"Repatriation only" insurance? No travel, no medical.

@rf2023 I had to go through this process in order to apply for my Digital Nomad Visa. The highest tier of SURA insurance has the repatriation option. If you're gonna need health insurance in Colombia anyway, I highly recommend you get this (or any other local health insurance that includes repatriation).

Me? I kinda effed up. For my digital nomad visa, I ended up searching online and getting MOK Travel Assist, valid for a year. But it doesn't cover anything WITHIN Colombia. And I needed health insurance (I have looming issues) so later I ended up buying SURA, the mid-level policy that does NOT cover repatriation.

Why did I pay twice? Well, this happened because it's VERY difficult to find consistent, accurate information on issues like applying for DN Visa or even getting health insurance. In fact, I went without health insurance in Colombia for over 6 months because I kept getting confused by less-than-transparent local agents (mostly Spanish-only speakers) who just wanna sell a policy to a gullible foreigner, Facebook "Trust Me, Bro"s who don't know WTF they're talking about, and a myriad other people who just spout misinformation (almost always unintentionally, with good intentions).

It's frustrating. And I double-paid for this lack of information - I live in Colombia now, so the MOK Travel Assist was a waste of hard-earned money... money that could have gone a LONG way in Barranquilla 😥

Anyway so yeah... my experience points to two options:

1. If you need health insurance anyway, buy the highest level of SURA which includes repatriation
2. If you do NOT need actual health insurance, then you can go with any repatriation policy like MOK Travel Assist, or whatever else you find. Hopefully it's significantly cheaper than SURA or any other local health insurance you get. I say that cuz if it's same price as your local health insurance + repatriation... then you may as well get health insurance anyway, in case you get sick here in Colombia, you can experience the healthcare system and have something to write home about, you know?

Anyway, good luck! 👍🏾

If you need health insurance anyway, buy the highest level of SURA which includes repatriation

So SURA will  repatriate you dead or alive to the U.S. or Nigeria?   I would have assumed their repatriation benefit would have been for Colombians traveling outside of Colombia, but I guess I am wrong.

@Mr. Barley Colombians living or traveling outside of Colombia could buy whatever repatriation insurance they want and can afford, from whichever company/seller that serves their destination(s) and country of origin. As far as I have seen and heard, repatriation benefits cover whoever the policy is under, regardless of nationality. That's kinda the whole point LOL

As far as I have seen and heard, repatriation benefits cover whoever the policy is under, regardless of nationality.
-@ChineduOpara

I would imagine you have read the clause of your Sura policy concerning repatriation.

As far as I have seen and heard, repatriation benefits cover whoever the policy is under, regardless of nationality.
-@ChineduOpara

I would imagine you have read the clause of your Sura policy concerning repatriation.
-@Mr. Barley

Hello Mr. Barley, I think ChineduOpara stated in his post that he bought only the mid-level SURA policy which level does not include the repatriation benefit.   I'm starting to research this now, and hope to post any findings here!

@ChineduOpara

Thank you very much ChineduOpara for your experiences and the related information.

My hope is to increase my chances of getting a 3 year marriage visa rather than the 1 year visa,  the visa duration typically limited to one year due to foreign insurance policies written for ony a year.

I figure if I have EPS and SURA (with repatriation) policies in place when I apply for my visa, I might have a better chance of getting the three year visa.

I understand that EPS and SURA do not offer multiyear policies, but one one of the influencer/agent websites, I read a sentence fragment that said "the EPS insurance won't limit the visa to one year", which was enough for me to start to investigate the possibility of having only Colombian insurance policies to present with my visa application.

@rf2023

Star visa facilitator James says on his website:

Travel insurance duration of coverage will be the maximum time of the visa. Foreign Insurance and 1 year premiums will probably get a maximum time on a visa for 1 year. EPS insurance will not restrict your visa,however, it may be expensive for certain people.

Parsing that statement makes me thinks you may be right about seeking out Colombia only options. I just need to confirm that they will repatriate my body, dead or alive, to Ecuador.

@rf2023 That's be cool if you can get the 3-year visa, man... keep us posted so we can learn. Maybe someday luck will shine on me and I can get into a position to qualify for a multi-year visa!

@rf2023
Star visa facilitator James says on his website:

Travel insurance duration of coverage will be the maximum time of the visa. Foreign Insurance and 1 year premiums will probably get a maximum time on a visa for 1 year. EPS insurance will not restrict your visa,however, it may be expensive for certain people.


Parsing that statement makes me thinks you may be right about seeking out Colombia only options. I just need to confirm that they will repatriate my body, dead or alive, to Ecuador.
-@Mr. Barley

Hello Mr. Barley, that sentence that you included from James' website is the exact sentence that I read recently that made me start researching it more.

@rf2023
Star visa facilitator
-@Mr. Barley

Mr. Barley, does "star" just mean "popular" ?   Or does it have some other meaning among members of the forum, because I'm new here and I have to update myself on all the lingo!  Thanks.

@rf2023 what is your opinion on getting repatriation only insurance in conjunction with Medicina Prepagada when applying for a new visa on a tourist stamp?

The issue I see, is Supposedly you need EPS to be on Medicina prepagada, and you cant be on EPS without a cedula.

I dont even know if that is true, because I originally got Medicina Prepagada 11 years ago on a passport, and hab¿e been most of those 11 years without EPS.

Also the supposed "laws" or "rules" seem to change almost daily.

I dont know if the cancilleria would pick up on this, but some nerd at the Cancilleria could refuse my application on that basis

Anyway , will discuss this withthe lawyers, later

@rf2023

I like his website and content, and it seems well-optimized for search engine searches. I can't really speak to his competency at processing visas, so I would say he is well-known and popular.

Foreign Insurance and 1 year premiums will probably get a maximum time on a visa for 1 year.

So who in Colombia offers a health policy with monthly premiums and the required coverage that can be used for a visa?

@rf2023. https://medjetassist.com

The folks at Medellin Advisor are on the ball apparently:

"Another difficulty is that normally the insurance companies and providers of these services can only offer you coverage for 1 year, renewable, so if your visa application is for more than one year, this will not serve your purpose of having a longer visa. I have done a lot of research, I work with 18 companies so far only three have authorized me to issue contracts of more than one year to comply with the requirements of the Colombian government.

In any case, to help you obtain quotes from valid companies that offer these specific coverages for expatriate Colombian visa applicants according to Resolution #5477 of 2022."