For prospects

Student visa - proof of health insurance

On this Immigration web page you find a list of the required documents.

Remark: a travel health insurance is not mandatory. When applying for your student visa as a non-EU national, you will have to prove that you have, or will have health insurance. Having health insurance in Belgium is compulsory, and the responsibility of the student. We would like to emphasize that medical costs in the event of an accident or illness can be very high. Without a health insurance, the student will have to pay all cost themselves.

What about the required proof of health insurance?

There are following options:

I. You have a health insurance when you apply for a visa.

If you meet all other conditions, you ‘ll get a type D student visa without conditions. With this visa, upon arrival, you get a residence permit for a whole academic year (renewable every year).

1.  A Proof of health is insurance included in your scholarship

Some scholarships (e.g. Erasmus Mundus) include a health insurance. Please check the conditions of the scholarship yourself and ask the program coordinator to sign an extract of the relevant page of your Scholarship award letter. Add this as a separate document to your visa application documents.

2. You take out a (private) ‘travel medical insurance’, valid till October 1st of the academic year. This is a rather expensive choice.

You contact any private insurance (for example Allianz, Axa, AIG Travel guard, GEOBlue, IMG global, Travelex insurance, world Nomads, American Express Travel insurance, … ), covering all risks in Belgium for the whole academic year.

II. You have no health insurance yet when applying for your visa.

In this case you will get a student visa type D, with code B-43 (contains a condition to proof a health insurance affiliation after arrival).

With this visa you will receive an ‘attest van immatriculatie’ (certificate of provisional registration) from the migration office of Ghent city for 4 months legal stay.

During the 4 months after arrival you must contact one of the Health insurance funds (= ‘mutualiteiten’) from the list below and sign up with one of them as soon as possible (and not later than 4 weeks).

After providing a proof of affiliation with a health insurance fund to the migration desk of the city of Ghent, you get your residence permit (A kaart) for the whole academic year (renewable every year).

General information about the affiliation with a Belgian health insurance fund.

Legal contribution for basic insurance

You have to pay a legal contribution for your health insurance. The contribution is the same for all the health insurance funds and depends on your situation (status and income). While you are waiting on your Belgian residence permit, you can register in the category of 'student': you pay a legal contribution of € 74,72 per quarter (2023). Once you have an official Belgium residence and a residence permit you can register in the category of 'resident' or 'verblijvende' (‘remaining’) in Belgium: the contribution is depending on your taxable income in Belgium or abroad. In most instances, Belgian health insurance reimburses up to 50–75% of the cost. You are then responsible for covering the remaining costs.

Membership contribution for top up insurance

If you join one of the 5 mutual insurance funds (not: the Hulpkas voor Ziekte- en Invaliditeitsverzekering) you have to pay a membership contribution, on top of the legal contribution which you have to pay. The membership contribution depends on your health insurance fund and varies between € 21 and € 25 per quarter (2022) varies between 86,40 and 113,16 euro per year (2023). For this membership contribution, you get extra services and benefits such as additional benefits for eye care, psychotherapy, speech and language therapy, treatment by osteopaths, extra childbirth and childcare allowances, allowances for sport club membership, travel assistance, and more. Since the Hulpkas voor Ziekte- en Invaliditeitsverzekering (HZIV) does not

offer any services beyond the compulsory health insurance, membership of the HZIV does not require additional contributions.

You pay a membership contribution on top of the legal contribution. You must pay a contribution, a quarterly payment, which entitles you a coverage from the first day of that quarter. In the category of ‘student’, you pay a contribution of 66,56 EUR/quarter (2022).

This membership entitles you extra services and benefits such as eye care, psychotherapy, treatment by osteopaths, extra childbirth and childcare allowances, allowances for sport club membership, travel assistance, and more.

List of Belgian health insurance funds (‘mutualiteit’)

You have a free choice of health insurance funds:

Or you subscribe with the local service of the Hulpkas voor Ziekte- en Invaliditeitsverzekering (with English information), a government organization. Membership is cheaper, it doesn’t require additional contributions since they don’t offer any services beyond the compulsory health insurance.

An overview where the health insurance funds are located in Ghent city can be found here.

Did you experience some difficulties? You can contact students.visa@UGent.be