Global Term Life Insurance for Expatriates Living Overseas
Protecting your loved ones when you live abroad is just as important when you are living abroad. International life insurance for expatriates is a fundamental part of any global financial security plan. Expat Financial is one of the few independent international life insurance brokerage sources in the world. We cater to individuals living outside the country that they hold a passport who want to buy life or accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) plans.
We offer expat term life insurance and year-to-year life insurance plans that can provide coverage from a minimum of $250,000 to $5 Million for expatriates residing in most countries. You can obtain a 1 to 30-year level premium and coverage policy while you are living abroad so you can protect your family from life’s uncertainties. The plan is not available to current residents of the USA or Canada, and you must be an expatriate living abroad to obtain a quote and apply.
Key Benefits of the Expat Term Life Plan
- Comprehensive life insurance for death from illness or accidents
- 1-30 year term options
- Global protection once the plan is established
- Premiums are guaranteed by the provider for the contract term – other plans are year to year.
- Coverage is designed for expatriates and global nomads
- The plan is available to residents of up to 170 countries
Choosing the Right Global Life Insurance Policies
TFG Global or our associates can search the marketplace to provide quotations from well-known, financially secure and reputable insurance companies on a no-charge and no-obligation basis. We can also potentially help expatriates decide on the right amount of protection based on their unique circumstances. Note that our expat life plans are not available to local nationals or expatriates currently living in some countries, including the USA, Canada, and the UAE – please contact us for more information. If you are about to move outside of one of these countries, you can make the effective date the day you move abroad. Check our blog for getting the insights on top reasons to buy international life insurance plans.
Who Buys International Life Insurance?
We find many global citizens who buy life insurance for expatriates. Here are some examples of people who buy global life insurance as expats:
- Single expatriates who have family members who rely on them financially
- Mortgages – Single or married expatriates who have mortgages on overseas or domestic properties and life insurance is a requirement of the loan.
- Expat couples who rely on their two incomes to meet financial needs or the needs of the surviving spouse
- Expatriates with children – this is a big reason why expatriates buy global life insurance as they need a pool of capital there to pay off debts and provide an income should the income earners die prematurely. Allowing for life insurance to provide for the raising of children and their education is also critical.
- In companies with one expatriate employee – a group plan may not be available because of the small number of expatriate employees, so some expatriate employees will buy an individual expat life insurance plan.
- Paying estate taxes – we have encountered expatriates who need international life insurance for expats to pay off government taxes that are due at death.
- Key-Person expat life insurance – some overseas companies will purchase life insurance for expats to protect the company from the financial losses incurred by losing a key employee or to have money available to buy the shares of the deceased employee.
Expatriate Disability Coverage
You can also obtain a quote for an expatriate disability income insurance plan from the Expatriate Group by clicking HERE. This accident and illness insurance can provide you valuable protection against accidental death, permanent disablement and temporary disablement.
The income protection policy pays you a monthly income from a total disability after a waiting period of 3 or 6 months. It is an excellent complement to global life coverage. Note that some expat life providers we work with do not have a disability plan add-on.
Expat Insurance Needs Analysis
We recommend that global citizens complete an online expat life insurance needs analysis online or contact us to complete one. Many advisors recommend that you have enough life cover to pay off your debts and final expenses and a pool of money left over to replace your income to support your partner and children. There is an excellent life insurance calculator available on the Sun Life website. We recommend you use this calculator, especially if you are applying for a larger amount of coverage.
How do you Buy International Life Insurance?
You first need to complete our expat life insurance quote form noted above, and we will examine it and send it along to one of our insurance providers. They will then send back a quote if you are eligible. After some back and forth, you can then apply online or offline. The medical underwriters will then request some medical questions and forms to be answered. They may require that you take some medical tests and even a doctor’s medical along with proof of your identity and residence abroad. The process can take a few weeks or months, so the earlier you start, the better.
What Types of Expat Life Insurance Are Available?
