower.

Yes to both. The Visa Code requires the insurance to be valid throughout the territory of the Member States and to cover the entire period of the person’s intended stay or transit. In practice that means a single policy must be valid in all 29 Schengen states — not only the country issuing your visa — and its coverage dates must span every day from your arrival to your departure. A common reason files are rejected is a policy whose dates do not fully cover the travel dates, so the coverage period should match, or slightly exceed, your itinerary.

You still need insurance, but for a multiple-entry visa the rule is applied practically. Applicants for a multiple-entry visa must show insurance covering the period of their first intended visit, and they sign a declaration undertaking to hold insurance for subsequent stays. The Schengen visa fee itself is separate from insurance: it is EUR 90 for adults and EUR 45 for children (aged 6 to 11), and it does not include or replace the insurance requirement. Insurance is a distinct document you provide on top of the visa fee.

Onward Itinerary is not an insurer and does not sell insurance policies. Our Standard and Premium visa files include an insurance arrangement page that summarises the cover Article 15 requires: at least EUR 30,000, valid in all 29 Schengen states for your full travel dates, covering urgent medical care, emergency hospital treatment and repatriation for medical reasons or in the event of death. That page is not a policy and not proof of insurance. Consulates require proof that you already hold adequate and valid travel medical insurance when you apply (Articles 15(1) and 32(1)(a)(vii) of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009). Buy a policy from a licensed insurer, in principle in your country of residence (Article 15(4)) and from your consulate’s accepted-insurer list where it publishes one, and submit that policy’s certificate with your application.

Insurance is one part of a complete Schengen visa file. Alongside travel medical insurance of at least EUR 30,000, a consulate typically expects: a completed application form and passport, a flight reservation, a hotel booking, a day-by-day travel itinerary, proof of sufficient funds, and a cover letter. Onward Itinerary can prepare the flight reservation, hotel confirmation and insurance arrangement as documents carrying Live QR Verification, and you can assemble them together as a single visa file. We do not claim to issue paid airline tickets or GDS bookings — these are verifiable reservation and arrangement documents built for visa applications.