In the last decade, Australia has seen a significant increase in overseas migration and this in turn results to the migrants inviting their parents and relatives to visit them in Australia. Whether it be for studies, business or to start a family, more expats from the Indian sub-continent are calling Australia home than ever before.
Naturally it is common for expats to invite their parents and relatives to visit them in Australia. Even though you have always intended to ensure that any visit to Australia is a remarkable experience for them, what one fails to realise is the importance of having the visitor obtain a local travel insurance.
In our legal practice we regularly come across cases where people are either left out of pocket or are caught short due to inadequate travel insurance because of the insurance coverage they had obtained from their country of origin.
Things to look out for:-
- It is imperative that you are aware of the type of cover that you are signing up for your visitors, parents or people you are sponsoring or requesting to obtain insurance coverage for.
- If people travel to Australia without medical insurance, you then face the risk of attending to paying a hospital bill or a medical bill out of your own pocket.
- If travel insurance is in fact obtained from the country of origin to cover the entire length of stay/visit in Australia, kindly peruse the terms and conditions of that relevant insurance coverage because in most scenarios our client’s relatives are invariably not covered for all the medical treatments that they have in fact undertaken whilst they holiday in Australia. This also means that apart from having to pay a humungous bill in Australia privately, it is only after you pay these invoices that you are able to return to your country of origin and lodge an application requesting for it to be reimbursed. In addition and in most cases, you will not be able to recover the entire reimbursement of the entire invoice.
This would certainly give you the peace of mind and also the ability to enjoy your holiday to the maximum.
For starter, we believe it is a must for all travellers to ensure they are adequately covered for the entire length of their visit to Australia. We also believe it is imperative that you are aware of the type of cover that you are signing up for, and what all in fact covered by the insurer.
Inadequate consideration to either of the above may result in you experiencing significant financial heartache and an unwanted medical debt which you are felt to pay.
Accordingly, we would strongly recommend and advise that you proceed to ensure and read the Terms and Conditions in relation to any Travel Insurance coverage that you obtain. More importantly we strongly recommend that you proceed to obtain a local travel insurance coverage that is best suited to the travelling party’s needs, requirements and length of stay.
If you have any questions in relation to travel insurance, or insurance in general, please feel free to contact us on (02) 8917 8700.