What temporary visa’s require overseas visitor health insurance?

Anyone that visits Australia should consider getting overseas visitor
health insurance. Many people will be exempt from being forced to
as a condition of their cover, and some can even apply for visitor
Medicare cover. However, no matter how short your stay, you never
know what could happen!

If you visit Australia without the cover that you may need, if you have
an accident you could well find yourself in a lot of trouble. Healthcare
is an expensive thing and should you have an accident, you may find
that you end up with some very serious bills. No one wants that.

There are others though that are required to get overseas visitor health
insurance as part of their visa, like those that need to meet 457 visa work requirements.

Visas that require overseas visitor health insurance

Both the 485 and 457 visa work requirements state that you must have overseas visitor health insurance as a condition of your visa. In short, this means that anyone that is coming to Australia to work must make sure that they have the proper health insurance cover to be allowed entry into Australia - in fact, you need to have the cover arranged for your application.

This also means that if you are bringing your family to Australia under the 485 or 457 visa work conditions, then you will need to ensure that you have adequate cover for all your family. But this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Minimum and maximum

The level of health cover to meet either the 485 or 457 visa work requirements are fairly low. The Australian government asks that you get the minimum health insurance that meets their standards. This is to ensure people do not become a drain to the Australian system, and that people like yourself do not end up without the help you need, or left with insane bills that you cannot afford to pay.

However, just because you only need to take out a certain level of insurance, that does not mean that you need to just do that. Insurance is there for a reason, and if you are staying in Australia for sometime, you should look to have as much cover as possible - especially if you are taking your family with you.

What will this cover cost me?

Whether you are simply looking to meet the 485 or 457 visa work requirements, or you are looking to get yourself or your family fully covered for your time in Australia, you should shop around. There are many companies that provide cover for your time in Australia,and when it comes to healthcare you should ensure that you are getting the best price and the most comprehensive cover possible.

What the best deal is also really depends on what you need. The policy with the best value for just meeting your 457 visa work requirements will not be the same as if you are looking for the fullest cover for your whole family.

As we can see in the example above, for a single person who is only looking for basic cover, Frank is the best value policy available to you. But it really does depend on what you want. If were to look for full, comprehensive family cover, for example, you will see that we get very different results.

So it is worth playing around with this and seeing what you can get for your dollar, as you may not really be making the saving you think you are by just going for the basic cover.

Students and health insurance

Like 457 visa work requirements, some students may also need to get health insurance for their student visa. This is not always the case though, but where it is, the requirements for these policies will be very similar to meeting the 457 visa work requirement. You also will need to get your insurance sorted on your application.

Consider carefully

If you are looking to work or study in Australia, then you need to make sure that you meet the student visa or 457 visa work requirements. This is a standard for entry on these visas. However, this is not such a bad thing, and you should really look to get the best overseas visitor health insurance anyway. You do not want to get ill or have an accident and be left with the outrageous bills that this could occur. So have a look, shop around, and make sure that you have all the cover you need for your time in Australia.