Travel Requirements and Health Preparation

What should you book first — and what should wait?

Booking before your program arrives is what most often costs patients money. Your program from the clinic tells you what is already included.

What does your quoted price actually include?

Anesthesia, materials, tests, medication, and hotel nights are often billed separately from the procedure — ask for your quote to spell out what is and is not included before you pay anything. The most common unpleasant surprise on a medical trip is not the treatment itself — it is an item the patient assumed was covered.

Items that are often priced separately from the procedure:

• anesthesia and use of the operating room;
• implant materials, bone grafts, and prostheses — these are often charged by what is actually used rather than by the estimate;
• pre-procedure tests and consultations, and accommodation for the days they take;
• medication during and after your stay;
• hotel nights, particularly after discharge;
• transfers and interpreter.

Two questions worth asking in writing before you travel:

• If more material is needed than estimated, who decides, and how and when will I be told?
  Material costs are the most common source of an unexpected invoice.
• If less is used than quoted, is the difference returned?
  Keep your quote. If an item appears on your final invoice that was not in it, ask your coordinator to raise it with the clinic before you pay.

How does confirming your date and the deposit work?

Confirming your date usually means paying a deposit, either to Bookimed on the clinic's behalf or directly to the clinic. A clinic will normally not hold a date and price indefinitely — if you delay confirmation, the slot may be taken by another patient even though your quoted price still stands.

Deposit terms are set by each clinic, not by us. Whether a deposit is required at all, how much it is, and what happens if you cancel varies between clinics. Two patients booking different clinics through Bookimed can face completely different terms.

Depending on the clinic, a deposit is either paid to Bookimed on the clinic's behalf, or paid directly to the clinic. Your coordinator will tell you which applies to your booking.

Before you pay anything, ask your coordinator to confirm in writing:

• whether a deposit is required, and how much;
• who it is paid to;
• what happens to it if you cancel, and how many days before your date that applies;
• what happens to it if your visa is refused — some clinics refund in full, some refund part, and some do not refund at all;
• who to contact if you need to request a refund.

Keep that confirmation. It is the document you will rely on if plans change. Refund conditions are set out in our Payment and Deposit Terms.

What medical documents do you need to send?

Send recent imaging, lab results, discharge summaries, your diagnosis, and a full medication list. The clinic builds your treatment plan from what you send — gaps here usually mean tests repeated on arrival at your own cost, and a delayed program.

Send your coordinator:

• recent imaging — MRI, CT, PET-CT — including the image files, not only the written report;
• recent lab results;
• discharge summaries and your treatment history;
• your current diagnosis;
• a full list of medications with doses, including supplements;
• allergies and previous reactions to anesthesia or medication;
• previous surgical reports, if any.

Ask what "recent" means for your case. Clinics set their own limits on how old results can be, and results that are too old are one of the most common reasons a program is held up.

Do not translate anything yourself first. Send your documents in whatever language they are in. Your coordinator arranges translation for the clinic, and in most cases this costs you nothing. There are exceptions worth knowing about:

• some clinics issue their own reports only in the local language and charge separately for translation;
• some treatment packages exclude document translation;
• legal documents — notarized passport translations, apostilled consents — are always at your own cost, and usually have to be done by a sworn translator in the country of treatment.

Ask your coordinator which of these applies to your clinic before you commit to anything.

Allow time. Translation typically adds a few working days before the clinic can give you a final answer. If your documents are in a less common language, allow more.

Ask now about the report you take home. Some clinics hand over your discharge documents in the local language on the day, with the translation following a week or more later. If your doctor at home needs to read it soon after you return, agree the timing before you travel rather than after.

What do you need to know about visas and entry documents?

Check whether you need a visa and whether your clinic issues an invitation letter before you choose a clinic, not after. Visa timing is the most likely single reason a medical trip gets postponed.

If you need a visa, ask about the invitation letter before you commit to a clinic. Not every clinic issues one. Some issue it only after a deposit, some only once you have booked flights, and some do not issue invitation letters at all. A few do not hold a specific appointment slot for you either. Which clinic you choose can therefore decide whether a visa application is possible at all — so raise it with your coordinator at the shortlist stage.

Allow for both timelines. A clinic usually needs a few working days to prepare the letter. The visa itself can take several weeks. Count backward from your preferred treatment date, and build in time for the document to be corrected if something is wrong.

Check the letter carefully when it arrives — your name and passport number exactly as they appear in your passport, the dates, and the consulate or embassy it is addressed to. A letter addressed to the wrong mission has to be reissued, and that costs time you may not have.

What your coordinator does: tells you what the clinic requires, requests the letter, has it reissued if your dates change, and follows up with the clinic until it is issued.

