Student insurance for a visa: why you buy a second policy

A policy bought for the visa settles the question only in Italy. In Poland the student signs a voluntary health insurance contract with the regional NFZ branch after arrival and pays the contribution themselves. In Czechia the law allows 90 days from the date of entry to buy a second policy from a Czech insurer. The three countries define the first policy so differently that no single coverage figure applies to all of them.

Every amount below stands next to its primary source.

Two steps instead of one

The policy for the consulate and the insurance you arrange after moving are two separate purchases with different requirements. In Poland and Czechia the second step is mandatory; in Italy it is voluntary, but it affects the length of the residence permit.

The 30 000 EUR figure is the Polish national requirement and also the minimum for short-stay Schengen visas. It has nothing to do with the Czech long-stay student visa, and the Italian checklist names no amount at all: it points to the law on the adequacy of coverage instead. Nothing supports the line “for Italy you need insurance from 30 000 EUR”.

The second step happens after arrival.

Poland: a policy for the visa, then a contract with NFZ

The national visa requires a policy for 30 000 EUR, but the amount alone is not enough: the embassy also sets what the coverage must include and what the insurer must do. A second procedure starts after arrival, and the visa page says nothing about it: NFZ directs a non-EU student to a voluntary health insurance contract.

What makes a policy acceptable. Since 1 December 2020 the policy must provide a sum insured of at least 30 000 EUR, be valid for the whole planned period of stay in Poland, and cover the return journey for medical reasons, emergency care, emergency inpatient treatment and death. On top of that, the insurer undertakes to pay providers directly by invoice and to run a round-the-clock assistance center (the embassy’s conditions, verified: 2026-08-31). It is these two conditions, not the amount, that filter out cheap travel policies.

The MFA list and the one trap in it. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes a list of insurers meeting the conditions of the law, with a “Republic of Kazakhstan” section. The check has two parts: the insurer must be on the current list, and the policy itself must meet the conditions on the amount and on what the coverage includes. A company’s presence on the list does not prove that any of its products qualifies. The trap is that gov.pl serves two different versions of the file: the current one was changed on 7 August 2025, while the copy on the student visa page is dated 29 December 2020, and their Kazakhstan sections do not match. The document carries no version date inside it, so open the list immediately before buying.

After entry. NFZ puts it this way: a non-EU student should insure themselves through a voluntary health insurance contract with the regional branch where they live, and pay the monthly contribution out of their own pocket. Holders of the Karta Polaka and of a certificate of Polish origin are the exception; for them the university carries the registration duty (NFZ, patient guide, verified: 2026-08-31). The branch wants a passport together with the document proving lawful stay (a visa and a karta pobytu both qualify), proof of student status and, for a student under 18, parental permission.

The source of every row: the NFZ page on voluntary insurance. The 55.80 PLN rate has held since the November 2018 contribution and applies to students on Polish language courses and preparatory courses as well. The 845.67 PLN row is here so that nobody mistakes it for the student rate: it is the general case, set quarterly and liable to change. For everyone else the additional contribution for a break in insurance reaches 18 792.66 PLN, and the exemption follows student status rather than being granted for good.

The contract is signed with NFZ, but the money goes to ZUS, into an account number assigned to you individually, and a ZUS DRA settlement declaration is filed for every month of insurance. One month of continuous arrears terminates the contract.

Registration with NFZ is not the only route. For a temporary residence permit for study, the voivodeship accepts either proof of health insurance within the meaning of the law of 27 August 2004, or confirmation that the insurer covers treatment costs on Polish territory; it names both confirmation of ZUS registration and a private policy as examples (Lubuskie Voivodeship Office, verified: 2026-08-26). This is one voivodeship’s list, and each has its own. The advantage of NFZ is that it gives access to publicly funded care on the same terms as any other insured person, plus the EKUZ card. On the first weeks after arrival: karta pobytu. On what goes into the visa package: the Poland student visa.

Czechia: 400 000 EUR and 90 days from entry

The law sets the Czech minimum, not the consulate: at least 400 000 EUR per insured event, with no cost sharing by the insured person. Czech law is also stricter than Polish law on what happens next: the policy the student entered on does not run indefinitely, and there are 90 days to replace it.

