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Related guide: Non-lucrative visa insurance: what Americans need
What Each Consulate Asks of Your Health Insurance, One by One
The five consulates we reviewed share the legal core of the non-lucrative residence visa: private health insurance with no copays and no waiting periods, coverage equivalent to the Spanish public health system, repatriation included, and issued by an insurer authorized in Spain. What varies are the documentary details, and not every consulate publishes them with the same clarity. Here is what we have been able to verify on the official Ministry of Foreign Affairs pages, consulate by consulate, noting in each case which points are official and which are worth confirming before your appointment.
Argentina: Consulate General of Spain in Buenos Aires
This is one of the consulates that processes the most non-lucrative visa files, and its official page is clear on the essentials: it requires insurance covering one hundred percent of medical costs, with no copay and no waiting periods, equivalent to the public health system, and valid for the whole first year of residence. It sets no minimum amount in euros for the insurance, and for the insurer’s certificate it requires neither a specific language nor an apostille, which it does require for other documents in the file, such as the criminal record certificate or the medical certificate issued by an Argentine authority.
A useful warning: a figure of around €2,400 a month circulates online in connection with this consulate. It refers to the applicant’s financial means requirement, not to the insurance, and we have not been able to verify it in the official source. As in every case, confirm the amounts with your consulate before submitting your documents.
Venezuela: Consulate General of Spain in Caracas
The Caracas consulate stands out for its requirement on how the policy is paid: it asks for unlimited coverage, paid in full and in advance, and expressly excludes installment payments, payment on reimbursement and policies with a copay or deductible. Of the five, it is the strictest on this point, and it is worth bearing in mind when choosing how to pay for the policy.
The available documentation specifies no language for the insurance certificate and requires no apostille for it, although it does require one for the Venezuelan public health medical certificate. The specific minimum period of validity does not appear in the extract we were able to consult, so that point should be confirmed directly with the consulate.
Colombia: Consulate General of Spain in Bogotá
This is the consulate with the most explicit validity requirement of the five: twelve months counted from the planned travel date. It requires coverage of one hundred percent of medical costs with no limits, no reimbursement, no waiting periods, no deductibles and no copays, and it accepts neither travel insurance nor bank-issued insurance.
It also has two formal requirements worth knowing before you request the certificate: it expressly rejects policies with an automatic renewal clause and asks that the certificate be issued directly by the insurer, not by an intermediary. For the certificate itself it requires neither an apostille nor a specific language; for other public documents in the file, it does require a sworn translation. Our confidence in these details is high because they appear on the official page.
United States: Consulate General of Spain in Miami
Miami’s official page sets out the core requirement, coverage of all the risks insured by the Spanish public health system, with no copays and no waiting periods, but it is less detailed on the formalities: it specifies neither language nor apostille for the insurance certificate, and the general rule on legalized and translated foreign documents does not clarify whether it applies to a policy from a Spanish insurer.
Several unofficial guides state that in practice payment of the full twelve months up front is required. We have not found this in the official source, so we treat it as a low-confidence point: if you are applying in Miami, ask expressly about the payment method before finalizing the policy.
Russia: Consulate General of Spain in Moscow
The Moscow consulate requires coverage of all the risks insured by the Spanish public health system, through an insurer authorized to operate in Spain, without setting a minimum amount. It asks for neither a different language nor an apostille for the insurance certificate, although it does require an apostille for other documents, such as the criminal record certificate.
The specific minimum period of validity for the policy does not appear on the page we consulted, and it is the detail worth confirming with the consulate before your appointment. For our Russian-speaking clients, the conversation about the policy and the certificate takes place in Russian, one of the eight languages spoken at the office.
Information consulted in July 2026 from each consulate’s official pages on exteriores.gob.es and from the DGSFP register of authorized insurers; the points marked as medium or low confidence come from summaries or unofficial sources and must be confirmed with the relevant consulate before submitting your documents. Consular requirements change: always check the current version.
Common questions
Direct answers, the same we give at the office.
What does Spanish law actually require of health insurance for the non-lucrative visa, regardless of consulate?
The Immigration Regulation (LO 4/2000 and its implementing regulation, RD 1155/2024) requires, for every consulate, private health insurance taken out with an insurer authorised to operate in Spain, with no copays and no waiting periods, covering 100% of medical costs equivalent to the Spanish public system and including repatriation, with no minimum sum insured set in euros. At the office we see many applicants arrive thinking they need a specific coverage figure, as with Schengen travel insurance (€30,000), but for the non-lucrative visa the requirement is total coverage, not a cap. What we check before requesting the certificate is that the policy has no copay, deductible or outstanding waiting-period clause, because it is precisely that detail, not the price, that can trigger a request for correction from the consulate.
Do I need to apostille or legalise the health insurance certificate?
