The €30,000 rule: what the Visa Code actually requires

The Visa Code — Regulation (EC) No 810/2009, the law behind every short-stay Schengen visa — writes the rule most sites paraphrase. Applicants must “produce proof of possession of adequate and valid travel medical insurance”; the cover must run for the whole intended stay or transit, and “the minimum coverage shall be EUR 30 000”. Where a limited-territorial-validity visa covers more than one member state, the insurance must be valid at least in those states. And the detail almost nobody quotes: “applicants shall, in principle, take out insurance in their country of residence” — buying it at the destination is the exception, not the design.

The €30,000 must cover the expenses that would arise from repatriation for medical reasons, urgent medical attention and emergency hospital treatment — the classic trio every compliant certificate lists.

Source: Regulation (EC) 810/2009 (Visa Code), Article 15 — EUR-Lex, read 5 September 2026.

Article 15 governs short stays — the C-visa world of tourism, visits and transit. The moment your application is a national (D) long-stay visa — study, work, retirement, the moves this site exists for — the Visa Code's €30,000 floor is no longer the standard being applied: each country sets its own long-stay insurance requirements, usually stricter in duration, territory or benefit design, and sometimes replacing private insurance entirely with enrolment. Our Schengen-vs-long-stay guide walks that fork, and the country hubs quote each national rule from its source.

The common failure is buying a €30,000 Schengen product for a long-stay file because the number sounds official — the consulate then reads the national checklist, not Article 15, and the certificate misses. Germany's au-pair sheet quoting “EU standards, €30,000” for the entry gap is the exception that proves the structure: the Schengen floor covers you until the national system takes over.

For a genuine short-stay application the checklist is Article 15's own lines: the amount (at least €30,000), the territory (Schengen-wide, or the visa's states), the period (the whole intended stay), and the covered events (repatriation, urgent care, emergency hospital treatment). For anything longer, start from the destination's national rule instead — and if you already hold a policy, the checker reads it against the published requirement for your actual route:

Check a policy against the rule