Travel Insurance Guide for Indian Students Going Abroad: Compare Options

If you’re about to head overseas for study, you may be looking for international student travel insurance. Travel insurance is intended for specific situations, such as baggage delays or losses, missed flights and connections, and lost or stolen travel documents.

Many Indian students moving overseas for study will need to have student medical insurance as a mandatory requirement for entry to their university, or to get a visa. It’s important to note that travel only policies may not be enough. While many policies offering travel insurance for students studying abroad also cover some medical benefits, their focus isn’t necessarily on health issues.

This guide looks at popular providers of travel insurance to cover travel related claims during international travel. Want to learn about the best international student health insurance for Indian students? Read our full guide here.

About to move abroad? This guide looks at popular international student travel insurance providers to help you find the best travel insurance for students studying abroad in your specific destination. While you’re planning your trip, why not also check out Wise as a great multi-currency account, card and payment provider for anyone studying away from home, or travelling frequently. Wise offers low cost international payments from India, which use the mid-market rate, and multi-currency digital accounts for residents in many other countries around the world. More on that later.

What is International Travel Insurance?

As we’ve seen, overseas student travel insurance isn’t the same as travel health insurance, which can be a mandatory condition of getting a visa.

International travel insurance usually covers things like lost or delayed baggage, travel inconveniences such as delayed, missed or overbooked flights, lost travel documents, and some emergency medical care. However, it’s not intended for full-service health care, and won’t usually cover things like pre-existing conditions, chronic conditions, or preventative care.

Your overseas student travel insurance policy will usually be the same length as your trip duration, and can be helpful when you’re travelling internationally outside of the country you study in. The policy can offer peace of mind and instant support in a range of emergency situations or typical travel frustrations. This guide looks at some popular student travel insurance providers so you can decide which suits your needs.

Best Travel Insurance for Students going to Studying Abroad

There are plenty of choices for study abroad travel insurance, which can offer policies of different lengths, aimed at different global areas, and with different cover levels. The good news is that you can then pick the policy which most closely meets your unique needs. The bad news is that you’ll need to do your homework to figure out which provider and policy will work best for you.

This guide is here to help. Let’s meet some of the best providers of student travel insurance in India.

HDFC Ergo Travel Insurance for International Students

HDFC Ergo Travel Insurance¹ is available for worldwide trips, with policies which can cover being abroad for up to a year. You can choose different cover levels from 40,000 USD to 1 million USD in total, with different price points to match. This allows you to pick the best policy for your specific intentions and budget.

One key selling point for HDFC is that there’s a good range of cashless hospitals which can let you get emergency medical treatment without needing to pay upfront. If this is important to you, check the locations to see if they suit your needs.

Some key cover areas include:

• Emergency medical and dental expenses
• Loss of documents and baggage
• Delay in baggage arrival
• Flight delays
• Emergency financial assistance

Tata AIG International Travel Insurance

Tata AIG International Travel Insurance² is available directly, or through Tata AIG partnerships with airlines such as Air India and Indigo. You can enter your trip details, and state you’re a student looking for travel insurance, to generate a personal quote for the policy which may meet your specific needs. Policies are available for specific named single country trips, or for multiple country trips if you’re touring. There’s no medical check up needed, so you can get your policy arranged pretty much instantly when you need it.

Some key cover areas include:

• Emergency medical treatment
• Medical evacuation and repatriation if needed
• Trip cancellation, curtailment or interruption
• Lost passport or other important documents
• Hijack cover

ICICI Lombard International Travel Insurance

ICICI Lombard International Travel Insurance³ is available on a core policy which covers some medical needs, trip cancellation, interruption and unexpected changes. Or you can add in extras such as pre-existing disease cover, cruise cover or adventure sports cover on specific packages to build out the policy which fully meets your needs.

Policies are split out by destination, with options for North America, Schengen countries, Asia or worldwide. You can also get single trip or multi-trip cover depending on your plans, so you’ve got everything set up in one go. ICICI has digital application services, or you can call into one of their 300+ branches if you prefer.

Some key cover areas include:

• Hospitalisation expenses
• Personal liability
• Emergency cash
• Lost, delayed, or damaged baggage

ACKO International Travel Insurance

ACKO International Travel Insurance⁴ should only take a couple of minutes to purchase online - ideal if you’re in a hurry. As well as the basic benefits you might expect, hospitalisation due to adventure sports is covered, and there should be no out of pocket expenses in the event you need to make a claim. In fact, ACKO has a network of cashless hospitals which allows you to get help in an emergency situation without paying upfront in many cases. This can offer peace of mind if you’re travelling while studying internationally.

There’s no medical check up needed to get your policy. Just enter your destination and the age of travellers to generate an instant quote and get everything set up.

Some key cover areas include:

• Accident and illness
• Flight delay or cancellation
• Bounced bookings
• Missed connections
• Loss or delays of your luggage

International Travel Insurance through Airlines

As well as the option for buying international travel insurance through an insurer or bank, you can also look at options to buy your policy from the airline you plan to fly with. Some airlines like Air India⁵ and IndiGo⁶ offer insurance through major insurance providers, which can be convenient as you can add insurance at the point you book your trip.

As with any insurance policy, the cover levels and costs are quite varied when it comes to insurance from your preferred airline - so you’ll need to weigh up the options to decide which is best for you.

Start your International Journey with Wise

If you’re studying overseas you’re likely to find that you and your loved ones need to send payments abroad in foreign currencies frequently. Cover your tuition costs from India with international payments from Wise, allowing you to quickly deposit funds in bank accounts abroad, with no hassle and no hidden fees.

Send Money with Wise 👉

Wise international transfers from India use the mid-market exchange rate, with low, transparent fees from 1.16%. Set everything up with just your phone or laptop, for secure payments which can arrive quickly or even instantly.

Wise Account for International Students

Depending on where your life as an international student will take you, you might find you can continue to save money and manage your finances easily with a Wise Account.

Open your Wise Account 🚀

Wise Accounts are available in many countries and regions globally, and let you hold 40+ currencies, spend with your Wise card in 150+ countries, and receive payments with local and SWIFT account details in 8+ currencies. Whenever you need to switch from one currency to another you get the mid-market exchange rate with low, transparent fees. That makes it easy to see what you’re spending - no matter which currency you need.

See if you can set up a Wise Account on arrival in your study destination, to spend, withdraw, send and receive payments across currencies with low costs and great rates.