How to apply for expat life insurance

How to apply for expat life insurance

Life insurance might seem confusing at first. With international life insurance, you’re not buying something for yourself; you’re buying financial protection for your family.

You may have questions like:

• What’s the right amount of life insurance to purchase?
• How long will it take to apply?
• Will I need a medical assessment when I apply?
• How can I make it easy for my beneficiaries if I die unexpectedly?

This guide helps you understand each stage of our application process for life insurance, so you know what to expect and what to prepare.

Our guide on how to apply for life insurance with William Russell

1/ Learn about expat life insurance

Before you purchase something like life insurance, make sure you know your stuff. We have tonnes of guides on our website to help you learn about expat life insurance.

Maybe you want to know who actually needs life insurance? What does life insurance cover? What are the top reasons you should take out international life insurance? And do you need life insurance to get a mortgage? We’ve answered all these questions for you, and we’ve also created an online life benefit calculator that helps you choose how much life insurance you might need.

2/ Get a quote

You can get a quick online quote in under 2 minutes. One of our friendly team will contact you within a couple of days to answer any questions you may have. That person will be your contact at William Russell if you wish to become a member and purchase a policy.

3/ Submit your application form

Once you’ve decided how much life insurance to purchase, it’s time to apply. We have a PDF form that you complete online inside your browser. The form has 8 pages, but don’t worry—you should only need about 20 minutes to complete it.

Here are the sections in the form:

5/ Take advantage of our fast-track options

If you’re age 49 or under, you’re healthy, and you’re applying for a life benefit of less than US$750k, we don’t typically need you to undergo a medical assessment.

If you’re looking for cover over this amount, we may still be able to insure you up to this level while you then arrange any medical information needed to make sure you’re protected as soon as possible.

For example, let’s say you’re age 40, you’re moving to Singapore, and you’re purchasing a life insurance benefit of US$1m.

Rather than delay your life insurance plan until you can complete a medical assessment, we can give you cover up to US$750k immediately while you organise and complete the assessment.

Please ask us about the fast-track options available to you!

6/ If you do need a medical assessment

The medical assessment depends on how much life insurance you’re purchasing, and your age at the time of the application. For example, we might need you to undergo a medical examination, receive blood tests, or have an ECG. We’ll let you know what you need to do once you’ve accepted a quote for life insurance.

If you need a medical assessment with a doctor, we’ll reimburse the fee (even if we cannot accept your application). Remember, we need the reports in English from a doctor with recognised qualifications in the country where they practise.

We don’t need you to repeat the medical assessments each time your plan renews. You only need the medical assessment for your application.

8/ Once you’ve purchased your life insurance

Once your cover starts, please make sure that you’ve nominated your beneficiaries to receive your life insurance benefit if you die.

It’s also important to organise proof of your salary and make sure your beneficiaries have access to it (we limit your life insurance benefit to 20x your annual salary). We don’t need this proof for your application, but we’ll need it in the event of a claim.

Notes on our life plans

We show the benefits on this webpage in US dollars, but we can also denominate your policy in pounds sterling or Euros. You won’t find complete information for our plans on this webpage, nor the full T&Cs, limitations, and exclusions that would apply if you purchase a life insurance policy. You can find complete information in the plan agreement, which we suggest you read together with this webpage. We work hard to ensure the information we provide on this webpage is accurate and up-to-date, but inaccuracies are possible. We rectify errors as soon as we become aware of them. The T&Cs that apply to your policy are those found in your plan agreement.