This depends on the insurer you choose. Some plans are year-to-year plans, and premiums increase as you age and can also change if the provider’s underwriters increase or decrease rates for all ages based on demographic and claims trends. Some global life insurance providers will give you a level premium for a number of years, such as a 10, 20 or 30-year level term life plan. These plans are generally less expensive than a yearly increasing plan and are ideal for expats who plan to live abroad for life.
Can I Cancel my Expat Life Policy?
Most expat life insurance plans allow you to cancel the Policy anytime and for any reason. Written notice of instruction to cancel the Policy should be sent to the Company at its Head Office. We highly recommend you do not cancel any existing life insurance plans.
If you have an existing life insurance plan covering you abroad, we strongly recommend you do not cancel it, as expat life plans are more expensive than domestic life insurance policies.
What is the Tax Treatment of Global Life Insurance Plans?
The treatment of a premium or claim for an offshore expat life insurance plan will differ from citizenship and country to country. Tax laws are extremely complex, and a life insurance payment in the event of a claim will depend on many factors, such as your country of residence, citizenship, if you provided a beneficiary prior to death or if the payment is via your estate.
We strongly recommend that you talk to your tax and legal advisors, as they are the only ones who can tell you if an offshore life insurance plan will be taxable or not. We are not able to give this advice.
Can a beneficiary live in a different country from the insured expat?
Yes, this is totally acceptable for the beneficiary of your expat life plan, with all the insurers we know of being located in a different country. You can often split the insured beneficiary amounts between two or three people. Note that under-age beneficiaries may require a trustee or trust if they are under the local age of adulthood.
Common Expat Life Insurance Exclusions
Like any insurance plan, there will be a few common exclusions. Always remember to provide a full accounting of your health history when buying expat life insurance coverage, as any commissions or misstatements could lead to your coverage being cancelled or a claim denied.
Also, make sure you pay your international life insurance premium and update your credit card and email address, as coverage will lapse otherwise. Most expat life plans have the following exclusions, but make sure you read your plan contract in full:
The Death Benefit for most individual life insurance plans for expats shall not be paid if the death of a Life Assured results directly or indirectly from any of the following events or circumstances:
- Active participation by a Life Assured in any war, whether declared or not, civil war, insurrection, riot, terrorist act, mutiny, piracy, civil commotion or other acts of violence originating from any political or civil unrest.
- Committing or trying to commit an assault
- Participation in any act deemed a criminal offence, whether convicted or not.
- Intentional self-inflicted injuries, including suicide, while sane or insane.
Please read the plan terms and conditions before you agree to a policy.
How Do I Pay for My International Life Insurance?
Expats who have secured global life insurance will pay the premiums directly to the insurer or provider that we work with and all claims are payable from the insurer. Policyholders will have the option to pay for their international life coverage on an annual, monthly or possibly quarterly basis via wire or credit card. You can pay your premium in Euro, GBP or USD. We strongly recommend you pay premiums on time as failure to do so can mean that loss of your coverage and payments are the full responsibility of the policy owner.
Will Domestic Plans Cover Expatriates
This can be tricky to answer as there are so many expatriate insurance services from numerous countries. Some countries you are moving to will cover newly arriving expatriates or after you have set permanent residence there. Other nations will not cover foreign nationals living in their country. For our clients living in less developed countries, there may simply be no domestic life insurance or the options available may be financially unreliable and not portable should the global citizen move to a new country.
Some Excluded Countries & Nationalities for the Expatriate International Life Insurance Plans:
Afghanistan, Albania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Eritrea, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, North Korea, Palestine, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Switzerland, Yemen. Additional exclusions could apply where high-risk nationalities are combined with high-risk territories. The insurers we work with could also restrict additional countries or nationalities. We are not able to cover expatriates who will be living in the USA or Canada for expat life insurance – we encourage them to obtain a plan from a local insurer in their respective new countries.
