Life Insurance for Non-U.S. Residents

I currently get about five thousand hits on my life insurance website per month.  In Google Analytics, I can see where my visitors come from, and I consistently get around 10% of my visitors coming from countries outside of the United States.  I see a lot of foreign nationals from India, and Australia, England, and other countries in Europe primarily, I suppose because these are the English speaking countries.

A lot of these Non-U.S. residents sign up for life insurance quotes at my site as well.  The question I am asked most frequently is, “Can you sell life insurance to me if I’m not a U.S. citizen and don’t live in the United States?”  YES, I can, in most countries.  There are some obvious countries that life insurance companies would be weary of in the Middle East, but even there, you can get insurance depending on where you live.  I recently got a request for insurance from a woman in Israel.  The key here is that she didn’t live in a hot zone for dangerous activity, and I was able to find a couple carriers who would make offers to her.

What is a Non-U.S. Resident?
Per Prudential’s “Non-U.S. Resident Highlighter”, a Non-U.S. resident is defined as: Individuals who do not have a full-time permanent U.S. residence or reside outside of the U.S. for 3 months or more annually. Citizenship is not a determining factor in defining a Non-U.S. Resident.

For underwriting purposes, a non-U.S. Resident is defined as an individual who:
- spends more than 3 months a year outside of the United States
- visits the U.S. for business or pleasure but maintains permanent residence outside of the U.S. An example may be a U.S. citizen, who has moved to Germany but returns to the U.S. periodically to visit family.
- is expected to reside in the U.S. on a temporary basis. An example may be an exchange student or individual here for business or professional or educational training.
- resides in the U.S. on a part-time basis only. An example may be a Swedish citizen who owns a home in Sweden and lives in the U.S. for 3 months a year for business purposes.

The only requirement to buy life insurance or funeral insurance in the U.S. is that the applicant must be in the U.S. to take the application and medical exam.  It’s okay if you’re a foreign national and just here on vacation, but these things must be done here in the states.  Most insurance companies require you purchase a minimum of $250,000 of coverage, but all policy options are available to you, including term life insurance, universal life, or whole life insurance.

Countries whose Residents we Can’t Help:

Please note there are some countries who prevent their citizens from purchasing life insurance outside of their country of residents.  These include, but are not limited to: Argentina, Belgium, France, Greece, Japan, Panama, Poland, Switzerland, Uruguay, and Venezuela.  However, if you aren’t a citizen, but not a full-time resident of one of these countries, it may still be possible to purchase U.S. life insurance.

In some other countries, there are either legal or government restrictions preventing us from selling life insurance to their residents, or the risk is simply too high in the country to offer life insurance, which are: Afghanistan, Burma, Cambodia, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Lebanon, North Korea, and Sudan.  If you are a resident of most other countries, and you are willing to visit the U.S. for the application, exam, and also be here for the delivery of the policy, then we can probably find you a policy.  Three countries we have had great success writing non-U.S. citizens in are Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico (U.S. Territory).  Call us at 877-443-9467 with the details of your case.

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Tagged as: life insurance, Non-U.S. Residents