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Life insurance is one of the oldest insurance policies in history, and has helped countless families to manage after the unexpected loss of a loved one. Safeguard your family’s financial future by purchasing international life insurance with William Russell and join thousands of expats enjoying excellent customer service.
International life insurance is a policy that promises to pay out a lump sum to your spouse, relatives or loved ones in the event of your death. Our international life insurance (also known as global life insurance) is made for expats like you, and gives you worldwide cover. So, if you die overseas or while travelling, your family will receive a life benefit. This payment is intended to relieve the financial burden of your passing away, and can help to cover the cost of funeral arrangements, repatriation of your remains, legal issues related to your estate, unpaid debts (including your mortgage), and can help to make up for your family’s loss of income.
Uncover the benefits of having international life insurance with William Russell.
Safeguard your family’s financial future should you pass away. You’ll leave behind a lump sum to help maintain your family’s standard of living or to pay off a mortgage or debt. We can insure up to 20x your annual salary (to a maximum of US$2mn).
We will pay your lump sum early if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness reducing your life expectancy to 12 months or less, giving you the chance to put your affairs in order. Choose how & where to dispense the money.
With the optional accident benefit, your nominated beneficiary will receive an additional lump sum of up to US$1mn if your death is caused by an accident. If you suffer a serious injury resulting in disability, we’ll pay you a lump sum up to US$500,000.
If you receive a diagnosis of a defined medical condition, optional critical illness cover means you’ll receive a lump sum of up to US$100,000 to help support yourself and your family in your time of need.
If you’ve selected adult critical illness cover, you can also add child critical illness to your plan. We’ll pay out a lump sum of US$5,000 if your child receives a diagnosis of a defined medical condition, allowing you to focus your time on supporting your child and reducing the worry of covering medical and travel expenses.
Upon the unfortunate event of your death, we’ll quickly release an additional benefit of US$5,000 to your lead beneficiary to help with funeral and repatriation costs.
When you become a member, you’ll have a dedicated contact to help you with your policy who will be on hand to support you every step of the way.
Unlike similar plans from domestic insurers, our life plans are international. You’re covered for life, work & travel abroad.
It doesn’t matter if your beneficiary doesn’t live in the country that you reside in. You can name beneficiaries anywhere in the world.
Most people can benefit from life insurance. Here are some examples of groups of people who may wish to take out life insurance.
Life insurance is ideal for those who wish to support their family financially after their passing with costs such as unpaid debts, school fees and funeral costs.
Many mortgage lenders will require you to take out a life insurance policy when you apply for a mortgage.
Your life insurance benefit can help to pay your employees, provide recruitment fees to fill your position within the company, and settle any unpaid debts.
The cost of international life insurance depends on many factors. The most important factors are your age, your occupation, whether you have pre-existing medical conditions, and how much money you wish to leave your loved ones in the event of your death. We’ve put together a few examples* in the table below:
30 year old from the USA
35 year old from the UK
40 year old from India
45 year old from Australia
*Example 2025 prices for a non-smoker with core life cover only.
Here are the following causes of death that you will be covered for as soon as your policy starts, the causes of death that you will be covered for after one year, and the causes of death that you will not be covered for:
You can insure your life for any amount up to US$2mn or £1.6mn or €1.8mn. This is the amount your beneficiaries would receive should you pass away. The sum you insure cannot exceed 20x your current annual earnings. You can add optional accidental death or disablement, serious illness and funeral cover too.
A beneficiary is the person(s) who will receive the life benefit and accident benefit should you pass away. It can be anyone important to you: your spouse, children, parents, a close friend, or a business partner.
Simply complete the digital application form, which includes a brief declaration of your medical history, and we’ll let you know if we need more information.
If you’re under age 50, fit & healthy, and you’re applying to insure your life for US$750k or less, we can usually issue your plan within 48 hours. As soon as your plan is agreed, you are covered!
For more information, read our guide on how to apply for global life insurance.
This is up to you, but remember the more you insure your life for, the higher your premiums will be. Therefore, make sure you’re not over-insuring yourself – you don’t want to stretch your budget too far.
When deciding, you may want to ask yourself questions such as:
The maximum you can insure yourself for with William Russell is US$2 million.
Income protection insurance is a separate policy that you may wish to consider while taking out expat life insurance.
With income protection insurance, you and your family will receive cash benefits if you are unable to work due to serious illness or injury.
Income protection insurance is a good option to have if you and your family depend on your income, and if the loss of your income due to incapacitation would cause financial hardship.
You can insure up to 75% of your annual salary. The maximum you can insure yourself for is US$144,000 per annum.
When taking out income protection insurance, you will need to choose a deferment period. This is the waiting period between when you stopped working and when you start to receive your replacement income.
