international student insurance

Archive for February, 2007

J1 Visa Insurance Requirements

Tuesday, February 27th, 2007

If you are a J1 visa holder, or if you are applying for a J1 visa, you must have an insurance plan that will meet certain visa requirements. This post will identify the J1 visa requirements, guide you to insurance plans that meet those requirements, and hopefully save you some time and money.

The insurance requirements for J1 visas are very specific. If you purchase insurance that does not meet these requirements you may waste a lot of time and money. At best, it could delay your visa application process, and in the worst case, you could have your visa application denied. Therefore it pays to know the requirements and to make sure the plan you purchase meets all of them.

The insurance requirements for a J1 visa are as follows:

- Medical Benefits of at least $50,000 per accident or illness
- Repatriation of Remains in the amount of $7,500
- Expenses associated with the medical evacuation of the exchange visitor to his or her home country in the amount of $10,000
- A deductible not to exceed $500 per accident or illness

A policy underwritten by an insurance carrier with:
- an AM Best rating of “A-” or above
- an Insurance Solvency International, Ltd (ISI) rating of “A-I” or above
- a Standard and Poor’s Claims Paying Ability rating of “A-” or above
- or a Weiss Research, Inc. rating of “B+” or above

All international health insurance plans offered on InternationalStudentInsurance.com meet all J1 visa requirements. In particular, the Student Secure and Atlas America plans meet J1 requirements, and both plans are inexpensive and widely used by J1 visa holders.

For Atlas America (for visits up to one year): Click here to view Atlas America information, quote and purchase.

For Student Secure (for visits longer than one year): Click here to view Student Secure information, quote and purchase.

If you are looking for information regarding visa requirements or have any questions in this general area these two sites have a wealth of information pertaining to visa requirements and the application process: InternationalStudent.com and the U.S. Department of State.

 

New Database for College Insurance Requirements!

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007

Applying to become an international student and studying outside of your home country can be a daunting task at times. So, many things are going through your mind and you must remember to have certain forms properly filled out, meet deadlines, find enough money to fund your education and then travel thousands of miles to a school that you may have only visited once. If you find yourself in this predicament, you may want to visit InternationalStudent.com to help you learn more about the USA. This site has a very helpful Study USA Advice Center.

So, then your school tells you that you must have health insurance either through their provider or an alternate provider which you must find on your own means. You learn though that the alternate insurance plan must meet certain requirements. These requirements are usually extensive and can be quite confusing. At this point, you may just want to throw up your hands and pay the school’s insurance fee. However, it may well be worth the time and effort locating a new plan. In a lot of cases, the school’s insurance plan can cost you double what alternate plans may cost. So, to make your life a little bit easier, we’ve added a school insurance requirements database to our website.

This feature will allow you to look up your school by state and identify whether or not our Student Secure Health Insurance plan will meet your school’s requirements. Instead of searching for hours for an inexpensive and acceptable plan on the internet, you will now have the tool to know right away. Through our extensive research, we have identified which level of our plan meets your school’s requirements. Inevitably, this will save you time and money and the guesswork will be minimized.

Click here to view the School Insurance Requirements Database for colleges or universities in the U.S.

If you do decide to waive your school’s insurance policy, then you’ll want to check with your school and see if you need to complete a compliance form. Once you sign and complete this form, we can fax it to your school. Also, once you apply for the plan, you will receive all of your insurance documents via e-mail if you opt for online fulfillment. This e-mail will be sent to you right away and will contain your insurance card, letter of coverage, explanation of benefits and receipt.

We will be updating this list on a continuous basis. If you do not find your school on the list and still have questions in regards to your school’s requirements then please do not hesitate to contact us.