Which Countries Require Health Insurance For Entry?

While Antarctica is a strange case (since it’s not a country, there is no legal obligation to purchase insurance), when visiting through an approved cruise carrier, you may find you are obligated to purchase health insurance.

This may need to be an approved Antarctica medical insurance package, which will include emergency rescue services and repatriation to nearby countries like Chile, Argentina and New Zealand.

If you are intending to visit Antarctica, check with your carrier to determine what kind of health insurance policy you will need before embarking.

Health insurance is mandatory for all visitors heading to the island nation of Cuba. This includes proof of yellow fever vaccination if you are coming from certain parts of Africa or South and Central America that are at risk of the disease.

You will need a visa to enter Cuba, even as a tourist, but you won’t need to show proof of medical insurance until you arrive.

If you are unable to show proof of health insurance, either in the form of travel insurance or international private medical insurance at the border, you may be turned away or made to purchase one of the government’s own ‘Asistur’ health insurance policies. Therefore, be sure to print off a copy of your insurance policy before arriving in Cuba.

While the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador appears to have rolled back their 2017 policy making insurance mandatory for all visitors to Ecuador, the same law still applies in the Galapagos Islands.

Therefore, if you intend to visit Galapagos during your stay in Ecuador, you will be required to show proof of valid health insurance, and that the policy is valid for the entire length of your stay – which can be up to 180 days.

It is still highly recommended that all foreign nationals take out health insurance before travelling to Ecuador.

If you intend to visit any country in the Schengen area, you will need to apply for a Schengen visa. In order to obtain this visa, you must be able to show that you have a valid health insurance policy that shows these things:

1. Your policy is valid for the entire length of time you wish to stay in Europe;
2. That your policy covers all countries in the Schengen Zone, even if you do not intend to visit all of them – most insurance providers offer an EU/Schengen area policy especially for this reason
3. You have cover for hospitalisation, emergency treatment and repatriation
4. That your coverage is at least €30,000

This law applies to all 27 countries included in the EU Schengen Zone:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Croatia
• Czechia
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland

From June 2024, anyone coming to Georgia with a passport that requires them to apply for a Georgian visa or eVisa will need to prove at the time of applying that they have a valid health insurance policy covering at least €30,000 worth of medical and funeral expenses. The policy must also last for the entire duration of your stay, and must be valid throughout the entire country.

Anyone who arrives in Georgia without a valid health insurance policy may be subject to a fine of 300 Lari/US$110.

Medical insurance is mandatory for all visitors to Iran, regardless of their visa status. Your policy must specifically state that it includes cover for Iran, and you may be turned away by border officials if they cannot find policy wording that specifically mentions Iran.

While there are no rules regarding the extent of the policy, it’s advisable to choose one that includes medical evacuations.

While it appears that the mandatory health insurance terms for Israel have been rolled back since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Palestinian Territories means that border control has been significantly tightened, and rules regarding entry are subject to fluctuations. You may therefore wish to purchase medical insurance both to ensure your easy passage into Israel, and to protect your life and wellbeing while in the country. However it must be noted that certain health and travel policies may start to specifically exclude Israel.

Be sure to read our own notice on the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza here.

It’s uncertain whether or not Jordan requires full health insurance for visitors or people intending to stay there, but many official sources recommend that anyone travelling to Jordan takes out comprehensive health insurance just to be sure.

The official wording of Jordan’s policy is that all non-citizens should be ‘financially responsible’ for their own health. Your health insurance policy should be valid for the entire length of your intended stay in the country and must include Jordan as a stated territory.

If you are staying in Jordan for longer than 30 days, you will also need to undergo an HIV/AIDS test. The fee to obtain this test is 20 Dinars/US$28. If you are visiting for the purpose of medical tourism, i.e. you have already booked treatment in advance, you will not need to provide evidence of health insurance.

Travellers wishing to go to Moldova must have what the government has called ‘adequate’ medical insurance, and may be asked to show proof of their insurance policy at the border.

This policy should extend for the entire length of your stay, and ought to include emergency medical cover, medical evacuation insurance and repatriation costs. If you arrive in Moldova without the correct medical insurance, you may be obligated to purchase a policy at the airport.

While you won’t need to show proof of health insurance to visit Montenegro on vacation, it’s still highly recommended. It’s also worth remembering that European Health Insurance Cards (EHICs) and Global Health Insurance Cards (GHICs) are not valid in Montenegro, so all visitors should ensure they have adequate health insurance to cover the length of their stay.

If you are intending to stay in Montenegro on a temporary residence permit, you will need to show proof of health insurance in order to secure your application.

While tourists are not legally required to have medical insurance, anyone visiting Panama on a digital nomad visa will need to show proof of their personal health insurance at the border, lasting for the entire length of their stay, in order to secure entry.

While tourists and other visitors do not need medical insurance to enter the country, it should be remembered that since 2011 Panama has stopped providing free healthcare to tourists, and therefore it is highly recommended that anyone visiting Panama take out personal health insurance.

Qatar has a Mandatory Health Insurance Scheme. This means anyone intending to stay in Qatar for longer than 30 days must have private medical insurance in place. You must be able to provide proof of your medical insurance in order to obtain an entry visa, or to extend a visa once you have been in the country for longer than 30 days. When arriving in Qatar, it’s recommended you bring a copy of your health insurance policy with you to show at passport control.

The Qatari government specifies that your policy must cover emergency and accident services. If you have an international health insurance policy, you must be able to show that it:

• Includes Qatar within your coverage zone
• Is valid for the entire length of your intended stay
• Provides accident and emergency care up to a sublimit of QAR150,000/US$42,000
• Provides cover for COVID-19 up to a sublimit of QAR50,000/US$14,000 (although this may no longer be essential)

Anyone who arrives in Qatar without health insurance will need to take out Visitors’ Health Insurance, which costs QAR50/US$14 for one month.

Health insurance is mandatory for all visitors to Rwanda, whether they are visiting or intending to live there. Rwanda has not specified what a traveller’s health insurance policy must include, only that they must have one in order to make it into the country, and that it must be valid for the entire length of your intended stay.

It’s unclear whether visitors to the Seychelles require private health insurance, but many sources strongly recommend that all visitors take out comprehensive health insurance before arriving.

Your policy should include healthcare costs, repatriation insurance and medical evacuation insurance.

While it is strongly advised no one should travel to Ukraine in light on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, those who do wish to travel to Ukraine must be in possession of War Risks Insurance, which can be purchased from the Ukrainian government website.

Many health insurance providers will no longer provide coverage to travellers intending to visit Ukraine, so if you wish to purchase additional insurance, you may need to look into specialist providers.

While in Ukraine, you will find access to healthcare services, medical evacuations and repatriation to be extremely hard to find, perhaps even impossible. Life insurance policies may also be invalidated if you die while in Ukraine.

As of February 2023, the government of Uruguay has stated that all visitors to Uruguay must be covered by a comprehensive medical insurance policy. However, they have not elaborated any further than that.

It’s recommend that all travellers visiting Uruguay should take out a comprehensive health insurance plan for the entire duration of their stay, which includes medical evacuation insurance. You should bring a copy of your policy with you when attempting to enter Uruguay.

If you require a visa to enter the UAE, you must be able to show that you have a valid health insurance policy when applying.

You won’t need health insurance if your passport allows you to enter the UAE visa-free, however it is still highly recommended as non-citizens will not be entitled to free medical care, and you could be left with a huge hospital bill if you need treatment.