The visa stage. The requirement sits in § 180j(1) of Act No. 326/1999 Sb. and is repeated on the consular page of the Czech MFA that the embassy in Astana links to: coverage of comprehensive medical care for the whole period of stay, a minimum of 400 000 EUR, no deductible. The law allows a policy bought in the country of citizenship when you apply from abroad, but it goes in together with officially certified Czech translations of both the insurance contract and the general terms, and, on request, proof that the premium was paid. Translating the general terms costs extra and adds its own deadline to the submission calendar.

The moment it is produced is not the one people expect: the policy is shown not when the application is filed but before the visa sticker is issued. The submission procedure in full, including registration through the university and the time limit for the decision: student visa to Czechia.

The second policy. A foreigner who entered on a policy under paragraph 1 must, no later than 90 days from the date of entry, take out insurance covering comprehensive medical care from an insurer entitled to operate in Czechia (§ 180j(5)). A Kazakhstani policy bought for the visa does not satisfy this. There is a ground for cancelling a long-stay visa: § 37 of the same act covers the case where, during a check on the stay, a foreigner does not produce an insurance document meeting the conditions of § 180i or § 180j and still does not produce it within the deadline set by the police. § 46(1) extends that ground to a long-term residence permit.

What “comprehensive care” means. The policy may not exclude preventive care, follow-up care, or care connected with pregnancy and childbirth; nor may it exclude payment for an injury caused by the insured person’s own fault or sustained while intoxicated. The insurer’s contracted providers deliver the care, and the patient does not pay for treatment directly. This is not the equivalent of Czech public insurance: the law describes the purpose as preserving the state of health as it was before the contract was signed, and the payout limits remain contractual.

The market and renewals. One insurer’s monopoly on comprehensive insurance for foreigners was abolished by Act No. 278/2023 Sb. from 20 September 2023; the same act raised the limit to 400 000 EUR. Some official Czech pages have not been updated since, so outdated conditions still turn up in search; the current sources are the text of the act and the consular page of the MFA. One more detail for multi-year programmes: when applying on Czech territory and when extending a stay, a foreign policy is not accepted at all, only a Czech one and only a comprehensive one.

Italy: a checklist with no amount and voluntary SSN registration

Italy works differently: there is no mandatory second policy, but there is voluntary registration with the national health service, and the length of the residence permit depends on the coverage period. The consulate in Astana names no amount.

For the visa. Insurance is item six on the Italian embassy’s checklist: the original and two copies. Policies from Italian companies are valid, and so are foreign policies, provided they come with a consular confirmation stating that the coverage is valid on Italian territory, how long it runs and which forms of medical care it covers. The checklist describes neither how to obtain that confirmation nor what it costs. The same policy is presented again when applying for the residence permit.

After the residence permit is issued. A holder of a residence permit for study may register with the SSN voluntarily. The contribution is fixed, at least 700 EUR a year, paid through form F24 (Italian Ministry of Health, verified: 2026-08-31). The amount is set by the budget law: Legge 213/2023, art. 1 para. 240 has applied since 1 January 2024 and sets a floor, not a fixed price, while paragraph 6-bis inserted by the same provision allows an annual ministerial decree to index the minimums. Hence the wording “at least 700 EUR a year” rather than “exactly 700 EUR”.

The calendar. Registration runs only for a calendar year, from 1 January to 31 December, and there is no reduced amount for a shorter period; in exchange, you may pay for the current year and the next at once, to cover an academic year that starts in September. The residence permit issued is never longer than the insurance or the SSN registration (University of Bologna, verified: 2026-07-28). A short policy bought for the visa appointment shortens the residence permit.

Why there are no private policy prices here

No official source publishes the price of a private policy in any of the three countries, so none appears here. Only two numbers are published: the NFZ contribution of 55.80 PLN a month and the SSN minimum of 700 EUR a year, and both are state contributions, not insurance prices.

In Czechia the reason is clearest. The law obliges the insurer to publish a model contract and the insurance terms, but not the premium, and the premium is calculated individually after the state of health is assessed. A one-off quote from an online calculator is not a published price: it can be neither dated nor reproduced. That is why there is no line here saying “insurance costs this much by country”: the three countries can be compared honestly on what the law requires and on what is published, but not on price. How insurance fits into the budget: how much studying in Poland costs.

A consultation works one country’s requirements through against your own submission date and coverage period: insurance selection and visa support.