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Two months ago, I started processing our Schengen Visa Application and one of the mandatory requirements is Schengen Travel Insurance but this time, the insurance must cover COVID-19. You must have valid travel insurance as below:   

• must cover necessary medical treatment and emergency hospital care 

• must cover repatriation because of illness, injury, or death 

• must cover at least EUR 30,000 

• must be valid throughout the Schengen area 

• must cover Covid-19 

• must be valid for the whole period you plan to stay in Norway or in the Schengen area. 

For our past travels, I’ve been purchasing our Schengen Travel Insurance at Malayan Insurance Company because I can buy it online. So in my mind, I won’t have any problem but when I checked Malayan website, there was a pop-up box stating. 

“Due to system improvements on our eCommerce site, the TravelMaster with Covid- 19 Coverage may be purchased from a Malayan Insurance branch near you. You may also get in touch with us through email at travelchannel@malayan.com or call us +639189457302 to apply.” 

And because of this, I started checking other insurance that I can buy online but I was informed that their travel insurance with COVID19 coverage is not available online too. Since I tried Malayan before, I want to try other insurance companies and among the 3 new travel insurances that I inquired about, I settled for Pacific Cross. Simply because they have the cheapest rate but it took me almost a week just to buy our Schengen travel insurance. Matagal kasi ang reply nila sa email, sometimes I need to text pa na nag-email ako. If mabilis reply nila, tapos siguro within the day. 

January 31 - contact Pacific Cross via an online form

February 2 - submitted our travel insurance application forms 

February 4 - paid for our travel insurance online. (They gave me an instruction and link where to pay). I emailed the proof of payment. After a few hours, I received our travel insurance. 

My documents were complete so I thought I could already submit our application last February 7 but I was surprised kasi last week na ng February yung available schedule. Waah! We were supposed to fly first week of March so I can attend my mom’s 60th birthday but it did not happen because of the delayed visa.

And because of this, I have to email Pacific Cross to Change my Travel Period (Subject to approval). 

March 4 - emailed Pacific Cross to change the date of our insurance. 

March 7 - submitted our OCC Cancellation/Refund Forms 

March 10 - I received our updated travel insurance. 

Good thing that I always have a printed copy of our travel insurance because, during our trip, the Immigration Officer asked for this document. This was the first time that IO asked for a copy of our insurance, most of the time return ticket ang tinatanung.