I will be passing through SFO on a 1hr, 40min change of planes, on the one ticket, but it would appear, having to go through immigration procedures due to a change of terminal. I already have to get travel insurance for Europe because, despite some contradictory information, there is enough, especially from govt. sources, to indicate that I shouldn't try to enter France without it. However, that 100 mins at SFO - okay, add the twelve-hour flight into there, if you like - would nearly double the cost; an increase of AUD230 (about USD140). Please don't anyone write to tell me what a good idea health insurance is, and that a brief encounter with the US medical system might cost tens of thousands. If is it up to my financial risk judgment, there isn't a question. $28K, say, divided by 140 is 200. So the insurance would make sense if there were a .5% chance that, in a fourteen hour period after boarding a plane in rude health, I would fall into that kind of malaise. I rate those chances at orders of magnitude smaller than that. The question is, then, is it compulsory? I don't know if I can remember ever being asked at airport check-in or any immigration desk to show my travel insurance. But then, I have never visited or transited the USA. "Maybe" things are different there. I will be appreciative if anyone can shed any light on this.
Obligatory travel insurance in case of airport transit.
Quoting mcjg
The question is, then, is it compulsory?
No.
>is it compulsory? I don't know if I can remember ever being asked at airport check-in or any immigration desk to show my travel insurance. But then, I have never visited or transited the USA
Travel/travel health insurance is most certainly not a compulsory requirement for entering or visiting the US.
I have visited the US many times over the past 15+ years , entering at different airports and always travelling on an Esta. I have never been asked about travel health insurance....nor have I in any of the other 30+ countries I've visited.
US Customs officers (and border officers in other countries) might...if they felt they had reason to..ask about how someone intends to support themselves during their stay. That's never happened to me either.
The questions I get asked at US Customs are a) (always) why am I visiting and how long I am staying b) (sometimes) what I want to do/see during my visit and c) (once or twice over the years) where am I staying...plus whatever random questions the individual officer fancies asking. I've never had to provide proof of income, funds to support myself or my ability to pay anything at all.
Btw, I don't look well-off!
[ Edit: Edited on 1 Apr 2024, 12:57 GMT by leics2 ]
Thanks, people, for your helpful replies. Sorry about the tardy response - login problesms.