Student services
Student insurance and blocked accounts
Health cover is a visa condition in Australia and Ireland, and a blocked account is how Germany checks that you can support yourself. All three are arranged from our office in Johar Town, Lahore — before you travel, and in time for your visa appointment.
Allianz Care OSHC
Overseas Student Health CoverOverseas Student Health Cover is a condition of the Australian student visa. It has to be held for the full length of your stay, and you need it in place before the visa is granted.
Benefits
- Biggest Direct Billing
- Extra Features: Online Consultancy, National Home Doctor Service, Sonder Mobile App, Mental Wellbeing App
- Multilingual website
- On campus Representative
- Special offer for Couple and Family
- No waiting period for mental health
- Cover HPV Vaccine
Premiums depend on cover length and whether you are insuring a partner or family. The price is shown before you pay, and the policy wording sits on the same page.
Study and Protect
Private health insurance for IrelandIreland requires private medical insurance for the duration of your permission to stay, and immigration will ask for evidence of it. We hold a direct contract with Study and Protect, so the policy costs less arranged through us than bought directly.
What it covers
- Health insurance for a twelve-month programme
- Arranged from our Lahore office, before you travel
- Documents issued for your immigration appointment
Twelve months of cover
- Through Opicka
- €200
- Bought direct
- €229
Prices are set by Study and Protect and can change. We will confirm the current figure before you pay anything.
Or call 0309 5553760 during office hours
Expatrio Value Package
Blocked account and health insuranceGermany asks student visa applicants to show they can fund their stay, and a blocked account is the usual way to prove it. Expatrio bundles the account with health insurance in one application.
What the Value package offers
- Fully online Blocked Account opening. Accepted by German authorities worldwide.
- Free Travel Health Insurance. Accepted worldwide.
- Award-winning Public & Private Health Insurance.
- Free Expatrio Bank Account. Automatically connected to your Blocked Account.
- Free digital International Student ID Card (ISIC).
- Accommodation opportunities via the Expatrio app.
- Eligibility for The Expatrio Scholarship.
Cost breakdown
- Monthly fee
- €9
- Blocked Account set-up fee
- €119
These are Expatrio's fees. The money you deposit into the blocked account is separate and stays yours.
OSHC for Australia: what the visa actually requires
Overseas Student Health Cover is written into the student visa itself. Condition 8501 requires you to hold adequate health insurance for your entire stay in Australia, and the Department expects to see it paid for before the visa is decided — not after you land. If you arrive without it, or let it lapse mid-course, you are in breach of your visa conditions.
Two things catch Pakistani applicants out, and both are avoidable. The first is dates. Your policy has to start on or before the day you arrive and run to the end of your visa, not to the end of your course — the two are rarely the same length, and a policy that stops with your final exam leaves a gap. The second is family. If your spouse or children are named on your visa application, they have to be on the policy too. Adding them afterwards means cancelling and re-issuing, and the cost is higher than buying family cover at the start.
We check the cover dates against your Confirmation of Enrolment before the visa file is lodged, because a mismatch here is one of the easier reasons to have an application delayed.
Health insurance for Ireland: what immigration checks
Every non-EEA student coming to Ireland to study needs private medical insurance. It has to cover accident and illness, including any period of hospitalisation, and you will be asked to show proof of it when you register with immigration and collect your Irish Residence Permit. Policies are generally expected to carry at least €25,000 of cover for accident and the same for illness, though your college may set its own requirement on top of that.
Do not cancel the policy once you have registered. Insurance is a condition of your permission to stay, and dropping it puts your immigration status at risk rather than saving you money. From your second year onwards you will usually need a policy issued in Ireland, not one bought at home — travel insurance is only accepted, in some circumstances, for the first year.
We hold a direct contract with Study and Protect, which is why the same twelve months of cover costs €29 less arranged through our office than bought from the provider yourself. There is no online link for this one — it is arranged by hand, from Lahore, and the certificate is issued in time for your immigration appointment.
Blocked account for Germany: how much, and when
Germany does not ask you to prove income. It asks you to park a year of living costs in a blocked account, or Sperrkonto, which then releases the money to you monthly once you arrive. The amount is tied to the national BAföG student living rate, and for 2026 it is €11,904 for a twelve-month visa — €992 released each month. That figure has held steady since 2025, but it is reviewed periodically, and some embassies ask for more depending on the visa type or the length of your programme.
The deposit is not a fee. It stays your money, and you draw it down month by month after you land. What Expatrio charges on top is the set-up fee and the monthly package cost, and those are the only figures on this page that leave your pocket for good.
Start early. Opening the account online takes minutes, but sending the deposit from a Pakistani bank is an international transfer that can take several working days, and you cannot book a visa appointment until the blocking confirmation is in your hand. Leaving this to the last fortnight before an intake is the single most common way students miss a start date.
Questions students ask us
Do I need OSHC before my Australian visa is granted?
Yes. Health cover is a condition of the visa, and evidence that it is paid for goes in with the application. Buying it after the grant is not an option.
Can I use travel insurance for my first year in Ireland?
In some circumstances, for a first registration only, and it must meet the immigration cover requirements. From your second year onwards you will need a private medical policy issued in Ireland. Check with us before you rely on a travel policy — the rules differ by college and by the length of your permission.
How much do I need in a German blocked account in 2026?
€11,904 for a twelve-month visa, released to you at €992 a month after you arrive. Language course and Studienkolleg students are sometimes asked to show funds for a longer period, and the embassy handling your file has the final say.
Is the blocked account money mine, or is it a fee?
It is yours. The deposit is your living allowance, held in escrow until you arrive and then paid out monthly. Only the set-up fee and the monthly package charge are costs.
When should I sort all this out?
As soon as your offer is confirmed. Insurance and blocked accounts sit between your offer letter and your visa appointment, and both take days rather than hours to complete. Leave them late and the appointment moves — which usually means the intake moves with it.
Not sure which of these applies to you?
Requirements change, and they differ by destination, course length and visa type. Tell us where you are applying and we will confirm exactly what you need and when.
Opicka Consultant is not an insurer or a bank. Allianz Care, Study and Protect and Expatrio set their own terms, prices and eligibility rules, and their policy documents decide what is covered. We may receive a commission when you apply through the links on this page; it does not change what you pay.