Getting the right health insurance for your Czech visa might sound like a simple task. It is not always so though. What kind of insurance you need, for how long, how do you submit it, that all depends on many factors. The main factors are your nationality, the Embassy you applied through and the type of visa you applied for. This article aims to make this topic clear + you can get the the best Czech health insurance quotes here 🙂
Czech Health Insurance for your Czech visa applied through a Czech Embassy
If you want to apply for a Czech long-term visa (a sticker in your passport), you have to do it through a Czech Embassy. Most nationalities have to do it at the Czech Embassy in the country of their origin (say an Indian has to apply through the Czech Embassy in India). Alternatively in a country where they have been residing for more than two years (say an Indian living in the US for more than 2 years).
Some nationalities (i.e. Americans, Canadians, Australians, Israeli, British) have the exception, that they can apply for their visas through any Czech Embassy in the world (so not only in the country of origin but wherever there is a Czech Embassy accepting visa applications).
When to submit your Czech medical insurance to the Czech Embassy?
Regardless of where you applied though, you do not need to submit the insurance when you are submitting your application. You only need to provide a valid Czech health insurance when you go to the Embassy to collect your approved visa. The Embassy will not affix the visa into your passport if you do not provide a valid health insurance.
Czech health insurance requirements
Generally speaking, the insurance should be valid for the whole validity of your approved visa (i.e. if you gee the visa approved for 6 months, you must present health insurance at least for 6 months). The insurance must also always be COMPREHENSIVE (not EMERGENCY) with coverage of at least 400 000 EUR.
Please do not let yourself get confused by the Embassy itself. Some of the Embassies might send you a very weird e-mail saying something like “You can get 3 months of Emergency care and then the rest of Comprehensive insurance)”. Even though it is technically possible, we would not really recommend it.
Firstly, even if you want to get just the Emergency Insurance, it must have a coverage of 400 000 EUR. At this point (June 2024), no insurance company offers this in the Czech Republic. So even though the Embassy presents it to you as an option, it is not a real option.
Secondly, even if it was a real option, it would make everything more complicated – you would need to get two different contracts, pay for them separately, having them started on different dates, carry two insurance cards etc. You would also be only covered by the Emergency coverage for the first three months, which means basically nothing (other than getting hit by a tram :)) would be covered anyway.
So, better just buy a comprehensive insurance for the full validity of your visa and avoid any trouble!
If you want to get the best possible rates, get in touch with us using the form below. We work with six different insurance companies and get the best rates from them!
Special cases in regards to health insurance needed for Czech visa
Even though the above described process (buying a health insurance for the full validity of the approved visa) applies to majority of cases (i.e. student visa, “other visa” or family reunification visa), there are some exceptions where different rules apply.
These exceptions mainly concern people from certain countries (USA, Japan, Turkey and about four more) who applied for a Business Visa as freelancers/self-employed.
This is a bit of a Catch 22 situation (as quite a few others in the Czech immigration law).
Typical situation is a US English teacher who got their trade license and will be teaching as a contractor to different schools.
In this case, you are obliged to get registered into the public health care system (and hence don’t have to buy the private health insurance). You can only get registered into the public health care system when you have the visa in your passport though and when your trade license has been activated.
At the same time, you can not get the visa, if you do not have a health insurance. Weird, we know 😀
What you have to do in this case is to buy a private health insurance for say two months so you can go to the Embassy and collect the visa. Once you collect the visa, you have to get your trade license activated and then get registered into the public health care system. From when this happens on, you will be contributing (paying) to the public health care system on monthly basis.
Similar process applies to Digital Nomad Visas under the “freelancing” option. Digital Nomads who are employed follow the “buy insurance for the whole validity of your visa” rules.
Even in case of needing just 2 months of health insurance, we can provide the best quotes to you and get you the insurance super swiftly. Fill in the form below and find out your options right now.
If you are looking for information about medical insurance you need for your Czech Residence Permit application, go to this article:
Move To Prague relocation experts – your specialist in health insurance for Czech visa
