Visa-ready plans from $721 per adult, billed annually · see your exact price by age.
The rule in writing
“Portugal’s national-visa documentation page requires valid insurance covering urgent medical care and possible repatriation. In practice, consulates and visa centres commonly apply the €30,000 Schengen standard (Schengen-wide validity, urgent care, hospitalisation, repatriation), and some US visa centres ask for a full year of validity — treat €30,000 as the practical bar, with the published national-visa rule as the floor.”
Official source: Portuguese MFA visa portal — national-visa documentation (vistos.mne.gov.pt); €30,000 = the MFA’s published Schengen-visa standard, commonly applied in practice — Last verified:
The rule in writing
“At the AIMA residence-permit appointment after arrival, travel-grade insurance is no longer enough: applicants show full health insurance valid in Portugal, or registration with the public SNS. Applicants consistently report this second stage catching them out.”
Based on: AIMA appointment guidance as documented by applicants and advisors (not a single government checklist — confirmed case-by-case) — Last verified:
Why your US coverage stops at the border
Medicare does not cover routine care once you leave the United States, and Portugal is no exception. If you are relying on Medicare to see you through a D7 or D8 move, it will not respond to a claim filed here. We cover the full mechanics in our Medicare abroad guide.
Employer or marketplace health plans have the same problem, for a different reason. They are built around US provider networks and US claims processing, not around residency in another country, so they are not structured to cover you living in Portugal and are not what Portuguese consulates ask to see on a visa application.
That gap is exactly what Portugal's two insurance checks are designed to catch, and what an American-specific plan needs to close.
Portugal checks insurance twice
The first check happens at the consulate stage, before you board a flight. Portugal's national-visa documentation page requires valid insurance covering urgent medical care and possible repatriation, and in practice consulates and visa centres commonly apply the €30,000 Schengen standard: Schengen-wide validity, urgent care, hospitalisation, and repatriation. Some US visa centres go further and ask for a full year of validity on the certificate. The exact wording differs by route, so if you are applying on a D7 or D8, check what your specific consulate expects.
The second check happens after you land, at your AIMA residence-permit appointment. By that point, travel-grade insurance is no longer enough. AIMA asks applicants to show full health insurance valid in Portugal, or registration with the public SNS. A policy that satisfied your consulate a year earlier will not automatically satisfy AIMA if it was never built to convert into resident-grade cover. See our guide to how Portugal's healthcare system works for how SNS registration fits in.
What we arrange for Americans
We arrange international health insurance for Americans certificate-first: before you buy, a specialist confirms the certificate wording matches what your specific consulate or AIMA office expects, so you are not guessing. Plans carry annual limits between US$1,000,000 and US$2,000,000 depending on plan, start same-day with no medical exam, and come with a 14-day cooling-off period. Children aged 0 to 17 pay one flat rate per plan, and new applicants are accepted up to age 70, or 80 on the Essential plan.
Two limits we say plainly, because trust matters more than a clean sales pitch. Pre-existing conditions are excluded from cover. And treatment in the United States is not covered, which matters if you are planning trips home. We have written a full guide on what to do about US trips if that applies to you.
Start with a quote or work through our visa insurance checklist to see exactly what your application needs.
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. US domestic and Medicare cover does not travel with you — see the questions below.