Life insurance for new migrants

Insurers assess two things when a recent migrant applies: whether you are eligible at all, and whether they can verify your health. The first is a matter of policy and differs between companies. Some will only insure New Zealand citizens and permanent residents. Others will consider applicants on specific work visas, sometimes with a minimum period already spent in the country, and sometimes with conditions attached about what happens if you leave.

The second is where the delay lives. New Zealand underwriting relies heavily on GP notes, and a doctor here has records going back weeks. Everything before that sits with a practice in another country, in another language, under another privacy regime. Insurers will still want it if your answers suggest they should, and obtaining it can take months rather than the two or three weeks a domestic request takes.

None of this makes cover unobtainable. It makes the choice of insurer more important than usual, because appetite for migrant applicants varies widely and is not something you can determine from a website.

1. 1Establish your eligibility first. Visa type and time in New Zealand determine which insurers will consider you.
2. 2Gather what medical documentation you already hold — discharge summaries, specialist letters, test results — before you apply.
3. 3Request your overseas records early. Start that process at the same time as the application, not after the insurer asks.
4. 4Disclose everything, including conditions treated abroad that you consider resolved. Non-disclosure is the main cause of declined claims in New Zealand.
5. 5Expect a longer timeline and do not make decisions — like cancelling cover at home — that assume a quick answer.
6. 6Register with a New Zealand GP. Building a local medical record makes every future application easier.

Cover you still hold at home

Do not cancel an overseas policy on arrival. It may continue to cover you while you live here, and if it does it is cover underwritten on younger health at a price you have already been accepted for. Ask your existing insurer in writing whether residence in New Zealand changes anything, and keep that answer. Cancel only once New Zealand cover is issued and in force.

These are the details that decide whether the cover does what you expected. Read them before you compare on price.

• Which insurers currently accept your visa category, and whether any minimum residence period applies.
• Whether an offer is conditional on you remaining in New Zealand, and what happens if you leave.
• Whether the insurer will accept overseas medical evidence directly or require a New Zealand examination.
• Whether a condition treated overseas is described in terms a New Zealand underwriter will recognise — terminology and diagnostic thresholds differ.
• Whether income protection is available to you given your employment status and visa conditions.
• Whether any travel to your home country creates residence or travel restrictions under the policy.

Every New Zealand insurer writes cover for recent arrivals to its own wording, and the words are where the money is. Two policies that look identical on price can pay very differently when it matters. Closing that gap is the entire job of an adviser.

• Knowing which insurers currently have appetite for applicants on your visa type, which changes and is not published.
• Presenting an overseas medical history properly, with translations and context, so it is assessed on the facts.
• Managing a long underwriting process and keeping the application alive while records are obtained.
• Advising on whether existing home-country cover should be kept during the transition.

There are three ways to buy life cover in New Zealand, and they are not equivalent. You can buy direct from one insurer, which means you see one product range and one underwriting appetite. You can buy through your bank, which usually means a single insurer’s product sold under the bank’s brand, often with narrower definitions. Or you can go through an adviser, who quotes several insurers at once and is required to put your interests first.

The premium you pay is the same either way. Insurers build adviser commission into their pricing whether or not an adviser is involved, so going direct does not get you a discount — it just removes the person whose job is to argue your corner at application and at claim time.

• An adviser can see which insurer is currently taking your health history on standard terms, and which one will load or exclude it.
• An adviser can structure cover across two insurers if that produces a better outcome than putting everything with one.
• An adviser handles the underwriting back-and-forth, and is the person who chases the claim when a family is least able to.
• An adviser has to document why the recommendation suits you, which is a written record you can hold them to.

We are a referral service, not an insurer. We do not quote premiums and we do not sell policies. What we do is put you in front of one licensed New Zealand adviser who can compare the market properly.

1. 1

   You tell us what you are looking at

   The form takes about a minute. Nobody asks for your medical history on a web form — that conversation happens with the adviser, properly, and only once you have decided to proceed.

2. 2

   An adviser calls you

   A licensed New Zealand adviser talks through your situation: who depends on you, what you owe, what you already have in place, and what you are actually worried about.

3. 3

   They compare the market

   The adviser quotes across the major insurers, checks which of them will take your health history on the best terms, and puts the options side by side in writing.

4. 4

   You decide, in your own time

   There is no obligation and no cost to you. If the answer is that you already have enough cover, a good adviser will tell you that.