Insured and Free Through Schengen
Residents of the Schengen area have become accustomed to moving freely between participating countries without any checks for some time now. Around 3.5 million people cross the internal borders every day and with 1.15 billion movements per year, Schengen can call itself the largest internally border-free zone in the world. For non-Schengen residents, it’s a little less straightforward: they need to have a Schengen visa, which is valid for a maximum of 90 days. But to obtain that visa, they also need to take out special insurance. A lot of hassle? Maybe. We'll guide you through Schengen!
Schengen for Dummies
The Schengen area is named after a small village in Luxembourg, where a treaty was signed in 1985 to abolish checks on people at the shared borders of participating countries. It started with France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg but has since grown to 27 member states. Although it has not always been immune from criticism, especially during the refugee and Covid crises, the treaty is still considered one of Europe's greatest successes. But what about those who live outside the zone and still want to travel to Schengen countries? To obtain a visa, they need special insurance – and insurance is precisely Expat & Co’s speciality!
Something for Everyone
Expat & Co’s Schengen Travellers Insurance complies with all regulations and covers both business and private trips in all Schengen countries. We offer two options to ensure maximum freedom, depending on your needs. First, there’s Single Entry for stays of 7 to 90 consecutive days. We also offer Multiple Entry, allowing you to stay in the Schengen zone for a maximum total of 90 days in 1 year. You can spread those 90 days out as you wish. So there’s something for every traveller.
Smartly Insured in Schengen
Meryem is truly cosmopolitan. This born-and-bred Ghent native with Hungarian roots emigrated to San Francisco, where she works as an IT consultant. Merry recently also acquired American citizenship. However, she still often travels to Europe for her work and most of her friends and family are scattered across Ghent and Budapest. “The Multiple Entry plan gives me all the freedom I need for my job and personal life. From the US to Belgium to Budapest, without all the paperwork.” And if Meryem wants to travel further, for example to Romania, that’s no problem: the Extended Zone option extends your coverage to neighbouring countries that aren’t (yet) part of the Schengen zone.
SOS Schengen
Despite all the convenience of our insurance, travelling is still a bit of an adventure where things don’t always go smoothly – as Meryem herself has found out. “Last year I went to a conference in Helsinki, but I was stopped at San Francisco International Airport before my departure. A trainee probably wanted to impress his boss and tried to prevent me from flying to Helsinki with a big display of power, because my papers supposedly weren’t in order. Maybe he had to meet certain quotas and that’s why I entered his sights? However, I’d dutifully applied for a Schengen visa at the Finnish embassy in advance and arranged my insurance with Expat & Co.” Meryem is not easily silenced, and after a lot of back and forth (and the right documentation in hand), she convinced the overzealous agent to let her through. But if things do go wrong afterwards on the insurance front, our multilingual emergency centre is available 24/7 and our representatives are ready to give you all the help you need, whether for business or personal reasons. In short, we do everything possible to ensure a smooth journey through the Schengen zone.
Want to know more about our versatile Schengen Travellers Insurance? Go to www.expatinsurance.eu/en/travel-insurances/schengen-travellers-insurance and see which plan suits your needs.