--- title: "Health Insurance for International Students: What Your Visa or Scholarship Actually Requires" description: "A country-by-country breakdown of mandatory health insurance rules for international students in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and the Schengen Area, and how to check if your scholarship covers it." url: "https://worldwide-scholarships.com/health-insurance-for-international-students-what-your-visa-or-scholarship-actually-requires/" type: "article" published: "2026-09-14T00:00:00.000Z" --- [Application tips](https://worldwide-scholarships.com/topics/tips/) # Health Insurance for International Students: What Your Visa or Scholarship Actually Requires A country-by-country breakdown of mandatory health insurance rules for international students in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and the Schengen Area, and how to check if your scholarship covers it. 14 September 2026 · Reviewed by the [Worldwide Scholarships editorial team](https://worldwide-scholarships.com/about/) ## Why this is a separate question from proof of funds Proving you can afford to live somewhere and proving you have health cover while you are there are two different requirements, checked by two different offices, and a scholarship that solves one does not automatically solve the other. Some scholarships pay a country’s mandatory health charge directly. Others hand you a stipend and expect you to buy or register for coverage yourself. The only way to know which applies to you is to read your specific award letter, not a general guide like this one, but knowing what each country actually requires tells you what question to ask. ## The United Kingdom: the Immigration Health Surcharge If you apply for a UK Student visa, you pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) as part of your application, currently £776 per year for students and their dependants, according to the official GOV.UK surcharge calculator. Paying it gives you access to the NHS on the same basis as a UK resident for the length of your visa. Whether you personally hand over that money depends on your scholarship’s terms, not on a general rule. Chevening is a useful example of how specific this gets: its own visa guidance states that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office pays the IHS directly on a scholar’s behalf, as long as the scholar answers the relevant question correctly when applying for the visa. Chevening’s separate “what does a Chevening Scholarship cover” page does not list the IHS among its benefits at all, so relying on that page alone would leave you thinking you owed the money yourself. Check your own scholarship’s visa or immigration guidance document specifically, not just its general benefits page. ## The United States: it depends entirely on your visa type The US has no single federal health insurance mandate for international students, which surprises a lot of applicants. If you hold an F-1 student visa, there is no government-set minimum coverage; instead, your university sets its own requirement, and most require enrollment in a school-sponsored plan or proof of comparable private cover. J-1 exchange visitors are a different case entirely, and the requirement is written into federal regulation. Under 22 CFR 62.14, J-1 exchange visitors and their J-2 dependants must carry insurance with medical benefits of at least $100,000 per accident or illness, medical evacuation coverage of at least $50,000, repatriation of remains coverage of at least $25,000, and a deductible no higher than $500 per accident or illness. A program sponsor can terminate your J-1 status for failing to maintain this coverage, so if your funding is a J-1-sponsored exchange, this is not optional paperwork. ## Australia: Overseas Student Health Cover Australia’s rule is unambiguous and government-run. According to Study Australia, the official government site for international education, students on a student visa and their dependants must have OSHC for the entire duration of their stay, arranged through one of the government-registered providers. There is no opt-out and no equivalent of the US model where a university substitutes its own plan. Some scholarships, particularly Australian government awards, pay OSHC directly for the length of the scholarship; check whether yours does before you buy a policy yourself, since paying twice is a common and avoidable mistake. ## Canada: it depends on your province, not the federal government Canada has no national student health insurance rule, because health care itself is administered provincially. Whether you get access to public coverage depends on where you study and how long your study permit runs. Some provinces, including Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, extend their provincial health plans to international students who meet minimum permit-length and residency conditions, though the waiting periods and paperwork differ by province. Ontario and Prince Edward Island do not cover international students provincially at all; in Ontario, most universities instead require enrollment in the University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP). Quebec is its own case: according to McGill University’s international student services office, it has reciprocal social security agreements with eleven countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Romania, whose citizens can access the provincial RAMQ plan instead of buying private insurance. Even then, RAMQ does not cover prescription drugs for most of those students, except those from France, so a supplemental plan is still worth having. If you are not from one of those countries, expect to buy private insurance regardless of which province you are in. Confirm your specific province’s current rule directly with your institution’s international office, since provincial policy changes more often than federal immigration rules do. ## The Schengen Area: two rules that get confused with each other If you are applying for a short-stay Schengen visa, for a summer school or a conference, Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 requires travel medical insurance with minimum coverage of €30,000, valid across the Schengen states you will visit. That rule applies only to short-stay visas covering up to 90 days. It does not apply to the long-stay national visa you get for a full degree program. Long-stay (“D”) student visas are governed by each country’s own immigration rules, not the EU-wide Schengen Visa Code, so a country’s requirement can look completely different from the €30,000 short-stay figure. Germany, France and other Schengen countries each set their own insurance conditions for long-stay student visas. Don’t assume the €30,000 short-stay figure applies to your degree visa; check the specific requirements for your destination country before you buy a policy. ## What to actually check, in order Work through this in order rather than assuming any one step covers the next: - Read your visa category’s insurance rule for your specific destination country, not a general one, since the US example above shows how much this varies even for the same country. - Read your scholarship’s visa or immigration-specific document, not just its general “what’s covered” page, since Chevening’s own case shows those two documents can say different things. - If your funder pays a national health charge directly, as Chevening does with the IHS, confirm this in writing before you pay it yourself. - If you are in a country like Canada or the US where