What your coordinator does not do: submit your application, represent you at a consulate, guarantee that a clinic will issue a letter, or advise on your individual immigration circumstances.

What to check yourself, with the embassy or consulate of your destination country: whether you need a visa and whether an e-visa exists, current processing times, passport validity requirements, and the full document list for your citizenship.

We do not monitor changes to entry rules. Confirm the current requirements from the official source shortly before you travel.

Useful starting points, which do not replace your destination country's embassy:

• IATA Travel Centre — entry and documentation requirements by destination;
• the official government portal of your destination country.

What do you need to arrange if someone is traveling with you?

Tell your coordinator early if someone is traveling with you — a partner, a parent, a child, or an interpreter.

A companion affects several lines of the program: hotel nights, a bed in the hospital room if you want one, transfer capacity, and their own entry documents. Adding a companion after the program is agreed usually means repricing it.

Check the documents your companion needs on both sides of the journey, including any consent or authorization required to travel with a child. In our experience, this is a more common cause of a trip failing at the border than the destination country's own requirements.

What happens if you are stopped or refused entry at the border?

If you are stopped or refused entry, contact your coordinator as soon as you can, with the reason given and a photograph of any stamp or notice — border decisions are made by government officials and cannot be reversed by us or by the clinic.

• Leaving your own country is where problems most often arise, usually over a traveling companion's documents rather than the patient's own. Check your exit requirements as carefully as your entry requirements.
• Your coordinator will contact the clinic the same day to try to hold your slot and your quoted price while you sort the documents out. Patients in this situation have traveled successfully a few weeks later.
• Return travel is at your own cost. We are not aware of a case where a clinic or Bookimed covered the cost of getting home after a refused entry.
• Your deposit may not be refundable in this situation. It can depend on the reason for refusal, and part of a deposit may already have been spent on preparations made specifically for you — some diagnostic agents, for example, are produced per patient and cannot be reused. Ask your coordinator what applies to your booking before you travel, and get the answer in writing.

What happens if the clinic postpones your date?

Your coordinator will tell you the same day, with the reason, and come back with the clinic's available dates. It happens — most often because the doctor is away or an emergency case takes the slot.

If none work, we look for another doctor at the same clinic, and then at other clinics. If you prefer to wait for your original doctor, we put you in the queue and tell you if something opens up earlier. Any confirmation letters are reissued for the new dates.

What this may cost you. Flights and hotel nights booked for the original dates are normally yours to change, and clinics do not usually compensate rebooking costs. This is the main practical reason to keep your travel bookings changeable until the clinic confirms in writing.

Ask about your price. Quoted prices are valid for a limited period. If a postponement pushes your treatment past that date, ask your coordinator to confirm in writing whether your original price still stands, before you accept new dates.

How do you pay at the clinic?

Confirm the payment method with your clinic before you travel: some accept cash only, and card payments may carry a surcharge.

How should you prepare your health before traveling?

Discuss the planned trip with your treating doctor at home before you book, particularly if you have a chronic condition or are traveling after recent surgery. Fitness to travel is a medical judgment, made by doctors rather than by us.

The clinic will give you its own preparation instructions — fasting, pausing medication, pre-procedure tests. Get these directly from the clinic, in writing, and follow the clinic's version rather than general advice.

Keep medication in its original packaging with the prescription or a doctor's letter. Medication that is routine in your country may be restricted in another — check yours against the destination country's official source.

What do you need to do if you plan to claim on insurance?

Two things decide whether an insurance claim works, and both have to be done before you travel. Most patients who travel for treatment pay for it themselves.

• Check whether your insurer requires preauthorization. This is the most common and most avoidable failure we see — an approval requested after you have arrived is usually too late.
• Ask your insurer exactly what the invoice must contain. Some funds reject documents that lack the clinic's stamp or that come from a non-official email address. Your coordinator can pass these requirements to the clinic in advance.

Also worth knowing:

• Standard travel insurance usually does not cover planned medical treatment abroad, and often excludes complications arising from it.
• Travel policies commonly exclude pre-existing conditions — which is usually the reason you are traveling.
• Ask the clinic what its own coverage includes, and what happens if a complication requires extra days or a revision procedure (a second operation to correct or complete the first).

Who do you contact with questions?

Your coordinator is your first point of contact for anything about your treatment, your clinic, or your program. For anything else, write to care@bookimed.com.

This page provides general information only. It is not medical, legal, immigration, or insurance advice, and it does not replace consultation with a qualified doctor or with the competent authorities. See our Medical Disclaimer for the limits of the medical information on this website. Entry and health requirements are set by national authorities and can change without notice.