Guide

What your insurance certificate must say for a German visa

By Covered Abroad Research Desk · Last verified July 2026

Your certificate must state benefits equivalent to §11(1-3) SGB V, an open-ended contract with no expiry date or cancellation clauses tied to age, employment, or residence status, and a deductible capped at about €300 a year, with your name and dates matching your passport. Travel insurance never satisfies this, whatever its limit.

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: July 2026

The three lines a caseworker checks

Embassies and the Ausländerbehörde don't read your brochure; they read three specific certificate lines. First, a statement that benefits are equivalent to §11(1-3) SGB V statutory cover. Second, confirmation the contract is open-ended, with no expiry date. Third, a deductible no higher than about €300 a year. The certificate also needs validity in Germany and your name and dates matching your passport exactly. Compare how public and private cover handle these lines in public vs private, explained, and see the full cost picture at what German visa insurance costs.

Why fixed-term policies die here

Most international travel policies are written with an expiry date and cancellation clauses tied to age, employment, or residence status; exactly the wording the equivalence test rejects. "Open-ended" on paper means no renewal date to track and no clause letting the insurer end cover if your job or visa status changes. This is one of the most common reasons applications bounce; see the fuller pattern in why German visa insurance applications get rejected. Freelancers hit this wording trap especially often; freelance visa insurance and the freelance visa insurance guide cover the specifics.

60-second check

Not sure the policy you have meets your destination's written rule? Run it through the policy check now, before you build the rest of the file around it.

Check my policy

Getting your wording checked before you buy

A person verifies whether your case fits our partner's arrangement (confirmed July 2026) before you buy, and if a German incoming-style product suits your case better, we say so rather than force a fit. That's what a policy check is for; checking the actual contract wording against these three lines before money changes hands. Start with the printable checklist to see every requirement together, or go straight to a quote once you know what to look for.

Get the moving-paperwork checklist

The month-by-month timeline so the insurance certificate is ready before your appointment, not after.

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.

Get my quote Check my policy first

Cover underwritten by Regency Assurance · every rule on this site cited and dated · a person calls back within one business day.

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.

Common questions

What exactly must my German visa insurance certificate say?

It must state benefits equivalent to §11(1-3) SGB V, confirm the contract is open-ended with no expiry date, and cap the deductible at about €300 a year. Names, dates, and German validity must match your passport.

Why do fixed-term travel insurance policies get rejected?

Because they carry an expiry date or cancellation clauses tied to age, employment, or residence status. The equivalence test reads the contract terms, not the coverage limit, so a high-limit policy with the wrong wording still fails.

Does a higher deductible than €300 automatically disqualify a policy?

It's one of the certificate lines caseworkers check, so a deductible above roughly €300 a year works against you. The wording needs to state a deductible at or below that level to match §11 equivalence expectations.

Can travel insurance ever satisfy the German visa requirement?

No. Travel insurance is treated as insufficient regardless of its coverage limit, because it isn't written as an open-ended contract with SGB V-equivalent benefits. A dedicated incoming or long-stay product is what the wording test requires.

Keep reading

Freelance visa insurance Public vs private, explained The printable checklist