Family Travel Insurance for a Schengen Visa
Applying for a Schengen visa as a family raises a question that doesn't come up for solo travelers: does everyone need their own policy, and does the price actually add up the way you'd expect? The short answer is yes, every applicant needs proof of coverage, including children. The longer answer is that pricing for kids, and how providers structure family cover, varies more than most people assume.
Every applicant needs their own certificate, kids included
The consulate doesn't care whether the applicant is 4 or 44. Article 15 of the Schengen Borders Code sets the same four requirements for every name on every application: minimum medical coverage of €30,000, validity across all Schengen states rather than just the country you're visiting, dates that cover the full trip, and explicit coverage for medical evacuation and repatriation of remains. A child's certificate has to show all four items just like a parent's does. There's no family exemption and no reduced coverage minimum for minors. For the full breakdown of what a valid certificate needs to state, see our guide to Schengen insurance requirements.
What differs is the price, not the coverage floor.
How children are typically priced
Most providers price a child's policy at around 0.9x of the adult base rate for the same trip length and coverage tier. So if an adult policy on a given plan works out to roughly €2 a day, a child on the same plan lands closer to €1.80. It's a modest discount, not a dramatic one, because the coverage itself, and the insurer's exposure if something goes wrong, doesn't shrink much just because the traveler is younger.
SafetyWing is the outlier worth knowing about if you're traveling with young kids. Children under 10 can be added as dependents on an insured parent's plan at no extra cost, up to two children per family. Once a child turns 10, that free-dependent option ends, and a 10-17 year old buying their own policy pays the standard adult rate rather than a discounted one. If your family includes a mix of ages, it's worth checking whether that threshold changes which provider comes out cheaper for you. Our SafetyWing review covers how the dependent rule works in more detail.
What a family trip roughly costs
Using our own comparison data across the five main providers (AXA Schengen, Europ Assistance, Heymondo, EKTA, and SafetyWing) on a base €30,000 plan, here's what a single 18-39 year-old adult's policy typically starts from, by trip length:
- 7 days: from €15
- 14 days: from €29
- 30 days: from €56
- 90 days: from €145
Multiply that lower-end figure by the number of adults in the family, then apply roughly the 0.9x child discount for each kid over 10 (or check the SafetyWing free-dependent rule for younger ones), and you'll have a rough sense of total cost. These are starting estimates driven by the cheaper providers in the comparison, not a fixed quote, since actual pricing depends on the plan tier and each traveler's exact age. For a number specific to your family's ages and trip dates, the price estimator on our homepage is faster than doing the math by hand.
Don't confuse insurance with the visa application fee
Families sometimes mix these two costs up when budgeting. The Schengen visa application fee is separate from insurance entirely and is paid to the consulate, not an insurer. It's €90 per adult, €45 for children aged 6-11, and free for children under 6. That fee is fixed by the EU and doesn't change based on nationality or which country's consulate processes the application. Your insurance premium is on top of that, and it goes to the insurer, not the consulate.
Picking one provider or splitting the family across two
Most families buy the same plan for everyone traveling together, mainly for simplicity when submitting documents. Europ Assistance's default plan gives €60,000 of cover, double the legal minimum, which some parents prefer for young kids without paying much more per person. AXA Schengen refunds the full premium if a visa is refused, provided you have the official refusal letter and the policy was never used, which matters if you're booking insurance for four or five people ahead of a visa decision that isn't guaranteed. Note that this refund term is specific to AXA and isn't standard across every insurer, so check the fine print before assuming it applies elsewhere, as covered in our guide to visa refusal refunds by provider.
If your family's ages span a wide range, say a grandparent traveling with grandchildren, it can be worth pricing providers separately per traveler rather than assuming one plan fits everyone best. Rates for travelers 60 and up climb faster on some plans than others, so a single-provider approach isn't always the cheapest for a mixed-age group. The full provider comparison lets you check that side by side.
A word on what doesn't count
Some families assume a domestic health plan or an employer's group policy covers everyone while traveling. It usually doesn't, at least not against the specific four Article 15 criteria a Schengen application needs. There's also no official government-approved insurer list for Schengen visas, so any policy meeting those four requirements is accepted, regardless of which of the five providers you choose or how well-known the brand is.
This information is general comparison guidance, not insurance advice. Coverage details and prices are set by the insurers and may change — verify the policy wording on the insurer's official website before purchasing.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, every applicant regardless of age needs proof of coverage meeting the Article 15 requirements, including infants. Some providers, like SafetyWing, let children under 10 join a parent's policy as a free dependent instead of buying a separate one, but the coverage still has to exist on paper for the application.
Not usually as a bundled 'family plan' in the way you might see with domestic health insurance. Most Schengen insurers price each traveler separately, often with roughly a 0.9x discount for children versus the adult rate. The main way to save is comparing providers, not looking for a family package.
No. Each applicant named on a Schengen visa application needs their own certificate showing the required coverage. The exception is SafetyWing's dependent option for children under 10, who can be added to an insured parent's plan rather than buying a separate one.
No, they're entirely separate. The visa application fee (€45 for children aged 6-11, free under 6) is paid to the consulate for processing. The insurance premium is paid to the insurer and is required regardless of the application fee.