Seychelles
Seychelles Workcation Retreat Permit: health insurance requirements
Yes: health insurance is required
Seychelles offers the Workcation Retreat permit (the Visitors Workcation Permit), launched in 2021, letting remote workers stay up to 12 months if their income comes from outside Seychelles. It does require health insurance, and crucially that insurance must cover COVID-19 and hospital care inside Seychelles. There is no officially published minimum income or minimum coverage amount, so applicants prove self-sufficiency with bank statements.
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 | Insurance certificate or policy document showing COVID-19 and hospital care cover in Seychelles, submitted with the online Visitors Workcation Permit application |
Applicant must be an employee, business owner or freelancer earning income from outside Seychelles; cannot take local employment; must show bank statements proving sufficient funds (around US$1,500 per month is commonly cited, but no official minimum is published); clean criminal record; application fee roughly 45 EUR via the official portal.
Who qualifies for the Seychelles 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
- No fixed minimum
- Length of permit
- 12 monthsrenewable
- Who can apply
- Employed remotely, Freelancer, Business owner
The government's electronic border system lists proof of valid medical and travel insurance among the required documents, with no sum named. Worth confirming applications are open before planning around it: the permit's landing page redirects to the border system home screen and the immigration division does not list a workcation among its permit categories.
Tax
No local tax on foreign-sourced income for permit holders.
That is a summary of the rule, not tax advice. Residence for immigration and residence for tax are decided separately, and the second one tends to arrive quietly, usually after you have been in the country long enough to stop thinking about it. Take proper advice before the year you need it.
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 Workcation Retreat permit allows stays of up to 365 days and explicitly requires insurance covering COVID-19 and hospital care within Seychelles, yet publishes no minimum coverage amount.
Our take
The permit rule is unusually specific: your policy has to cover COVID-19 and hospital care in Seychelles itself, not just generic travel cover, so check the wording names in-country hospitalisation. Because no minimum sum is published, do not size the policy to the local clinic bill.
Size it instead to the evacuation cost. Seychelles tops out at intermediate care, and a serious case leaves by air ambulance to South Africa, Réunion or Mauritius, commonly US$20,000 to US$80,000 or more, so a high evacuation limit is the figure that actually protects you here.
What happens if you get it wrong
Policies that exclude COVID-19 or that only cover treatment in your home country fail the permit test, since the rule explicitly requires hospital care in Seychelles. Read the in-country hospitalisation clause before you apply.
A policy with a low or missing medical-evacuation limit is the real trap. On a remote archipelago the bill that bankrupts an uninsured traveller is the air ambulance off the islands, not the GP visit, so a thin evacuation cap leaves the biggest risk uncovered.
Interactive
Verified pricesWhat would it cost in Seychelles without insurance?
You pay, out of pocket
$3,000–$12,000
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 hold health insurance that covers COVID-19 and hospital care in Seychelles, plus international cover for emergencies during the stay.
No minimum coverage figure is officially published. Because the country relies on costly off-island medical evacuation, the practical advice is to set a high evacuation limit rather than aim at any local minimum.
Up to 12 months. It is aimed at employees, business owners and freelancers whose income comes from outside Seychelles.
There is no officially published minimum income. You prove self-sufficiency with bank statements; around US$1,500 a month is commonly cited as a working benchmark, but treat that as guidance, not an official figure.
No. There is no requirement to use a local insurer. International cover is accepted, as long as it covers COVID-19 and hospital care in Seychelles.
How to apply
- Processing time
- Reported 3 to 7 days, with some sources citing up to two to four weeks; not an official guarantee.
- Government fee
- A one-time fee of about EUR 45 covering both the Workcation Permit and the Health Travel Authorization, extended to immediate family.
- Where to apply
- Online only, via the Seychelles Electronic Border System. Recommended at least 60 days before arrival and no later than two weeks after entry.
- 1
Gather documents: passport, proof of remote employment or business outside Seychelles, about six months of bank statements (income around US$1,500 a month), health insurance, proof of accommodation, and a return ticket.
- 2
Complete the online Workcation application on the Seychelles Electronic Border System, uploading documents for yourself and any immediate family; this is a joint Workcation Permit plus Health Travel Authorization.
- 3
Pay the one-time fee online, about EUR 45.
- 4
Receive the approved permit by email (reported 3 to 7 days; allow up to two to four weeks).
- 5
Travel to Seychelles with the approved permit. Apply at least about 60 days before arrival and no later than two weeks after entry.
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
Seychelles 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 Seychelles, 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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