Visa-ready plans from $721 per adult, billed annually · see your exact price by age.
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:
What the job seeker file asks for
Germany's national visa rule for private health cover asks for §11(1–3) SGB V-equivalent benefits, delivered through an open-ended contract with no expiry or cancellation clause tied to your age, employment, or residence status. The deductible is capped at roughly €300 a year, and ordinary travel insurance doesn't qualify; it's built for short trips, not a rule about ongoing medical benefits.
The clause that catches job seekers most often is the employment-status trigger. A policy that quietly cancels or downgrades cover the moment your employment status changes is exactly the kind of contract the rule is written to exclude, because a job seeker's employment status is, by definition, about to change. See how the certificate itself should read: the certificate wording guide.
The no-employer gap and the GKV handover
Here's the honest part: when you apply for a job seeker visa, you don't have a German employer yet, so there's no route into GKV through work at the point of application. That's not a loophole to work around; it's simply where you are in the process.
Once you're hired, most people move into GKV through their employer, the way German health cover normally works for employees. Between now and then, the cover we arrange is a bridge for the search window itself; not a replacement for employer-based GKV, and not a claim that any private plan substitutes for it long-term. For the wider picture once you're settled and working, see expat health insurance in Germany, and if you're not sure what else your application needs, our checklist covers the rest.
What we arrange
The plans we place carry US$1,000,000 to US$2,000,000 in cover, issue the same day with no medical exam, and include a 14-day cooling-off period. Pre-existing conditions are excluded and cover doesn't extend to the US; worth knowing before you apply. We check each plan item-by-item against the job seeker visa's employment-status and cancellation rules so what we send you fits our partner's arrangement; we won't say a plan meets the rule if it doesn't.
Real prices by age live at the Germany cost page, not here. Want the public-vs-private breakdown first? See public vs private, explained. Arriving on a student visa instead? Start at the student visa insurance page. Either way, a policy check or a quote is the fastest way to see if a specific plan fits your file.
Honest limits: Cover is worldwide but excludes treatment in the United States. Pre-existing conditions are excluded, including conditions you did not know about. We disclose this before you request a quote. Consulates keep discretion, and requirements can change. We show the published rule and its source; the final decision is the consulate’s.