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Germany · visa health insurance

Health insurance for a Germany national visa

Germany benchmarks visa insurance against its own statutory system: cover must include the benefits of §11(1–3) SGB V and the contract must be open-ended — no expiry or cancellation clauses tied to age, employment, or residence status. Travel insurance fails, and generic fixed-term international policies are routinely rejected. Pick your route below for the exact rule, its source, and the date we last checked it.

Which visa are you applying for?

Pick your path — we’ll show you the exact rule for your case.

Freelance / self-employment

The visa with the statutory-equivalence catch-22.

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Comparing insurers for a visa

How to judge cover the officer’s way.

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Not sure which level?

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Germany: the published rule

The rule in writing

“For Germany’s national visa, health insurance must include the benefits statutory-insured persons are entitled to under §11(1–3) SGB V, and the contract must be open-ended — no expiry or cancellation clauses tied to age, employment, or residence status. Travel insurance is insufficient.”

Official source: German Federal Foreign Office — health insurance in the national visa procedure — Last verified:

Germany insurance guides

Health insurance for Germany’s freelance visa

Germany’s freelance visa needs statutory-equivalent cover (§11 SGB V) on an open-ended contract; small deductibles tolerated. The rule and how to meet it.

Read the rule

Underwritten by Regency Assurance · regulated by the FSRC (Nevis)

Trustpilot 4.4 Certified ISO 27001 Information security Compliant PCI DSS v3.2 payment security Best Int’l Employee Benefits Provider Manage HR · 2023 99% of claims paid Clients in more than 120 countries Same-day cover, no medical exam 14-day cooling-off period

Ratings, certifications and figures are Regency Assurance’s — our underwriter — quoted from public sources and verified July 2026. Independent scores update over time: see Regency on Trustpilot (4.4/5) and Reviews.io (3.92/5). Covered Abroad’s own reviews appear here once we have them.

Common questions

What insurance does a German national visa require?

Cover including the §11(1–3) SGB V statutory benefits, on an open-ended contract with no age, employment, or residence-status cancellation clauses. Travel insurance is insufficient.

Why is Germany harder than other countries?

The equivalence standard is benchmarked to Germany’s statutory system, and the open-ended-contract rule disqualifies most fixed-term policies. Freelancers face it most directly.

What happens after I arrive?

Once employed or settled, most residents enrol in statutory GKV or approved German PKV. Visa-stage cover carries you through the application and the bridge months.

Get a certificate that meets the published rule

Tell us your destination, visa, and who’s moving. Our team reviews it against the current requirement and calls you with a quote — no obligation.

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Before you request a quote: cover is worldwide but excludes treatment in the United States, and pre-existing conditions are not covered — including conditions you did not know about. We say this up front so a quote is worth your time.