Visa-compliant health insurance
You will be able to buy a policy that your consulate or immigration office will accept and keep it compliant.
Many Spanish residence routes ask you to hold health insurance, and a policy that misses the conditions is a common reason for a visa refusal.
Pick the article that fits your situation
Which Spanish residence routes require private health insurance?
Shows which Spanish residence routes oblige you to hold private health insurance and which are covered through Social Security. It is for non-EU nationals choosing or applying for a visa, so you can tell which case is yours.
What a visa-compliant Spanish health policy must include
What a private Spanish health policy must include for a residence visa application. For applicants whose visa route requires private insurance.
Getting the insurance proof your visa application needs
How to get a health insurance certificate and proof of payment that a Spanish consulate will accept. For anyone applying for a visa on a route that needs private health insurance, such as non-lucrative or digital nomad.
When to buy your visa policy without paying for unused cover
Buy your visa health policy once your consular appointment is booked and shortly before you submit, with a start date that fits your travel.
Is a visa-compliant policy also good insurance?
A policy that gets your visa approved can still be weak insurance when you actually need care. For visa applicants buying private health cover.
Visa health insurance for a family: one policy or separate ones?
Helps families applying for a Spanish visa with private health insurance decide between one family policy and separate policies for each person.
Keeping your health insurance compliant at residence renewal
If your residence permit depends on private health insurance, you need proof at renewal that the policy is in force and paid, with no gap if you switch insurer.
Staying covered between arrival and your main policy or public access
Bridge cover fills a gap after you are in Spain. It never replaces the full first-year policy your visa needs, which starts on or before your travel date.
About this topic
Private cover is required for the non-lucrative visa (the route retirees and others living on savings or a pension use), the student visa and the investor and entrepreneur visas. Digital nomads need it unless they will be in Spanish Social Security at the visa stage. Employees are covered by Social Security, and EU citizens need no visa.
Key rules
- Policy term: The policy must cover the whole first residence period, which is one year, and be in force when you apply.
- Fixing a policy: If the authority says your policy is deficient, you have 10 working days to send a corrected one.
- Full cover: The policy must give full cover in Spain from the first day: hospital care, outpatient care and emergencies, with no copayments, no deductibles and no waiting periods, from an insurer authorised in Spain. Travel and emergency-only policies are refused.
The steps, from route check to renewal
- Check that your route requires private cover.
- Choose a policy with full cover from an insurer authorised in Spain.
- Buy it after your consular appointment is booked and before you apply.
- Get the certificate and the proof of payment.
- Correct the policy if the authority says it is deficient.
- Cover any gap after arrival with a bridge policy.
- Renew your cover with a fresh certificate and premium receipt.
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What to read next
More in Private health insurance
Public, private or both
You will be able to decide whether private cover is needed or worth paying for in your situation.
Exclusions, waiting periods and pre-existing conditions
You will know what your policy will not pay for, when you can use it, and how to disclose your health history safely.
Choosing and buying a policy
You will be able to compare quotes, avoid unauthorised products and complete a purchase.
Also in Healthcare and insurance
Need certainty before you act?
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Always verify important information with the relevant official authority or a qualified adviser before acting. This website uses large language models together with various public data sources, official government documents and other established sources. Due to the amount of data on this website, some information might be wrong. Information may also be incomplete or outdated.