6 Things to Know About Life Insurance and Travel 2023

Request a Callback

By clicking on submit I / We give consent for you to call me / us on the number provided to discuss my / our financial requirements.

Caring - Understanding - Reliable - Advice

Home » Guides & News » 6 Things to Know About Life Insurance and Travel 2023

6 Things to Know About Life Insurance and travel 2023

When you are applying for life insurance you are often asked questions about your travel in the last 3 years and any travel that you have planned in the near future.

This might seem a bit odd but the insurers need to know this to check whether they can offer you life insurance. This can be linked directly to where you plan on travelling, or it can be linked to a complicated set of rules to do with taxation and residency.

This blog is about life insurance and travel disclosures, it is not discussing travel insurance.

1. Going on holiday or a short business trip shouldn’t be a problem

Most insurers are not too bothered if you are going abroad on holiday for 30 days or less, or a business trip of less than 7 days. You often get standard terms for life insurance if this is the case.

The insurer will often ask if you travel outside of the UK, EU, North America and Australia. If you do this is usually fine if it’s for a short trip, but there are some locations that will lead insurers to decline your application.

Instead of asking if you go on short trips, some insurers will ask you if you spend more than X amount of days or months outside of the UK each year. If you do spend a significant amount of time outside of the UK, that isn’t necessarily an issue, but the insurer will look at your application more in regards to your residency status.

2. Your residency is important

Insurers in the UK want to insure people that live in the UK. Sometimes they are able to insure people living outside of the UK, if they have a UK liability.

There are a number of reasons for this, but a key one is trying to understand why a person wants UK insurance and not insurance in the country that they live in. This could simply be because a person is a UK expat and feels more comfortable with insurance documents they can read in their native language. But, people can also ask for it because they are trying to be a bit naughty and the insurers want to prevent this.

Being a UK tax payer goes a long way into proving that you are a UK resident. There are some occupations where you might not be a UK tax payer, but you can still be classed as UK resident. It’s always worth asking and if need be we can place your life insurance with an international insurance provider.

3. Your GP details are important too

A lot of life insurance applications will need to include details of your GP, in order to process the application. Insurers might ask if you have been with your current GP for at least 6 months, and registered with a UK GP for at least 2 years.

This is so that they know that they can get a clear picture of your health, if they need to speak with your GP about your medical history. It’s also incredibly useful if there is a claim on your life insurance as they should be able to access a good amount of your medical history on record, to assess a claim.

4. Insurers react quickly to world events

There are some countries in the world where UK insurers will decline a life insurance application if the person is intending to go there. This can change incredibly quickly depending upon world events.

In recent years we have seen the introduction of specific questions relating to travel to Russia and Ukraine. Due to the current conflict in these areas insurer in the UK will not offer you life insurance, if you intend to travel there in the next couple of years.

There is also the current unrest in Israel and Palestine that insurers are monitoring. Whilst the life insurance application question sets will not typically name these countries, insurers will ask you if you plan on travelling to any locations that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advise against.

5. Different insurers have different views

Insurers have what is known as an underwriting philosophy and manuals that tell them who they can insure, what the cost will be and also people that they cannot insure. Where you travel can potentially lead to an insurer not offering you life insurance.

Most insurers have slightly different points of view to others which can mean that an insurer could decline you life insurance, but another one can offer you the life insurance. Shopping around is really important and that’s what an adviser like us does for you. You can tell us your travel arrangements and we will then research and find the best life insurance policy that you can have.

6. You will be asked on the travel that you intend to do

Future travel is always a bit of an unusual question to answer. Having a dream of packing up and moving to Australia in 5 years is not necessarily something you need to tell the insurer about. Having a dream is one thing, having plans and arrangements is another.

If you have started to pick the location that you want to move to, have started putting in job applications, etc, that could fall into the insurers’ question set. It is not always easy to decide what does and doesn’t need to be said when it comes to future travel, which is where our advisers will help you and speak directly with underwriters to make sure that your application states everything that it should do.

Our award winning advisers are here to listen to your circumstances and provide you with a no obligation quotation. We will search the insurance market so that you don’t have to, and we will find the best insurer to give you peace of mind.

Best life insurance for people living with health conditions 2023

Protection insurance – what you need and how to get it

Kathryn Knowles
October 24, 2023

Categories: Life Insurance

Client Reviews

6 Things to Know About Life Insurance and Travel 2023

"Alan and his team were great! Alan helped get me cover where my own company could not (I work in financial services too!) Would highly recommend and will come back in the future."

"Krystle was fantastic throughout and managed to knock almost 50% off my current life insurance premium."

"Leanne couldn't have been more helpful and thoughtful with her questions and work on my enquiry."

"Kathryn and her colleagues were very helpful because of my recent illness."

"Nick was my advisor, Excellent knowledge of products and what I needed, not just pushing me into a sale/policy, will always refer to him in the future."

"I would like to say a very big thank you especially to Amy you really went above and beyond."

"Annaliese was absolutely fantastic, making us both feel at ease and helping us navigate issues that had caused us problems with previous attempts to obtain insurance."