Payment of your replacement income starts after your deferment period. You can choose a deferment period of three or six months. Bear in mind your premiums will be higher if you choose a three-month deferment period.
Accidental death or disablement benefit insurance is an optional extra. It provides an additional lump sum benefit if your death is the result of an accident, or if you survive an accident but suffer serious injury resulting in disability.
Because death or serious injury in an accident is unexpected, accident benefit insurance is a good option to have. It can help your family to cope with your sudden and unexpected loss.
The accidental death or disablement benefit can only be added to an existing expat life insurance policy – it cannot be taken out on its own. The maximum you can insure yourself for with William Russell is US$1mn for accidental death, and you’ll receive a lump-sum of up to US$500,000 in the event of permanent disability.
The sum of your accident benefit cannot exceed the sum of your life insurance.
With international insurance, not all policies are valid if you decide to move abroad. Whilst it’s always best to check with your existing provider, international policies exist to ensure that in the sad event of your death you’ve got the adequate cover needed for your loved ones.
With William Russell international insurance, your location has no impact on the premium at all. Our premiums are the same for all individual clients worldwide.
In most cases, we can only provide life insurance to expats. By expat, we mean people living and working outside of their country of nationality (e.g., an Irish national living in China, an Italian national living in Canada).
Typically, our members reside permanently in a foreign country. But we can sometimes provide life insurance to people expecting to spend at least 6 months of the year living or travelling abroad. In certain countries, we can cover people living in the same country that issues their passports.
We also provide international health insurance.
Yes, we do have an optional accident plan. How much you’ll pay for your plan depends on how much you cover you require, and your medical history.
Raising children can be expensive. The Child Poverty Action Group in the UK reported that the cost of bringing up a child to the age of 18 is at least £166,000. Expat parents can expect that figure to be much higher, with private school fees, regular international travel, and all the perks that come with the expat lifestyle. Often, your income (or your partner’s) is the only way to pay for these costs of raising your child.
If you or your partner were to pass away, that could take a toll financially as well as an emotional toll. Life insurance is one thing that parents use to put in place a safety net. When parents purchase life insurance, they typically think about costs they would usually use their income to cover. For example, mortgages or debts, monthly bills, education and childcare, and everyday spending such as food and clothing. If the main breadwinner in your household should pass away, you’ll probably want help to cover these costs. That’s where life insurance can help.
There is no set ‘guide’ to when is the best time, but most people purchase life insurance at significant points of their life (e.g., marriage, buying a house, planning children).
Yes, you can use international life insurance from William Russell to cover a mortgage – we have numerous members around the world who have nominated their banks as the beneficiary of their policy with any residual benefit going to family members.
William Russell was one of the first insurance providers to cover people living abroad, and we’ve earned a reputation for outstanding customer experience.
When you purchase a policy from William Russell, you can be sure there’ll always be money to pay your claims. The insurer behind our life insurance is a company in the Allianz group, one of the largest financial services companies in the world.
We have independently verified reviews from over 1,000 of our members, and we win prestigious awards for our outstanding customer service. When you purchase a policy, you’ll be assigned your own dedicated policy manager as your main point of contact at William Russell.
Unlike similar policies from domestic insurers, our international life insurance insurance gives you worldwide cover. You’re covered while you’re living and working abroad, when you travel, and on trips you make home.
William Russell have always been very sympathetic and extremely helpful. I never had any issues with William Russell – Reimbursements/Letters of Guarantee were always prompt. It was an excellent service – no issues, no questions and no delays.
I felt really, really supported, being able to write an email and knowing the person I sent it to was the one who would read and reply to it. I feel appreciated for being a member for so many years. And now that I’ve retired, I’ve even been given a discount on my health insurance package, which I’m grateful for.
What comes across strongest is the humanitarian aspect of William Russell…. always looking for the best treatment options for its members and not being too concerned with the cost issues. Had I not been air evacuated to the Nairobi Hospital when I was, I very likely would not have been around today. Thank you William Russell.
I liked that I could speak to a human being at the end of the phone. I just prefer dealing with someone directly. For me, in particular, it was very important to deal with someone regulated by a regulator as recognised and reputable as the FCA (the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK).
What makes William Russell stand out from other providers is their great service, international coverage, and the ability to pick the plan that fit our lifestyle. When we first signed up we were dating and traveling the world, then married and pregnant, and now have two beautiful boys and we have been able to pick plans that best suit our needs.
If you’re not happy with your life insurance policy or the service we provide, and you haven’t yet made a claim, then we’ll refund the premium you’ve paid—no questions asked.
We put our members at the heart of everything we do. We’re proud of our award-winning customer service and our members rate it highly.
The insurer behind our policies is an insurance company in the Allianz group – one of the world’s largest financial services groups.
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