Overseas on Work Assignment, Don't Assume Employer is Covering Your International Personal Effects

Another major mistake that expatriates make when relocating internationally to work is assuming their employer has all of the following issues covered and they need to do nothing. In fact, the bigger (and more all-powerful) the employer, the more these individuals assume they don't need to take personal responsibility for the following:

• International Personal Property Insurance (to protect clothes, furniture, electronics, rings)
• International Liability Insurance (to protect personal net worth from lawsuit)
• International Renters Insurance (which is a global property and liability package policy)

Here are the facts. 95% of employers have no insurance policies that will cover the personal losses of an expatriate on foreign assignment. Whether this be a claim for a fire loss, theft, or a damage award from a local magistrate for $50,000, there is no coverage via commercial policies. There are legal and tax reasons why an employer cannot step in to bail out an expatriate's losses.

Surveys from International Property Insurance Group indicate this as the # 1 reason expatriates don't proactively look for these lines of insurance on their own.

Taking Valuable Articles Into Your International Assignment

When people leave their home country to live internationally, or take an expatriate assignment for a few years, the last thing they think about is insuring their personal effects with the proper international property insurance policy, and protecting their valuable articles in the new location. The most common valuable people need to protect is a diamond wedding ring.

When people arrive in their host country, and when they get around to looking for insurance for their property and valuables, they may find all of the following:

• There is no recognizable insurance market in the host country. What are my options?
• Insurance companies will not work with "foreigners" in the local country.
• An insurance market exists, but the level of coverage and the reputation of the insurer is impossible to determine. What am I buying and what will happen at the time of claim?

The good news is there are insurance companies and brokerages that specifically work with people that are living away from their home country. International Property Insurance Group works with expatriates in 80 countries and all of them need sound international personal effects insurance with a strong global liability policy.

Just like in the home country, valuable articles need to be scheduled and named in the insurance policy, insured up to their true value. However, once secured, the insurance should work worldwide. For example, a theft of a diamond ring in the host country, home country, or even while traveling to a third country would be fully covered if the item was properly scheduled with the insurance company before-hand.

Biggest Mistake Expatriates Make, Forgetting the International Property Insurance

One of the biggest mistakes expatriates make when they go to live internationally on a work assignment, is believing they have to take no action to insure their international property and to provide themselves international liability insurance. The reason is, they falsely believe their employer is either providing these coverages for them, or in the event of loss, the employer would financially bail them out.

This is almost never the case. Employees need to understand that as soon as the moving truck backs away, it is their own responsibility to secure international property insurance and international liability insurance to protect their financial net worth or risk everything. Many expatriates will not take this initiative or even investigate options for their international personal effects believing the employer will be there for them in the event of a personal claim.

The legal and tax reasons why employers cannot get involved is explained at www.internationalpropertyinsurance.com