Can Irish resident obtain travel insurance from a British Company?

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newfarm

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We are both Irish citizens, resident in Ireland. We want to visit friends in Pakistan. However the Dept of Foreign Affairs has a blanket advice to "avoid non essential travel" for the whole of Pakistan in addition to a specific "do not travel" for areas that we don't wish to visit.

My current insurance , plus all the brokers recommended by the Irish Insurance Brokers Association will not provide travel insurance to any country which the DFA has advised against.

The UK Foreign Office, has no blanket advice against travel to Pakistan, but also includes the "no go areas." They go on to mention that annually 270, 000 UK citizens visit Pk annually with little difficulty.

My question is can I get full travel insurance from a UK Insurance Company ?
Are there any areas that I'm not thinking about .?

Your help / direction will be greatly appreciated.
 
Messy, usually the T&Cs of the travel insurance assumes you are a full time resident of that country... possibly you could book single trip insurance for that part of your journey from UK to Pakistan. But what happens if there was a serious issue and you had to get transported back to Ireland? They would be unlikely to honour that claim.
 
Yes - there are a few English companies that provide cover to Irish residents.

I was in Pakistan travelling along the Karakoram Highway. The KKH section from Islamabad to Gilgit is listed by the FCO in UK as "avoid all travel" but we were flying from Islamabad to Gilgit and then cycling from Gilgit to the Chinese border at Khunjerab Pass (not allowed cycle last section as you must travel by road from Sost).

I got my insurance for the Pakistan leg of the trip from a company called Expatriate Healthcare (no affiliation other than customer) - as part of the quote process you tell them what country you are resident in. I mailed around a few UK insurance companies and these guys seemed to be the best value. Wasn't the cheapest but insurance cover was a requirement of the trip.

You don't mention your itinerary but the Hunza Valley along the KKH is pretty spectacular. The people are incredible friendly - I wasn't sure what to expect in Pakistan but had a really great trip.

The Pakistan Embassy in Dublin are pretty quick at turning around visa applications - a bit of paperwork to submit but they'll process it within a week.

If you have any other Qs just post and I'll try answer them.
 
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