- Sort out your situation
- Clarify your current contract
- Choose new cover
- Apply, wait for confirmation
- Only then cancel or deregister
Step 1
Three questions that sort out your situation
Before you talk about plans, you sort out your situation. Three questions are enough for that.
How long do you plan to stay, and is a return conceivable?
This decides whether it is a trip, a move or a stage, and whether the way back belongs in your plan.
Who is moving with you?
Everyone brings their own questions. More under Health insurance for families abroad.
How will you live and work there: employed, seconded, self-employed, as an investor or on private means?
This decides who insures you and who looks after the contract. More under Health insurance during secondment.
Example, entirely fictional: Two people say “I’m moving abroad”. One plans three years in a country far away and may move on afterwards. The other spends two winters in the south and is back in Germany in the summer. They need very different answers. What suits you depends on how and where you live.
Whether your home base moves abroad depends on the actual circumstances. A person has a Wohnsitz (legal residence) where they settle permanently, and that can be the case in several places at once (§ 7 BGB, German Civil Code).
Step 2
The four coordinates of your plan
Your three answers give you four coordinates. Every plan for your health insurance abroad has to answer them.
| Coordinate | Your question | Where the answer is found | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home base | Where will you live in twelve months? Will you stay in one place, or commute between countries? | Your planning and your living situation | Several countries and commuting |
| Area of cover | Where should the cover apply: only in the destination country, in a region or worldwide, with or without the USA? Where do you want to be treated in an emergency? | Policy terms on the area of cover | Travel, international or local |
| Own share | What do you pay yourself? Which deductible fits your budget? | Policy terms, billing rules | What influences the costs |
| Way back | What happens to your cover when you come back to Germany? This question belongs before the move, not after. | Terms of your current contract | German private health insurance (PKV) and Anwartschaft (a German option to keep certain rights in private insurance while abroad) when emigrating |
None of these coordinates is a checkbox. How they fit together only becomes clear from your situation and the policy terms of the plan.
Step 3
Your roadmap: the order in which you proceed
Five steps, so that no day goes without cover. The order matters more than any single plan.
Sort out your situation
Answer the three questions above and write down five notes: destination country and period, your trips, who is coming with you, how you are insured today (statutory, private or through your employer) and, if you are employed or seconded, whether an employer in the destination country provides insurance. Health data does not belong on the list.
Clarify your current contract
Ask your Krankenkasse (health insurance fund) or your insurer in writing: What happens to my contract if I move away? By when and how do I deregister or cancel, and what proof do I need? What applies to co-insured relatives? Which deadlines apply? More on private health insurance: PKV and Anwartschaft when emigrating.
Choose new cover
Clarify the type of cover (travel, international or local), the requirements in the destination country, the benefits and only then the offers. Travel health insurance for trips abroad is meant for temporary trips; most policies cover up to 70 days. More: Is travel insurance enough? and Comparing offers.
Apply and wait for written confirmation
When you apply, the insurer usually asks for health information. You must disclose the circumstances known to you that the insurer asks about (§ 19 VVG, German Insurance Contract Act). The result can affect acceptance, scope or premium. Wait for the written confirmation stating the start of cover. More: Health questions in the application.
Only then cancel or deregister
Cancel or deregister only once your new cover is confirmed in writing, and clarify deadlines and proof with your Krankenkasse or insurer beforehand. Plan the transition so that your cover is settled from the first day. As long as you have a Wohnsitz (residence) in Germany, insurance is compulsory: anyone who is not in statutory health insurance generally has to take out and maintain private health insurance (§ 193 (3) VVG).
As long as you have a Wohnsitz (residence) in Germany and do not become a member of statutory health insurance, a cancellation only takes effect if you are insured without a break with another insurer and this new contract meets the obligation to have health insurance in Germany. Not every international health insurance does. You can still have a residence in Germany even if you already live abroad, for example because you keep your home here (§ 193 (3), § 205 (6) VVG). How this applies in your individual case when you move away, you clarify with your insurer beforehand.
What this page does not do
So that you know what you can rely on:
- No insurer names and no prices as long as we cannot back them up.
- No scare scenarios, only questions and sources.
- No individual advice. This is general information.
- No promotion of emigrating: the page only puts health insurance in context, for people who are leaving anyway.
- No questions about health data. These belong in the application, not in comments, messages or the call booking.
Who is writing here
Tassilo Peter Seitz is a shareholder of Verus Vorsorge GmbH and advises in German and English (insurance broker licensed under Section 34d (1) of the German Trade Regulation Act (GewO)). How we work and how we are paid is explained on the page How we work, how we earn.
Your destination country at a glance
For each country: what proof you need, how you get into the state system and what you clarify in Germany. With sources.
EU and EEA
Europe outside the EU
Overseas and Asia
Middle East
Educational content for people planning a move. The pages are not aimed at people who already live in the country in question.
Related topics
- International health insurance for expats
- German private health insurance (PKV) and Anwartschaft when emigrating
- Health insurance for families abroad
- What influences the costs
- Questions before the move
- Health insurance by destination country
- Travel, international or local health insurance
- German private health insurance (PKV) when leaving Germany: four answers
- Return to Germany
Frequently asked questions
Can I keep my German health insurance when I emigrate?
That depends on your destination and your insurance. According to the PKV association, private health insurance continues if you move within the EU or EEA; outside that area it usually ends.
For statutory health insurance, cover can continue in certain situations in the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, for example for pensioners with form S1. If a return is possible, ask about an Anwartschaft (a German option to keep certain rights in private insurance while abroad). Get everything in writing before you deregister or cancel. More in Expat health insurance when moving abroad from Germany.
Where do I start with health insurance if I am emigrating?
You start with your situation, not the plan. The Verbraucherzentrale (German consumer advice centre) advises clarifying health insurance cover ahead of the move.
Three questions sort out your situation: How long do you plan to stay, and is a return conceivable? Who is moving with you? And how will you live and work there: employed, seconded, self-employed, as an investor or on private means? The answers give you four coordinates for your plan: home base, area of cover, own share and way back. Only with this framework can offers be compared meaningfully.
Write down five notes for this: destination country and period, your trips, who is coming with you, how you are insured today and, if you are employed or seconded, whether an employer in the destination country provides insurance. Health data does not belong on this list.
Sources: [8]
Sources
- Imprint and initial information (German), insurance4expats.com
- § 7 BGB – Wohnsitz; Begründung und Aufhebung (residence; establishment and abandonment) (gesetze-im-internet.de) Statutory text (German-language source), accessed 10 October 2026
- 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.
- § 19 VVG – Anzeigepflicht (duty of disclosure) (gesetze-im-internet.de) Statutory text (German-language source), accessed 10 October 2026
- PKV-Verband: refusal and cancellation of German private health insurance (PKV) (German-language source) no date given, retrieved 10 October 2026Describes German private health insurance. International plans from other insurers may differ.
- § 193 VVG – Versicherte Person; Versicherungspflicht (insured person; compulsory insurance) (gesetze-im-internet.de) Statutory text (German-language source), accessed 10 October 2026
- § 205 VVG – Kündigung des Versicherungsnehmers (cancellation by the policyholder) (gesetze-im-internet.de) Statutory text (German-language source), accessed 10 October 2026
- Verbraucherzentrale: Krankenversicherung im Ausland – Wie lange bin ich geschützt? (health insurance abroad – how long am I covered?) Page last updated 19 May 2026, accessed 10 October 2026 (German-language source)
This page provides orientation and does not replace individual advice. The law, your contract terms and the competent authorities are binding.
