I have applied for a blue card visa, what type of health insurance do I need?
A blue card visa is linked to employment in Germany. All employees of a German company must sign up to either public health insurance or full comprehensive private health insurance if the annual income is over 69,300 EUR (2024).
As it is compulsory for everyone to have a form of health insurance at all times in Germany, we recommend signing up to our expat health insurance to bridge the gap between your arrival date in Germany and your employment start date and then using the upgrade function in your Feather account to sign up to statutory insurance.
Expat health insurance covers accidents, emergencies, new symptomatic illnesses and satisfies the legal requirement to have health insurance at all times in Germany.
Follow these steps for a seamless process:
Upgrade to public or private health insurance by
Select your expat health insurance policy;
Click on 'switch to private or public’; and
Complete questions and sign-up flow.
Thats it! We will take it from there and ensure that there is no overlapping coverage between your expat health insurance and your public/private health insurance. You will only pay for the days you need the expat policy for and we will handle the cancellation.
You will receive confirmation of coverage documents for all health insurance policies which can be submitted to your visa office to support your application. Once you sign up to statutory health insurance, your social security number (SVNR) will be automatically generated and sent to you within a few weeks.
I don't want to sign up to expat health insurance / I already have another insurance to bridge the gap between my arrival and employment start date in Germany
Not a problem, if you don't want to sign up to expat health insurance or already have another insurance to bridge the gap between your arrival in Germany and your employment start date, you can apply for either public or private health insurance individually.
You will find more information on public health insurance and how to easily apply for it on our website. When you scroll down on this site, you will find a calculator to compare the premiums of different providers. You can also compare the coverage of the providers. Because public health insurance is regulated by the state, there are not many differences in contributions or coverage. Just click on the provider you want to apply with and go through the sign-up process. We make signing up for insurance super easy and fast. Our service is completely free to use 😊
As long as you have an employment contract, you can get your application underway even if you aren't yet in Germany and don't have a German address.
If you earn over 69,300 EUR / year (2024) and would like to consider full comprehensive private health insurance, you can get your personal quote and coverage details in under two minutes.
From the quote page, you'll be able to signup online within 15 minutes. We'll process your application within a few days and reach out if more information is needed. Otherwise, your application will be confirmed automatically, and your coverage will start on the date you've selected in the application.
If you would like more information on private health insurance first, check out our comprehensive FAQs! Once you got our quote, you can also book a call with one of our health insurance experts.