None of the five consulates researched (Buenos Aires, Caracas, Bogotá, Miami, Moscow) requires a specific apostille or legalisation for the health insurance certificate, unlike other documents in the file such as a criminal-record certificate, which usually does require one if issued abroad. That is because the certificate is issued by a Spanish insurer authorised by the DGSFP (in our case Sanitas, S.A. de Seguros, through its exclusive agent ANYO HEALTH SL, registration number C0320B67816207), not by a foreign authority. Even so, at the office we always recommend confirming this with your specific consulate before your appointment, because the absence of a mention on the official website is no absolute guarantee it will not be asked for in a particular case: verifying directly with your consulate before submitting your documents avoids surprises on the day.
What language does the health insurance certificate have to be in?
None of the five consulates researched explicitly specifies a separate mandatory language for the health insurance certificate, although Miami applies a general rule on translated foreign documents that is unclear as to whether it extends to a Spanish insurer's policy. At the office we get you the Sanitas certificate in Spanish or English, whichever the applicant needs, in under 24 hours guaranteed (up to 48 hours if there are pre-existing conditions or you pay by bank transfer), precisely because in practice consulates accept both languages without objection when the issuer is an insurer authorised in Spain. That said, if your file includes other documents in a third language, those usually do need a sworn translation into Spanish, something worth checking well before your appointment.
Is there a minimum coverage amount in euros that must appear on the policy?
None of the five consulates researched sets a minimum amount in euros for non-lucrative residence insurance, unlike short-stay Schengen travel insurance, which does require a minimum of €30,000; here the requirement is 100% coverage of medical costs, with no cap on the sum insured. What Buenos Aires, Caracas, Bogotá, Miami and Moscow all require equally is that the policy have no limits, copays or waiting periods; that is, coverage equivalent in benefits to the Spanish public health system, rather than a specific insured sum you can compare like a quote. At the office we find this confusion is common among people who have previously applied for a Schengen tourist visa, because there a fixed figure does exist to memorise.
How long must the policy be valid for when I submit the application?
Only the Bogotá consulate specifies an explicit and verified minimum period: 12 months of coverage from the intended travel date, expressly rejecting policies with an automatic-renewal clause; Buenos Aires requires coverage for the whole first year of residence, and for Caracas, Miami and Moscow the official page does not detail a specific minimum. For those last three, the exact validity is recorded as unverified in our research, so the right move is to verify directly with your consulate before submitting your documents. At the office, as a general rule to avoid objections at any of the five consulates, we recommend always presenting a policy with annual validity from the date of the appointment or intended travel, with no automatic-renewal clause visible on the certificate.
Do I have to pay the full policy in advance before applying for the visa?
Only Caracas explicitly and verifiably requires full advance payment of the policy, expressly rejecting instalments or pay-and-claim arrangements; for Miami a similar claim is made only by unofficial sources and is not confirmed on the consulate's official page, and in Buenos Aires, Bogotá and Moscow this requirement is not mentioned. At the office, when the destination is Caracas or Miami, we offer the option of requesting the certificate from Sanitas with the annual payment already settled precisely to cover that scenario, but for the other consulates there is no need to pay the full amount up front unless the consulate itself asks for it in writing on the day of the appointment, which is worth verifying directly with your consulate before submitting your documents.
Does the same Sanitas/ProtegeSalud certificate work for the non-lucrative visa, digital nomad visa, studies and family reunification, or does it change by visa type?
The Sanitas certificate for our no-copay, no-waiting-period policies works for all four procedures (non-lucrative visa, digital nomad visa, studies and family reunification). For the digital nomad visa, the legal requirement is health insurance, public or private, with an insurer authorized to operate in Spain, whatever your situation with Social Security; in general it doesn't have to be free of copays and waiting periods, but our immigration lawyer recommends that it is, just in case, and this certificate covers that too. Arraigo is a different case: it does not require private health insurance, as our immigration lawyer confirms. What can vary is the validity period or method of payment each consulate demands. At the office we request a single certificate tailored to the destination consulate, adjusting the coverage start date and, where the destination requires it (as in Bogotá or Caracas), the annual payment format with no automatic-renewal clause. As a price reference, with annual payment in Madrid, Sanitas Residents Visado costs €1,544.89 a year for a 30-year-old insured alone, and for studies, Sanitas International Students, for ages 14 to 35 (once you turn 36 you can no longer sign up), costs €693.73 a year for a 22-year-old. What the student visa itself requires is set out in our guide to Spain student visa insurance requirements. On Residents Visado, the premium per person goes down when you insure several people on the same policy: lower with 2 or 3 insured and lower still with 4 or more.
What should I do if my consulate asks for something different from this table or the official Exteriores site?
If your consulate requires, in writing or verbally, something different from what is described here (a specific language, an apostille, a minimum amount or a different validity period), that local criterion always prevails over this guide and over the general Exteriores page, because consulates apply a degree of discretion that can change without public notice. This is especially relevant for Miami, where several unofficial sources warn of criteria that vary by official or by moment. At the office, when a client passes on a specific requirement from their consulate that does not match what we have documented, we ask Sanitas to adapt the certificate to that exact request. This article is not legal or immigration advice: for your specific file, the source that prevails is always your consulate's official page or a registered immigration lawyer.