the rule depends on province or institution, ask your specific university’s international student office, since they administer the actual plan. - Budget for a supplemental plan if your primary coverage has a known gap, such as Quebec’s RAMQ excluding prescription drugs for most eligible students. For the visa financial requirements that sit alongside insurance, see [Proof of Funds: What a Student Visa Actually Asks You to Show](https://worldwide-scholarships.com/proof-of-funds-what-a-student-visa-actually-asks-you-to-show/). For country-specific visa and funding detail, see [Studying in Australia: Funding, Visas, and How the Money Works](https://worldwide-scholarships.com/studying-in-australia-funding-visas-and-how-the-money-works/) and [Studying in the UK: Funding, Visas, and How the Money Works](https://worldwide-scholarships.com/studying-in-the-uk-funding-visas-and-how-the-money-works/). ## Claims CLAIM: The UK’s Immigration Health Surcharge for a Student visa is currently £776 per year for students and their dependants. EVIDENCE: The official GOV.UK surcharge calculator page states the rate is “£776 per year for students, their dependants, and those on a Youth Mobility Scheme visa.” SOURCE: [https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application/how-much-pay](https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application/how-much-pay) CLAIM: Chevening Scholarships have the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office pay the Immigration Health Surcharge directly on the scholar’s behalf. EVIDENCE: Chevening’s official visa guidance document states that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office pays the IHS on the scholar’s behalf when they correctly indicate their Chevening status on the visa application. SOURCE: [https://www.chevening.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Applying-for-a-Student-visa\_2025-PDF.pdf](https://www.chevening.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Applying-for-a-Student-visa_2025-PDF.pdf) CLAIM: Chevening’s general “what does a Chevening Scholarship cover” page does not list the Immigration Health Surcharge among the benefits it names. EVIDENCE: The page lists tuition fees, travel, arrival and departure allowances, visa costs, a contribution to TB testing, and a monthly stipend, with no mention of the IHS. SOURCE: [https://www.chevening.org/faqs/what-does-a-chevening-scholarship-cover/](https://www.chevening.org/faqs/what-does-a-chevening-scholarship-cover/) CLAIM: The US has no single federal minimum health insurance requirement for F-1 student visa holders; requirements are set by individual universities. EVIDENCE: There is no federal regulation analogous to the J-1 rule governing F-1 insurance; F-1 coverage requirements are established at the institutional level rather than by a US government minimum-coverage regulation. SOURCE: [https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/chapter-I/subchapter-G/part-62/subpart-A/section-62.14](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/chapter-I/subchapter-G/part-62/subpart-A/section-62.14) CLAIM: J-1 exchange visitors and J-2 dependants must carry insurance with medical benefits of at least $100,000 per accident or illness, medical evacuation coverage of at least $50,000, repatriation of remains coverage of at least $25,000, and a deductible no higher than $500 per accident or illness. EVIDENCE: 22 CFR 62.14(b) sets out exactly these four minimum coverage figures for exchange visitors participating in sponsor-approved programs. SOURCE: [https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/chapter-I/subchapter-G/part-62/subpart-A/section-62.14](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/chapter-I/subchapter-G/part-62/subpart-A/section-62.14) CLAIM: International students on an Australian student visa, along with their dependants, must hold Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) for the entire duration of their stay. EVIDENCE: Study Australia, the Australian government’s official study destination site, states that international students and their dependants must have OSHC for their entire duration in Australia. SOURCE: [https://www.studyaustralia.gov.au/en/plan-your-move/overseas-student-health-cover-oshc](https://www.studyaustralia.gov.au/en/plan-your-move/overseas-student-health-cover-oshc) CLAIM: In Canada, provinces including Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador extend provincial public health coverage to international students who meet minimum study-permit-length and residency conditions, while Ontario and Prince Edward Island do not. EVIDENCE: Provincial eligibility rules for international students vary by province, with the provinces named above setting minimum permit duration and residency conditions for access, and Ontario and PEI requiring international students to obtain coverage through private or institutional plans such as Ontario’s University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP) instead. SOURCE: [https://www.canadavisa.com/student-health-insurance-across-canada.html](https://www.canadavisa.com/student-health-insurance-across-canada.html) CLAIM: Quebec has reciprocal social security agreements covering students from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Romania, allowing them to access the provincial RAMQ health plan instead of mandatory private insurance, though RAMQ does not cover prescription drugs for most of these students except those from France. EVIDENCE: McGill University’s international student services office states that these eleven countries have reciprocal agreements with Quebec giving access to RAMQ, and specifically notes students from these countries are not eligible for the prescription drug plan, with the exception of students from France. SOURCE: [https://www.mcgill.ca/internationalstudents/health/ihi-faqs/ramq](https://www.mcgill.ca/internationalstudents/health/ihi-faqs/ramq) CLAIM: A short-stay Schengen visa, covering stays of up to 90 days, requires travel medical insurance with minimum coverage of €30,000, but this requirement does not apply to long-stay national student visas. EVIDENCE: Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 (the EU Visa Code) Article 15(3) sets the €30,000 minimum coverage figure, and Article 1(1) confirms the regulation’s scope is limited to visas for stays not exceeding three months in any six-month period, excluding long-stay national visas. SOURCE: [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX%3A32009R0810](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX%3A32009R0810) ## Sources Every deadline and award amount above was checked against these pages before publication. 1. [Immigration Health Surcharge rates, GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application/how-much-pay) 2. [Applying for a Student visa, Chevening](https://www.chevening.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Applying-for-a-Student-visa_2025-PDF.pdf) 3. [What does a Chevening Scholarship cover, Chevening](https://www.chevening.org/faqs/what-does-a-chevening-scholarship-cover/) 4. [22 CFR 62.14, Insurance, eCFR](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/chapter-I/subchapter-G/part-62/subpart-A/section-62.14) 5. [Overseas Student Health Cover, Study Australia](https://www.studyaustralia.gov.au/en/plan-your-move/overseas-student-health-cover-oshc) 6. [RAMQ FAQs, McGill International Student Services](https://www.mcgill.ca/internationalstudents/health/ihi-faqs/ramq) 7. 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