Foreign residency and travel underwriting

Residency underwriting

In assessing residential risks, it's key that the underwriter take into account the interplay of all risk factors and how they are accentuated by a country of past residence. When completing an application form with applicants who have been resident in or spent significant periods of time in countries with a high prevalence of infectious diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B or C we encourage you to contact underwriting to discuss the details from the outset. Our guidelines cover over 200 countries around the world and each country has been assessed for HIV, hepatitis B and C risk according to World Health Organisation and UN figures. As a result, we follow the most up to date reports and figures and, as residence and travel risks can be highly individual and guidelines can change, we advise you to contact underwriting where you feel special consideration is required.

In recent years, due to our claims experience and screening results, Irish Life has been in a position to approach the underwriting of certain high risk countries with greater leniency and it has been possible to waive medical evidence on favourable cases. We encourage you to phone us directly to discuss the case from the outset as it may result in the case being accepted straight away following a discussion with underwriting.

Residential underwriting – key information we need to know

How long has the life assured resided in Ireland?
Where did they reside previously and for how long?
What is their residency status within Ireland? (eg. citizenship, work permit etc)
If they have a work permit please advise when it expires.
Is there any intention of travelling or residing abroad other than on holidays (ie. under four weeks per annum)? If so please provide details of destination, frequency of travel, purpose of travel and duration of stay
If the life assured has already undergone a HIV or hepatitis screen, and the date and result of this can be provided, underwriting can take this into consideration.

Foreign travel underwriting

When assessing a particular foreign travel risk, we base our assessment on the general political, social and economic infrastructure, of the destination together with the specific risks presented by crime, kidnapping, terrorism, accident and the quality and availability of medical services. Each case is different and each country outside of our territorial limits has varying degrees of risk attached, so depending on the individual merits of the case at hand, an extra per mille loading may be required.

Per mille loading explained

€1 per mille = €1 extra per annum for every €1,000 cover
€2 per mille = €2 extra per annum for every €1,000 cover
€3 per mille = €3 extra per annum for every €1,000 cover

€100,000 with a rating of €1 per mille = an extra premium of €100 per annum

We would usually contact our reassurers on these on a case by case basis so please contact underwriting from the outset when writing a case for an individual who plans to travel or reside for more than four weeks or who is currently residing outside our territorial limits.

Foreign travel underwriting – key information we need to know

Intended country of travel or residence
Frequency and duration of trips abroad
Where will they stay whilst abroad? Will they stay in major cities or rural areas and i what type of accommodation? e.g. hotels, private dwellings or secure compound?
Do they intend to travel around within the country? If so where, and by what means of transport? Do they intend to travel by light aircraft, for example?

Our current life territorial limits include

European Union
Australia
Canada
New Zealand
Norway
South Africa
Switzerland
United States