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Expat-verzekeringen
Expat insurance covers the insurance solutions for people who live or work across borders: employees and company directors who go to live or work abroad, and foreign employees who come to work in Belgium. Insurance that is watertight in Belgium does not automatically follow you across the border, and that is exactly where we help you build a fitting solution.
- Who we help
- International employers, seconded employees and company directors, and expats who come to live or work in Belgium.
- The tax benefit
- The tax and social security treatment depends on your status, your country of work and the applicable treaties, and we map it out for your situation.
What is expat insurance?
Anyone who crosses the border for work quickly ends up in a tangle of systems. Your Belgian insurance policies and your mutualiteit (your statutory health insurance fund) are built around the Belgian system and do not always hold up once you settle abroad for a long period or leave the Belgian social security system. Expat insurance bundles the cover that someone needs in an international situation, tailored to the country, the status and the duration of the assignment. There are broadly three situations:
- Outbound expats: Belgian employees or company directors who go to live or work abroad, temporarily or for a longer period
- Inbound expats: foreign employees who are employed in Belgium by their employer
- Cross-border situations: people who live in one country and work in another
Who is it for?
Expat insurance is for employers and individuals with an international dimension. In concrete terms, this often involves:
- International employers who second employees abroad or bring foreign talent to Belgium
- Seconded employees and company directors who take up an assignment abroad temporarily
- Expats who come to live and work in Belgium and bring their family with them
International healthcare and hospitalisation
The main concern for anyone living abroad is access to good healthcare without financial surprises. International health cover is designed to work in the country of residence, and not only in Belgium. Usually it is a combination of guarantees:
Worldwide hospitalisation
Reimbursement of hospital costs in the country of residence and, depending on the policy, worldwide. The geographical cover varies considerably from one insurer to another.
Outpatient care
Doctor visits, medication and examinations outside hospital, which abroad often have to be paid for entirely privately.
Pre-existing conditions and waiting periods
The way existing conditions and waiting periods are handled differs per insurer and per situation. This is one of the first points we check for you.
Repatriation and assistance
Medical assistance and, if necessary, repatriation from abroad. For people who genuinely live there, cover is needed that goes beyond the travel assistance in a classic policy.
Pension and income during an assignment abroad
An assignment abroad should not leave a hole in your pension accrual or your income protection. Depending on your status and affiliation, part of your accrual can continue, and existing cover can be adjusted so that it also applies outside Belgium.
Supplementary pension that continues
Depending on your situation, accrual in the second and third pillar (such as a group insurance, IPT (an individual pension commitment funded by your company), VAPZ (the free supplementary pension for the self-employed) or POZ (the pension agreement for the self-employed without a company)) can keep running during a secondment. The conditions differ per pillar and per status.
Guaranteed income worldwide
Guaranteed income insurance protects your income in the event of incapacity for work. For expats it is important that this cover also applies abroad, because not every policy covers incapacity for work worldwide.
Death cover that travels with you
Death cover to protect your family or company can also be adjusted to a stay abroad.
Our tips
... arrange cover before departure
Take out the international policies before the employee leaves. Anyone who leaves first and only then looks for cover risks a period without protection and stricter acceptance conditions.
... think of the whole family
A partner and children who move along often need the same cover. Include them in the exercise from the start.
... keep a single point of contact across borders
Combining insurers, countries and systems is complex. Life Experts compares the market and aligns the cover, so that you have one point of contact instead of separate, unconnected policies.
... review it at every change
A different country of work, a new status or a new addition to the family changes what you need. Have your file reviewed again at every major change.
Does this fit your situation?
You will get an honest answer, even if that answer is "no".
Disclaimer: Life Experts provides insurance solutions for self-employed directors, liberal professions, SMEs and large companies. You will find the basic information for each type of solution on this website. With the product descriptions and the product overview on this website, we do not aim to follow a tax or legal classification, but a pragmatic and practical one. A turnover insurance, for instance, is fiscally a company-director insurance. And a death cover or a disability insurance can be taken out within the tax regimes of IPT, VAPZ, POZ, long-term saving, pension saving, and so on.
Social security: secondment and coordination
Besides the insurance, there is the question of in which country you pay social contributions and which social security system applies to you. That depends on the secondment rules, the European coordination rules within the EEA and Switzerland, and the bilateral social security treaties with countries outside it. The outcome partly determines your rights to healthcare, pension and family benefits, and whether your Belgian accrual continues.