Schengen Travel Insurance in 2026: The €30,000 Rule, Explained With Prices

Last checked: 31 October 2026

Every Schengen visa file contains a small document that causes a surprising number of refusals. It is the travel insurance certificate. The rule behind it is short, and it has not changed in years, but applicants still get it wrong in the same handful of ways. They buy a policy that covers one country instead of all of them, dates that stop a day early, or a limit that looks generous in their home currency and falls short in euros.

This post explains the rule in plain language, shows what compliant cover actually costs in 2026, and spells out what €30,000 does and does not buy you when something goes wrong. It is about short-stay Schengen travel insurance. If you are moving to Portugal for longer than 90 days, you will also need ongoing health cover later, and that second stage is a different purchase. Our visa health insurance comparison covers that side.

The rule, in four tests

The requirement comes from Article 15 of the EU Visa Code, Regulation 810/2009. A consulate officer does not read your whole policy. She checks four things on the certificate, and a failure on any one of them can hold up the file.

That is the whole rule. The €30,000 figure is a floor, not a recommendation. A policy can pass the consulate test and still leave you badly exposed. Keep that distinction in mind as you read the prices below.

The territory test trips up more people than the amount test. A policy that names only Portugal, or only your first country of entry, does not pass. Your Schengen visa lets you travel across the whole area, so the insurance has to match that freedom. Check that the certificate says Schengen area, or words to that effect, before you file. If it names a single country, ask the insurer to reissue it.

The dates test works the same way. Cover must run from the day you enter to the day you leave, and many consulates expect a few days of buffer past your planned return. A delayed flight home is exactly the kind of event that turns a one-day gap into an uninsured hospital stay. Buy the full requested period, plus a few days at each end.

What €30,000 actually buys

Thirty thousand euros sounds like a lot of money until you price a real medical emergency in Western Europe. A night in intensive care, surgery, and a few days on a ward can eat through it fast. Medical evacuation back to the United States is routinely quoted at $50,000 to $100,000 or more, according to guidance cited by the US State Department and the CDC. That single bill alone can exceed the whole Schengen minimum.

So treat €30,000 as the legal minimum and nothing more. For a healthy young traveller on a one-week city break, a policy at or just above the floor is a reasonable choice. For an older traveller, a longer trip, or anyone with a health history, buying higher cover is money well spent. Policies with €50,000, €100,000, or even €500,000 of medical cover are widely available, and the price jump from the floor to a much higher limit is often smaller than people expect.

There is one more gap worth knowing about before you buy. Most standard Schengen policies exclude treatment for pre-existing conditions. That means a condition you already had when the policy started, even one you did not know about, is generally not covered. Some plans cover the acute onset of a pre-existing condition, meaning a sudden flare-up that needs urgent treatment, but that wording varies a lot between insurers. If you have a chronic condition, diabetes, or a heart history, read the exclusion section before you pay, and look specifically for a plan that covers acute onset. A cheap policy that excludes the one thing most likely to send you to hospital is not a bargain.

Other common exclusions follow the same logic. Routine check-ups, non-emergency dental work, glasses, and treatment that could safely wait until you get home are not covered. Neither are injuries from extreme sports, or treatment needed after heavy drinking. Pregnancy is usually excluded except for an unforeseen complication before 32 weeks. None of this makes a policy bad. It is a travel medical policy, built for sudden emergencies, and you should judge it on those terms.

Departure board at Geneva Airport, a Schengen airport

What it costs in 2026

Prices move with age more than with anything else. The table below uses published 2026 comparison figures for a traveller with $50,000 of medical cover and no deductible, plus one European insurer priced in euros. Treat these as a budgeting guide, not as quotes.

A few patterns stand out. A young traveller can meet the requirement for roughly the price of a coffee a day, and Atlas International starts at about $1 per day for a 25-year-old. The price climbs steeply after 65, since an older traveller is more likely to need hospital care abroad.

One practical note on currency. The rule is written in euros, so a policy limit stated in dollars needs to clear €30,000 after conversion, not just look close. A $50,000 limit clears it comfortably at recent exchange rates. A $30,000 limit in dollars does not. If your certificate states the limit in another currency, do the conversion yourself before you file, and keep a margin above the floor.

