Looking for travel insurance targeted at global expats

[globalbabe]

Hi all

I am looking for travel insurance for frequent overseas travel (these days, I am diving overseas every 6-8 weeks). On initial glance, I'm sure this seems like a simple request, but my case is quite tricky - I'm an expat living in Pakistan and am not eligible for travel insurance from the US, UK, Europe, Australia, etc, as those programs all require you to be a resident there.

I do have DAN insurance for diving cover - and decent health insurance through my job - but what is proving elusive is good coverage for luggage/personal effects, baggage/trip delay, flight cancellations, etc.

The best I have come up with so far is World Nomads, which gives me up to $2,000 coverage for baggage, where coverage for one individual item may not exceed $1,000. Since I travel with a laptop, camera, full diving gear, I am going to be significantly out of pocket if anything gets lost or stolen. It is interesting to note that World Nomads offers different coverage, depending on where you are a resident, so when I was based in Australia, I could get up to $5,000 coverage for lost/stolen baggage alone!

I have looked into travel insurance options here in Pakistan but alas, they offer even less attractive coverage options (baggage coverage of between $500-1,000!?!)

So I am seeking advice and recommendations from other global expats who might have found some good travel insurance to cover you when you are travelling from your resident country to a third (or fourth) country - and preferably not coverage linked to your country of nationality, since I am not eligible for those. If I could get annual coverage, including within Pakistan, that would be most ideal!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Kiwi303]

Hmm... trying to remember, but didn't you say at one point you are a Kiwi working for an Aid agency in pakistan? You should be able to get www.1Cover.co.nz frequent traveller or long stay traveller insurance.

Otherwise your best bet might be a custom insurance policy by a risk management broker such as Lloyds of London which you can craft to cover exactly what you want it to cover, excluding what is already covered by your existing Employment health and DAN policies rather than overlapping them.

 

[globalbabe]

Thanks for the response. I haven't lived in NZ for over 17 years (and haven't visited in 7 1/2 yrs) so I don't qualify for that one either - I don't keep a residence anywhere except Pakistan right now. Good suggestion about Lloyds - I'll look into that possibility.

Ideally, I'd also like to be covered for travel within Pakistan and for events such as terrorism and natural disasters (my last two duty stations have been Iraq and Pakistan, after all), but most policies tend to exclude these. Will keep looking!

 

[Kiwi303]

Lloyds has speciality brokers who DO cover War, Acts of God and Acts of Terrorism it's there in their brokerage search menus Probably costs more, but you should be able to claim the extra costs over the standard policies against taxes as a business/income related cost.

Good luck.

 

[globalbabe]

Errr...if I paid tax anywhere (one of the perks of being in the UN)