Life Insurance: Foreign Travel

When you apply for Life Insurance general foreign travel for holidays should cause no problems with your application. Insurance providers are primarily concerned with any potential health risks that you could have been exposed to during previous travel and extended trips abroad that you intend to make.

Life Insurance applications will generally ask you to detail any extensive foreign travel that you have done in recent years. The application may ask if you:

• Have visited an area with a high rate of HIV incidence
• Been outside of the UK for longer than one to three consecutive months
• Have travelled outside of the UK regularly for business

Your Life Insurance application can also ask about any intended travel that you have planned in the near future that will last for more than 30 consecutive days. This may also include details as to the countries that you intend to travel to. It is impossible to prepare for every travel eventuality that you may have, which is why the application focuses upon your intended travel i.e. those trips that you already have planned or are almost certain to do due to work requirements.

For those who regularly work abroad, such as the armed forces or oil rig workers, the Life Insurance application will primarily be assessed on your occupation rather than travel requirements. Whilst travel will still be a factor within the underwriting terms of your Life Insurance, the insurer will be most concerned with any potential hazards that your occupation presents.

For those who plan to travel abroad for an extended period of time, six months or more, it is possible that the insurer may postpone your application until you return to the UK. Once you return to the UK on a more permanent basis your application can then be considered by the insurer. It is important to note that any Life Insurance policy premiums will need to be paid from a UK bank account.

If you plan on travelling abroad within the next few years please visit our foreign travel pages to see if your country of destination could cause an impact on your Life Insurance.