Annual multi-trip policies are worth a look if you travel to Europe more than once a year. They can work out cheaper than buying a fresh policy each time, but the Schengen test applies to every trip. For a multiple-entry visa, consulates generally ask for insurance for the first intended trip only, as a document matter. That does not mean you are covered for later trips. On every later trip, you are travelling uninsured unless you buy new cover or hold an annual policy that is still in force.

Who does not need it, and who still should buy it

If you do not need a Schengen visa, the law does not force you to buy this insurance. Citizens of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and many other countries can visit the Schengen area visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, and no consulate will ask them for a certificate. The new ETIAS pre-travel authorisation, expected in the last quarter of 2026 for visa-exempt visitors, does not change that. ETIAS is a screening system, not a visa, and it does not require proof of insurance.

That is the legal position. The practical position is different. An American traveller has no cover in Europe from Medicare, which generally does not pay for care outside the United States, and most domestic health plans pay little or nothing abroad either. A British traveller can use a GHIC card for state healthcare during a temporary stay, and an EU citizen can use an EHIC card the same way, but neither card covers repatriation, and neither one is a substitute for insurance. The medical bill is the same whether or not a consulate asked you to insure against it.

There is also a group that is exempt in a narrower sense. Citizens of Portuguese-speaking CPLP countries are exempt from presenting travel insurance for a Portuguese residence visa under the mobility agreement between those countries. Everyone else applying for a Portuguese residence visa should expect to show it.

The Portugal long-stay trap

This is where short-stay rules and Portuguese residence rules overlap. A Portuguese residence visa, the D visa, is typically valid for four months, long enough to enter Portugal and attend an AIMA appointment. Consulates generally want insurance to cover at least that window, and many want it to run for the full first year, so confirm the expectation with your specific consulate. The embassy checklist asks for valid travel insurance covering necessary medical expenses, including urgent medical assistance and possible repatriation. It does not state a minimum amount. The €30,000 figure is borrowed from the short-stay rule, and it works as a sensible floor.

Then comes the second stage, and this is the part people miss. Once you hold a residence permit, you can register with the SNS, the national health service, and use it on the same terms as a Portuguese citizen. Until that registration is complete, you need ongoing cover, either a renewable private policy valid in Portugal or another qualifying arrangement. A short travel policy that expires after your first weeks in Portugal does not fill that gap. Our earlier post on Portugal visa refusals found insurance gaps to be one of the seven most common refusal patterns, and mixing up these two stages was a big part of it. Use our visa health insurance comparison to compare policies built for the long-stay stage.

Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon

If your visa is refused

A refused visa does not have to mean a wasted premium, but only if you checked the refund terms before you bought. Many Schengen-compliant insurers refund the full premium when a visa is refused, provided you send them the consulate refusal letter and the policy has not started yet. Some refund the unused portion if the refusal arrives after the start date. Others do not refund at all. This is a question to ask at checkout, not after a refusal lands.

The same logic applies if your plans change. Some insurers refund the unused premium if you return early and can prove it with a ticket, and some let you cancel before the start date for a full refund. Read the cancellation section the same way you read the exclusions. A policy with a clean refund promise is worth a few euros more than one without it.

A buying checklist

Use this list at checkout, and do not file until every box is ticked.

First, confirm the medical limit is at least €30,000, with a margin above it if the limit is stated in another currency. Second, confirm the territory says the Schengen area, not one country. Third, confirm the dates cover your whole stay plus a few days of buffer. Fourth, confirm repatriation is named on the certificate, including repatriation of remains. Fifth, read the exclusions for pre-existing conditions and for any activity you actually plan to do, like skiing. Sixth, confirm the refund terms if the visa is refused. Seventh, make sure the certificate shows your full name exactly as it appears in your passport.

If all seven boxes are ticked, the certificate will do its job at the consulate. Whether the policy behind it will do its job in a hospital is a separate question, and that is where the higher limits and the exclusion wording matter. Buy the floor if your trip is short, simple, and low risk. Buy above the floor if you are older, travelling longer, or carrying any health history. The difference in price is usually small. The difference in cover is not.