Term life
Cover for a fixed period, paying a sum if the insured person dies within it. Commonly matched to a mortgage, a period of dependency or the years before retirement.
Expat & International Life InsuranceFor those who follow.
International life insurance, often called expat life insurance, is life cover for people whose lives, families or holdings sit across more than one country. This page sets out the forms it takes and the questions that shape it.
Understanding
What international life insurance is
A life policy is a promise made in one jurisdiction, in one currency, to people who may live somewhere else entirely. For a family that has moved, or will move, those three facts matter as much as the sum assured.
Life cover written domestically may assume the insured person stays resident in that country. International life insurance is written with mobility in mind: where the insured lives now, where they may live later, where the beneficiaries are, and in which currency obligations at home will fall due.
The Forms It Takes
The forms international life cover takes
The vocabulary below recurs in every policy document and is the basis of any comparison between them.
Whole of life
Cover that lasts for the insured person’s lifetime, paying whenever death occurs. Often considered alongside estate and succession questions.
Currency and jurisdiction
The currency of the sum assured and the jurisdiction whose law governs the policy. Both affect what beneficiaries receive and how a claim is administered.
Residency and underwriting
Country of residence, occupation, travel and health are all assessed at application. A later move abroad may need to be disclosed under the policy terms.
Key person cover
Cover on the life of someone whose loss would materially affect an owner-managed or family enterprise. The enterprise is typically the beneficiary.
Protection is not investment
Some policies described as offshore life insurance are investment-linked: their value depends on the performance of underlying assets. They are investment products, regulated as such, and are not the subject of this page.
LIBRO does not underwrite, sell, arrange or advise on insurance, and nothing here is an offer, an invitation, a recommendation or advice. This page is general information, written for understanding. Insurance is regulated, and questions of cover belong with a licensed insurer or broker in the relevant jurisdiction.