What would be position?

oldwiring

OH and I are intending to make a trip to South Africa and our government has just announced that South Africans visiting UK will require visas. There is fear that the SA government will take reciprocal action. If their action is implemented without sufficient time to get a visa before departure from UK would travel insurance nominally cover?

dacouch

Assuming you have booked your holiday and taken travel insurance before this happened their are some companies including some of the Fortis Policies (There will be other companies) that will cover you for this as their policy covers "Cancellation" for reasons beyond your control (With some exclusions).

Travel Insurance including Fortis are subject to you following the advice of the Government or other authority before or during the period of travel. This in effect means following the advice on the Foreign Offices Website. You can use this link

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travelling-and-living-overseas/about-kbyg-campaign/

HOWEVER the majority of Travel Insurers give a list of the reasons for cancelling the policy and these are the only things they will accept and pay out on and these will not always include what you detail.

The chances are your policy probably does not cover it but as with any advice given on this forum it is best to check with your Travel Insurer. If they advise you that you are ask for the persons full name, ask which page of the policy it is and check it yourself and make a note of the date and time you spoke to them.

(It is always adviseable to read and understand your policy especially with travel insurance)

oldwiring

It's Saga?!

Quentin

You need to ask them. (It's not mentioned in their policy, so cover in place is unlikely).

But the newly announced UK rules don't come into effect till next month, and it would be unreasonable for any tit for tat to take place without equivalent notice to allow anyone caught out time to get a visa.

dacouch

I cannot give you an exact answer but the Policy they list on their website which is for policies arranged on or after the 04/02/09 specifies what reasons they will accept for cancelling your holiday and they are the normal medical reasons etc. This means they would not cover it (Although very occassionally Insurers make exceptions but I doubt they would with this)

If you want to read the relevant part of the policy (Which is for policies issued on or after 04/02/09 ) you can click on this link its on page 17 under cancellation.

AS STATED BEFORE IT WOULD BE BEST FOR YOU TO CHECK WITH SAGA.

If you are really worried you could probably take out a policy with say Fortis who will cover it (Again do checl first). Providing they cover it and this visa problem has not been announced by the South African Government then they should cover it. (If you have only just taken out the policy with Saga within the last 14 days you can often cancel it and obtain a full refund if the policy is not suitable for your needs)