What insurance you should get before moving abroad

The months before an international move are busy and emotional. Packing lists swell, paperwork multiplies, and even simple tasks start to feel complex. Underneath all of that, your risk exposure is shifting. The safety nets that used to protect you were built for a different jurisdiction, a different healthcare system, and a different legal environment. Treating insurance as an afterthought turns a move into a gamble. Treating it as part of your financial plan turns the same move into a manageable set of decisions.

Start with a quiet but important question. What has to keep working even while everything else is in motion. For most expats the answer is health access, predictable income, and continuity for the people who rely on them. That gives you a clean starting brief. You are buying the ability to see a doctor without panic. You are buying a way to meet rent and obligations if an illness or injury stops your work. You are buying time for a spouse or child to focus on settling rather than scrambling. With that brief, the product choice becomes clearer and the noise drops away.

Think in three layers. Anchor what already fits, bridge the gap during the move, and localize once you land. Anchors are the policies you keep because they protect long term risk regardless of country. Bridges are temporary or portable covers that hold you through the messy middle of travel, visa activation, and early months in a new system. Localization is the set of in-country policies that fit the rules and costs of your destination. Working through these layers keeps you out of the common traps of overbuying flashy packages or underinsuring the boring but essential risks.

Your primary anchor is usually life insurance if someone depends on your income. Term life that is already in force, reasonably priced, and not tied to a single employer can travel with you. The question to ask is simple. If you were gone tomorrow, does this contract still pay out across borders, and can your beneficiary access the money from where they live. Read the policy definitions for residency and claims jurisdiction. Contact the insurer to update your address and tax status. If you are on employer group life only, decide if that remains in place during relocation windows. If it does not, put portable term life in place while you are still healthy and resident in your current country. Underwriting rarely gets easier after a move, and new exclusions can appear when your health records are scattered across systems.

For many professionals the second anchor is disability income insurance. A long illness or accident that interrupts earnings is the event that strains cash flow and derails plans. Individual disability cover is often portable, but the benefit definition, elimination period, and claim currency matter. Own occupation definitions can tighten under new licensing rules, and some contracts restrict benefits if you reside outside specified regions for more than a set number of months. Clarify whether benefits are paid in your bank currency, how exchange rates are handled, and whether you must return for assessment. If your only coverage is an employer plan in your origin country, treat that as fragile. Consider a portable policy while you still have clear medical records and predictable income documentation.

Health care is where most people feel the move first. Your options fall on a spectrum from international private medical insurance to local national systems and employer group plans. If you will rely on local public care, understand the waiting periods, residency requirements, and whether dependents are included. If your visa activates access only after registration, an international plan can bridge that window. International medical plans are priced by zone, age, benefits, and network depth. The right question is not which brand is popular. It is whether you need outpatient care and maternity or whether a hospitalization-only plan plus a robust emergency evacuation rider covers the real risk for your first year. Maternity often carries waiting periods that can run a full year or longer. Pre-existing conditions can be covered on group plans but excluded or rated on individual ones. If you know you need ongoing treatment, seek continuity documents from your current insurer and ask potential providers about moratorium underwriting rather than full exclusionary terms. Two careful conversations now can save months of appeals later.

Short term travel insurance is not a substitute for medical insurance, but it has a specific job during the move. It covers trip cancellation, baggage, and emergency care during flights and transits. If you are taking scouting trips, it is useful. Once you are a resident elsewhere, many travel policies stop applying. That is why it sits in the bridge layer, not the anchor. Buy it for the period where you are neither fully here nor fully there. After that, lean on international medical or local coverage.

Critical illness cover belongs in your anchor if your family relies on your income or if you want liquidity on diagnosis rather than on death. The practical value is that it pays a lump sum when certain conditions are diagnosed, so you can reduce work, fly a caregiver in, or pay for out-of-network specialists without fearing a claim denial for coding differences between systems. The definitions in critical illness policies are technical. Read them. Some require procedures to be performed, not just diagnoses to be given. Ask whether the wording follows standardized definitions and whether claims are recognized across jurisdictions. If your destination country’s doctors document differently, make sure that does not block a valid claim.

Personal liability is the quiet protection people forget. New legal environments bring unfamiliar liability exposure. You may rent a home with different maintenance standards. You may cycle in a city where collisions are litigated more aggressively. A personal liability policy, sometimes attached to home or renters insurance, protects you if you injure someone or damage property. Landlords often require proof of cover. Make the policy effective on the day you take possession, not the day you arrive. If you plan to drive, map the auto insurance sequence. Your current no-claims record is an asset. Obtain a formal claims history letter from your current insurer to earn better rates in your new country. Check whether your international driving permit is enough, how quickly you must switch to a local license, and whether your insurer accepts foreign driving history. These details change premiums more than most people expect.

