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Family · Moving abroad

Moving abroad as a family: planning health insurance together

When a family moves, several life stages, timelines and priorities meet. This page helps you sort the questions for everyone travelling with you, before you go into an individual consultation.

By , advising for Verus Vorsorge GmbH (insurance broker licensed under § 34d (1) GewO)

Free first consultation To the answers

Every person brings their own questions

You and your partner

Who works, and who is insured through what?

Do both of you work? Is anyone insured through an employer, and does that also apply to the others in the family?

Children

Daily life, check-ups, school

Where should check-ups and vaccinations take place: locally or during visits to Germany? What proof do schools or nurseries require?

Family planned

Raise it early

Benefits around pregnancy and birth differ by plan, and waiting periods may apply. That is why you should raise a planned pregnancy early.

Relatives in Germany

Several places, one plan

Does a parent commute, or do children stay in Germany for training or university? Then these places belong in the plan too.

Do not look only at the start

Family planning and possible changes of location belong in the conversation as questions to decide, not as a blanket promise of benefits. What fits today may not fit in three years.

Questions for later

  • What changes when a child comes of age or returns for university?
  • What happens with a further move?
  • What applies on a return to Germany, for each family member individually?

What you can discuss together beforehand

  1. Who moves when?

    Does everyone move together, or does part of the family follow later? Transitions then affect each person differently.

  2. Who works where?

    Through whom could employer insurance run, and who would be left without this cover?

  3. Where should treatment take place?

    Check-ups, birth or larger treatments: locally, in Germany or wherever you then decide?

  4. How often in Germany?

    Visits to grandparents, holidays, training: how long does the family spend in Germany each year?

  5. Which framework fits?

    What budget is realistic for the whole family, today and as the children get older?

Start with minimal data

For first contact, the number of people, time frame, destination country and what you would like to discuss are enough. Health details about your family do not belong in an email.

Heading to Dubai?

For families moving to Dubai, questions about the residence status of dependants and about insurance through the employer come on top.

Sources and last updated

Here you can read the legal bases and bodies behind the questions on this page yourself. Page last updated: .

This page asks questions and puts things in context. It does not replace advice in an individual case. What is binding are the law, the terms of your contract and the competent bodies.

Related topics

Frequently asked questions

How do I insure my family if we emigrate together?

Plan health insurance for each person individually and then put it together, because each person brings their own questions.

Clarify for each family member: who moves when? Who works where, who lives on investments or assets, and who is insured through what? Where should treatment take place? How often is the family in Germany, and does the cover apply there? Whether everyone is best placed in one shared contract or in separate solutions depends on employers or other sources of income, places of residence and needs.

Cover for newborns, benefits around pregnancy and birth, and waiting periods are regulated differently from plan to plan. In the model terms of German private health insurance, for example, special waiting periods apply to childbirth. That is why you should raise pregnancy and plans for a child early in the conversation, not in comments or messages. Health details about family members belong in the application.

Sources: [1], [2]

Is compulsory health insurance in the destination country enough for my family?

Not automatically: compulsory insurance in the destination country meets that country’s requirement, but does not yet say whether all family members are included and whether the cover suits your family’s daily life.

Which insurance a country requires is determined by the destination country itself. The Federal Office for Emigrants and Germans Abroad at the Federal Office of Administration (Bundesverwaltungsamt) offers country information, but does not give advice.

So check for each person: is she or he included at all, or does she or he need their own cover? What does the cover include, for example check-ups, vaccinations or pregnancy? Does it apply during visits to Germany? Is billing direct, or do you pay up front? What happens if a parent changes job? You get binding information on the requirements from the responsible authorities in the destination country. We sort out the open questions with you in the first call.

Sources: [3]

Are family benefits always included?

Scope of benefits and conditions depend on the plan and are not promised here.

Does every family member have to be insured the same way?

Not necessarily. Whether a shared solution or separate solutions fit better depends on employers, places of residence and needs.

We are already abroad and a baby is on the way. What now?

Get in touch early. We look at what your current cover provides and which steps come before the birth.

Sources for the answers

  1. Model terms 2009 for health expense and hospital daily allowance insurance (MB/KK 2009), PKV association (German-language source) Last updated June 2024, accessed 10 October 2026Model terms are a recommendation of the association, not mandatory terms. The terms of your plan may differ.
  2. Stiftung Warentest: comparison of long-term travel health insurance – well covered on long trips (German-language source) Date: 5 May 2026, retrieved 10 October 2026The test covers plans for long trips that can be taken out without a health assessment. It does not cover international health insurance for emigrating.
  3. Federal Foreign Office: I want to emigrate from Germany – where can I find information? (German-language source) accessed 10 October 2026
  4. Imprint and initial information (German), insurance4expats.com

This page provides orientation and does not replace individual advice. The law, your contract terms and the competent authorities are binding.

First consultation

Ready for your plan?

In the free first consultation we sort out your situation: destination, family, current contract, way back. Only then do we talk about plans. By video or phone, in English or German.

Free first consultation +49 521 522 799 0

Opens the Calendly calendar (USA) in a new tab. Only then is data transferred to Calendly. Prefer email? service@verus-vorsorge.de. Please do not send health information by email. We discuss it in the call.