Afghanistan

Life insurance for travel to Afghanistan is often linked to whether you are a civilian or armed forces personnel.

Here are some of the key things that we need to know:

• When are you travelling to Afghanistan?
• What is your reason for travel?
• How long will you be in Afghanistan for?

The amount of time that you are outside of the UK can play a big factor in the insurers that you can approach for life insurance. We have access to some specialist policies that can consider travel to Afghanistan at standard terms for life insurance. This means no price increase or exclusions. There are some eligibility factors in terms of your health and our advisers will check this out for you.

It’s important to know that specialist doesn’t necessarily mean expensive!

If the specialist options aren’t available to you we might need to look at other options. Many insurers if you are a civilian travelling to Afghanistan and will not be staying within an army base, then you may either have your policy premiums increased or have your application declined. Similarly with a lot of insurers members of the armed forces who are based in Afghanistan are likely to have their policy premiums increased due to the added risk that comes with their occupation. 

When you are visiting Afghanistan for a short period of time such as for a holiday or to visit family your application should be accepted at standard rates.

British citizens who have moved abroad can often still access life insurance and critical illness cover in the UK. There are specific rules that you must follow to be eligible for new life insurance and critical illness policies, and we are here to strip out the jargon and get you the cover that you need.

You will usually need to have some kind of liability in the UK e.g. a mortgage, inheritance tax risk, etc to be eligible for insurance within the UK. If this isn’t possible we can potentially look at international life insurance for you.

Critical illness cover pays out a cash lump sum of money, if you are diagnosed with a medical condition that is listed in the insurer’s claims set e.g. cancer, heart attack, stroke.

If you are a civilian working on an Army base in Afghanistan, there is potential for you to get critical illness cover at standard rates.

Depending upon the severity of unrest in Afghanistan when you apply for your cover, you may find that some conditions listed in the insurers policy documents are excluded from your policy, due to your close proximity to the area of conflict.

Armed forces personnel who are based in Afghanistan can find that they have an occupational exclusion placed upon the critical illness claims et. An occupational exclusion will mean that should you suffer a critical illness due to your job you will be unable to make a claim on the policy.

Critical illness exclusions tend to include those conditions listed in the policy documents that are seen to be more likely to occur due to your occupation and location of work e.g. loss of limbs, coma, traumatic head injury, etc.

If you were to experience these things when not at work, then the exclusions will not apply and you should be covered to claim on the policy.

Income protection pays you a replacement of your monthly income, if you are unable to work due to ill health.

This is a difficult policy to source for civilians based within Afghanistan. You will need to place your application with a specialist insurance provider who will consider the cover, most will not. Factors such as the length of time that you spend in Afghanistan, your methods of travel when there, where you stay and your day to day working tasks will all have an impact on whether your application is accepted. It is likely that your premiums will be increased due to your location.

If you are a member of the armed forces working within Afghanistan it is unlikely that you will be able to arrange income protection insurance. 

Get an Income Protection Quote

Are you planning on traveling to Afghanistan? We work alongside a specialist travel insurance broker who can provide comprehensive cover for most countries. Request your no obligation travel insurance quote here.