For a Schengen short-stay visa in 2026 you must hold travel medical insurance with a minimum coverage of EUR 30,000, valid across all 29 Schengen member states and covering the entire period of your intended stay. The insurance must cover emergency medical treatment, hospitalisation, and repatriation for medical reasons or in the event of death. This is a hard legal requirement set by Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 — the EU Visa Code — so it is identical at every Schengen consulate and cannot be lowered by an individual embassy.
How much travel insurance do I need for a Schengen visa in 2026?
For a Schengen visa you need travel medical insurance with a minimum coverage of EUR 30,000, valid across all 29 Schengen states and covering your entire intended stay. This is a legal requirement, not a guideline: it is set by Article 15 of the EU Visa Code, Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 (source: eur-lex.europa.eu). The policy must cover emergency medical treatment, hospitalisation, and repatriation for medical reasons or in the event of death. Applying without insurance that meets this EUR 30,000 minimum can make your file incomplete and lead to refusal.
What are the exact Schengen travel insurance requirements?
The Schengen insurance rules are precise and consistent across every consulate, because they come from the same EU regulation. Your travel medical insurance must meet five requirements: a minimum cover of EUR 30,000; validity throughout the territory of all 29 Schengen member states; coverage for the whole period of your intended stay; cover for emergency medical care, hospitalisation and repatriation (including repatriation of remains); and a legal basis in Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009. The requirement applies to a uniform short-stay visa for the whole Schengen area. The table below lists each requirement in detail.
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Minimum cover | EUR 30,000 minimum sum insured per applicant. |
| Territory | Valid throughout the territory of all 29 Schengen member states, not only the country issuing the visa. |
| Coverage period | Must cover the entire period of the intended stay or transit — every day from arrival to departure. |
| Medical & repatriation | Must cover urgent medical attention, emergency hospital treatment, and repatriation for medical reasons or in the event of death. |
| Legal basis | Article 15, Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 (the Visa Code). |
Why is the minimum EUR 30,000, and what is the legal basis?
The EUR 30,000 figure and the whole rule come directly from EU law. Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 — the Community Code on Visas, better known as the Visa Code — requires applicants for a uniform short-stay visa to prove they hold adequate and valid travel medical insurance. It states the insurance must cover any expenses which might arise in connection with repatriation for medical reasons, urgent medical attention, emergency hospital treatment or death, and that the minimum coverage shall be EUR 30,000 (source: eur-lex.europa.eu). Because it is written into the regulation, the EUR 30,000 minimum is identical at every Schengen consulate; it is not a figure individual embassies can lower.
Does the insurance need to cover my whole trip and all 29 Schengen countries?
Yes to both. The Visa Code requires the insurance to be valid throughout the territory of the Member States and to cover the entire period of the person’s intended stay or transit. In practice that means a single policy must be valid in all 29 Schengen states — not only the country issuing your visa — and its coverage dates must span every day from your arrival to your departure. A common reason files are rejected is a policy whose dates do not fully cover the travel dates, so the coverage period should match, or slightly exceed, your itinerary.
Do I need insurance for a multiple-entry Schengen visa, and does the fee change anything?
You still need insurance, but for a multiple-entry visa the rule is applied practically. Applicants for a multiple-entry visa must show insurance covering the period of their first intended visit, and they sign a declaration undertaking to hold insurance for subsequent stays. The Schengen visa fee itself is separate from insurance: it is EUR 90 for adults and EUR 45 for children (aged 6 to 11), and it does not include or replace the insurance requirement. Insurance is a distinct document you provide on top of the visa fee.
What does PNR Booking provide for Schengen visa insurance?
PNR Booking provides a travel medical insurance arrangement confirmation for your Schengen file — a document prepared and reserved for the named applicant that meets the Visa Code requirements, showing a minimum cover of EUR 30,000, territorial validity across all 29 Schengen states, and a coverage period matching your travel dates, under Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 810/2009. Being fully honest about what it is: this is a confirmation of an insurance arrangement, not the policy itself. PNR Booking acts as the arranging intermediary; the full insurance certificate and policy wording are issued to you upon visa approval, and no premium is shown as due on the confirmation. Every document carries Live QR Verification so an embassy or immigration officer can scan the QR code to confirm the arrangement against our records in real time.
Add insurance to your complete visa file
What other documents go with insurance in a Schengen visa file?
Insurance is one part of a complete Schengen visa file. Alongside travel medical insurance of at least EUR 30,000, a consulate typically expects: a completed application form and passport, a flight reservation, a hotel booking, a day-by-day travel itinerary, proof of sufficient funds, and a cover letter. PNR Booking can prepare the flight reservation, hotel confirmation and insurance arrangement as documents carrying Live QR Verification, and you can assemble them together as a single visa file. We do not claim to issue paid airline tickets or GDS bookings — these are verifiable reservation and arrangement documents built for visa applications.
Schengen visa flight reservation