Repatriation and evacuation riders sound dramatic, but they address a simple concern. If the best care in a crisis is not available locally, how do you reach it, and who pays. Air ambulance costs can erase savings in one event. If you are moving to a region with limited tertiary care or if you travel often across borders, an evacuation benefit that allows transport to the nearest center of excellence, not only back to your home country, is worth considering. Read the trigger conditions. Some riders require pre-authorization and medical necessity determined by the insurer’s team, not your doctor. Know that before you are on a tarmac.

Timing matters as much as product choice. Six to twelve months before departure, audit current coverage. List each policy, owner, beneficiaries, renewal dates, and whether it is tied to your employer or residency. If your move is linked to a new job, ask for plan brochures early and compare them to what you have. If the employer plan in the destination is strong, you may keep term life and disable the individual medical after the first year. If it is thin, you may keep the international medical and opt out of certain employer options to avoid duplicate cost. Ninety days before departure, finalize portable covers. Underwriting takes time, and you do not want a pending application to collide with a change of address or a visa stamp. Thirty days before departure, align effective dates so there is no gap between local and international coverage. On arrival, register promptly for any public schemes to start waiting period clocks, then set a reminder to re-evaluate once you have local medical cards and a clear sense of provider quality.

Do not ignore documentation. Moves create address changes, bank changes, and record gaps. Update beneficiaries with full international contact details. Provide a durable email address that you control across borders for policy notices. Store digital copies of policy schedules, identity documents, and medical history in a secure cloud folder that a trusted person can access. Keep a simple one page summary for your spouse or a family member that lists who to call for claims, what the policy numbers are, and what the waiting periods look like. In a crisis you will not be looking for PDFs.

Cost tradeoffs are easier to see when you think in scenarios. In your first year abroad you are often paying deposits, school fees, and setup costs. Cash flow is tighter than usual. That is why a hospitalization-only health plan paired with evacuation and a sensible outpatient budget can be a smarter first year choice than an expensive all inclusive plan that increases your fixed costs. If you are planning a pregnancy soon, the answer flips. Paying for comprehensive coverage early to clear the waiting period can be cheaper than facing private maternity fees without cover. If your partner will not have income for a while, term life and disability deserve priority over flashy add ons. If you own property in your origin country that you plan to rent out, your landlord insurance and liability should remain active and correctly registered with the insurer as a rented property, not an owner occupied one.

Taxes and compliance sit in the background of many insurance decisions. Payouts can be taxable or tax free depending on jurisdiction and product type. If you hold policies with cash values, understand reporting requirements when you become tax resident elsewhere. Some countries treat certain policies more like investments than protection. That can complicate filings or reduce net value after tax. If you are not sure, keep protection simple in the first year. Pure term life and pure disability income policies tend to be more straightforward across borders than savings-linked contracts.

Employers can help, but group coverage is not an automatic fit. Group medical often covers pre-existing conditions and can be good value. Still, check whether dependents are fully included, what the referral process looks like, and how direct billing works. Group life can be generous, but it can also vanish if you leave the company or change your work visa. If you would feel exposed without it, secure an individual policy that does not depend on your job title.

One sensitive topic is mental health and continuity of care. If you already see a therapist or take ongoing medication, check how these are handled. Some plans cover therapy only under certain diagnoses or cap sessions. Others exclude ongoing prescriptions as pre-existing unless you move under a group plan. If continuity is critical, ask providers about telemedicine coverage, cross border prescription rules, and whether a letter from your current practitioner can support claims during the transition. Protecting mental health is part of protecting income and family stability. Treat it as a core benefit, not a nice to have.

Children and elderly parents widen the circle of planning. For children, confirm pediatric networks and vaccination coverage in your destination. Some countries require specific immunizations for school enrollment. For aging parents who may visit or live with you for extended periods, research visitor medical plans that cover longer stays and pre-existing conditions under stabilized clauses. If you support a parent financially, a term life policy sized to cover several years of that support creates breathing room if the unthinkable happens during a stressful move.

When you put all of this together, you will notice that the phrase insurance before moving abroad shows up only a couple of times in this piece. That is intentional. You are not buying labels. You are buying outcomes. The right cover is the one that gives you continuity of care, income stability, and family resilience at a price your new life can carry. The wrong cover is the one that looks impressive on a benefits sheet but fails in the little practical ways that matter on an ordinary Tuesday.

Here is one final frame that many of my clients find helpful. Map your next three years by season. Year zero is the lead up and the move. Year one is settlement. Year two is when habits stabilize. In year zero, prioritize portable anchors and bridges. In year one, test the local system and either lean in or keep the international backstop for one more cycle. In year two, trim duplicates, increase deductibles if your emergency fund is stronger, and redirect savings to long horizon goals. This cadence keeps you flexible without losing protection.

A move is an investment in your future. Protect that investment with the same patience you apply to your portfolio. Start with your timeline. Then match the vehicle, not the other way around. You do not need to be aggressive. You need to be aligned. The smartest plans are not loud. They are consistent.