Health Insurance Certificates for Spanish Visa Applications

What the certificate is for

The certificate (certificado de seguro) is a short letter on the insurer's letterhead confirming that a named person holds a policy meeting the visa conditions. It is the document the consular official reads, so it has to state the conditions in words. The official will not read 60 pages of general conditions to work out whether your policy has co-payments.

It is not your contract. The policy conditions still govern what is paid, so keep both.

Consulates are clear that substitutes do not work. Washington, Houston and San Francisco all say an insurance card will not be accepted. Most consulates ask for the original and a copy.

Checklist: what the certificate should state

Use this when you request the certificate and again before you submit it.

Identity

• [ ] Insurer's full legal name, and ideally its DGSFP code. Check it on the DGSFP register; see how to check an insurer.
• [ ] Policy number.
• [ ] Full name of every insured person, exactly as in their passport.
• [ ] Passport number for each person, which a Spanish immigration law firm recommends including.

Dates

• [ ] Start date of cover. San Francisco asks for it explicitly.
• [ ] End date, or a stated duration. Washington requires both start and end dates, and Los Angeles' student page requires both too.
• [ ] A period of at least 12 months for residence visas (Washington and Los Angeles say one year), or your full study period plus any margin your consulate asks for.

Cover

• [ ] That the policy covers all risks insured by Spain's public health system (todos los riesgos asegurados por el Sistema Nacional de Salud).
• [ ] Sin copagos (no co-payments) and no deductible.
• [ ] Sin carencias (no waiting periods). See waiting periods explained.
• [ ] No coverage limit, or 100% of medical, hospital and out-of-hospital costs, as Washington, Boston and Houston word it.
• [ ] Hospitalisation included from day one, as the law firm above recommends.
• [ ] Repatriation, only if your consulate asks for it.
• [ ] For San Francisco, no exclusion for pre-existing conditions.

Formalities

• [ ] Issued in Spanish, or accompanied by a sworn translation.
• [ ] Dated, signed and stamped by the insurer.
• [ ] Dates consistent with the rest of your file, such as your planned entry date.

Wording to ask for

A Spanish insurer used to visa applicants will usually have a standard text. If yours does not, the law firm cited above suggests wording along these lines:

COBERTURA DE ASISTENCIA SANITARIA EN ESPAÑA durante 12 meses, SIN COPAGOS, SIN PERIODOS DE CARENCIA.

You can ask for the line on Spain's public health system to be added if it is missing, along with the names of all insured people and their passport numbers.

If you pay monthly, check that the certificate still states the full 12-month period rather than only the month you have paid for. None of the consulate pages we checked requires annual payment, but the cover period shown has to match what the consulate asks for. Do not ask the insurer to certify something the policy does not provide. If your policy has waiting periods, the fix is a different policy, not different wording.

Translation: when you need a sworn translation

Practice varies:

A sworn translation (traducción jurada) is made by a translator appointed by Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who signs and stamps it. According to the Ministry, these translations have official status before Spanish courts and authorities, and the Ministry publishes a searchable list of appointed translators by language.

The simplest route is to use a Spanish insurer that issues the certificate in Spanish. Sanitas advertises an instant certificate for its visa product; SegurCaixa Adeslas lets Adeslas Welcome customers download theirs from the CaixaBank app once the health questionnaire is approved.

Common errors

1. Silence on co-payments or waiting periods. If the certificate does not say sin copagos and sin carencias, the official cannot assume it.
2. Six months instead of twelve. Short policies are a common reason for return.
3. A family member missing. Every applicant needs cover; Los Angeles requires the insurance to cover all visa beneficiaries.
4. Name mismatches. Check each name against the passport, including middle names.
5. Dates that do not fit the file. The law firm above flags inconsistent dates as a cause of problems; cover should start on or before your planned entry.
6. A travel product. Consulates refuse travel insurance regardless of its limits, so the certificate must relate to a health policy.
7. An insurer not authorised in Spain, however well known.
8. English only where Spanish or a sworn translation is required.

After the visa

Keep the certificate, the policy, the general conditions and proof of payment. You will need a fresh certificate at each renewal, and the renewal must show the cover never lapsed. See renewing a Spanish visa and, for the non-lucrative route in full, non-lucrative visa insurance.