Namibia
Namibia Digital Nomad Visa: health insurance requirements
Yes: health insurance is required
Namibia runs a formal Digital Nomad Visa, launched in 2022 and administered by the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board. It is valid for six months and non-renewable, for people earning income from outside Namibia. Health or travel insurance covering the stay is a written requirement, though no minimum sum insured is published.
The requirements at a glance
| Repatriation required | Not required |
|---|---|
| Minimum policy duration | Full duration of stay |
| Local-licensed insurer required | No: compliant international IPMI is accepted |
| Accepted proof | Proof of medical and/or comprehensive travel insurance covering risks while in Namibia for the duration of stay, submitted with the visa application; no government-specified format or minimum sum. |
Proof of income earned outside Namibia (USD 2,000/month applicant, USD 1,000/month spouse, USD 500/month per child) via payslip or employment contract; police clearance certificate from country of origin (notarised/certified, translated into English); valid passport; completed application form (3-1/0033). Visa fee NAD 3,300 payable on approval. Six months, non-renewable; reapplication permitted 12 months after expiry.
Who qualifies for the Namibia nomad visa
The income bar is what decides most applications, and it is the number people look for first. Here is the current one, with the conditions that come attached to it.
- Income required
- $2,000/mo
- Length of permit
- 6 monthsnot renewable
- Who can apply
- Employed remotely, Freelancer, Business owner
+$1,000 spouse, +$500/child. 6 months, non-renewable.
What the income bar really means
Two things get people rejected on income even when they earn enough. The first is proving it: consulates want a documented, repeating history, usually bank statements and contracts covering several months, not a screenshot of a good quarter. Irregular freelance income clears the bar on average and fails on paper. The second is dependants, who almost always raise the threshold, and by a percentage of the base figure rather than a flat amount.
Treat the number above as the floor for the paperwork, not as a comfortable income for living there. It is set by the country’s own cost of living or minimum wage, which means it moves, and in several countries it is re-set every year.
The visa fee is NAD 3,300 (about $180), payable on approval, and the stay is six months, non-renewable, with reapplication only 12 months after expiry.
Our take
The insurance rule here is soft on paper: the visa asks for health or travel insurance covering risks in Namibia for the duration of stay, with no minimum amount and no named insurer. That makes it easy to under-buy. Treat the published rule as a floor, not a target.
The real driver is geography, not the visa text. Strong hospitals sit in Windhoek and on the coast, distances are vast, and serious cases are flown to South Africa. Buy on the strength of the medical evacuation and repatriation cover, and confirm the assistance line works up-country, not just in the capital.
What happens if you get it wrong
Buying a thin policy that technically satisfies the wording but caps or excludes air evacuation. In a country where the definitive answer to a serious case is a flight to South Africa, a low evacuation limit is the gap that bites.
Assuming cover travels everywhere. The malaria-endemic north and the long gravel roads are exactly where you are furthest from care, so a policy that is weak on rural assistance or excludes certain activities can leave you exposed precisely where the risk is highest.
Interactive
Verified pricesWhat would it cost in Namibia without insurance?
You pay, out of pocket
$1,500–$7,000
A serious private admission or common surgery.
Bars to scale. A flight home is in another league.
That is the bill you carry alone. Insurance exists for exactly this.
See what cover costsTypical private-care estimates for illustration, not a quote. Actual bills vary by hospital, city and severity.
FAQ
Yes. Applicants must show valid health or travel insurance covering risks while in Namibia for the full duration of the stay. No minimum sum insured is published by the authorities.
No confirmed official figure. The rule asks for insurance covering risks in Namibia for the duration of stay but does not state a minimum sum, so cover including medical treatment, evacuation and repatriation is the sensible benchmark.
Six months, and it is non-renewable. You may reapply twelve months after the visa expires.
USD 2,000 a month for the main applicant, plus USD 1,000 for an accompanying spouse and USD 500 per accompanying child, all earned from outside Namibia, shown via payslip or employment contract.
The fee is NAD 3,300, payable on approval. You also need a police clearance certificate from your country of origin (certified and translated into English), a valid passport and the completed application form.
How to apply
- Processing time
- Not published on the official page; NIPDB and secondary guides report roughly two to three weeks.
- Government fee
- NAD 3,300, payable upon approval.
- Where to apply
- NIPDB (online or nomadvisa@nipdb.com), with the final stamp issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration; fee paid on approval.
- 1
Complete the digital-nomad visa application form and prepare the supporting documents: certified passport copy, proof of remote income of at least US$2,000 per month from outside Namibia (payslips or employment contract), a six-month bank statement, medical and radiological certificates, a police clearance from your home country, proof of travel or health insurance, and an employer motivation letter.
- 2
Submit the application to the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), by the online application or by email to nomadvisa@nipdb.com.
- 3
NIPDB reviews the application and, if satisfied, forwards it to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration for the final stamp.
- 4
Pay the visa fee of NAD 3,300, which is due upon approval.
- 5
Receive the digital-nomad visa, valid for up to six months.
Fees and processing times move, sometimes without announcement, and a consulate can add a document the published checklist does not mention. Treat the above as the shape of the process rather than a guarantee, and check the current requirement with the mission handling your application before you book anything.
What policy actually satisfies this visa
Namibia does not publish a minimum figure, which sounds permissive and is not. It means you are judged against somebody's unwritten idea of adequate, and the safe reading of adequate is enough to cover a serious hospital admission in Namibia, not the cheapest policy that technically exists.
A compliant international policy is accepted, so you are not forced into a local insurer. That matters more than it sounds: it means one policy can follow you when you leave, instead of expiring at the border.
Repatriation is not named as a condition, though it is the benefit you would most want to have if the worst happened, and it costs very little to add.
The dates are the other thing that gets applications rejected: full duration of stay
Ask your insurer for a certificate of cover that states your full name as it appears on your passport, the exact policy period, the territory covered, and the benefit amounts. That is a normal request and any decent insurer issues it without fuss. The insurance being real and the paperwork still failing is a more common way to lose an application than being uninsured.
The visa tells you the minimum. It does not tell you what to actually carry. Those are different questions, and the paperwork minimum is nearly always the smaller of the two answers.
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