Education Abroad

Travel to Risk Designated Country

Effective January 2018, the U.S. Department of State has updated their website to include a travel advisory scale (in place of the Travel Alert/Warning system previously used). The new scale has four levels, and also embeds varying levels for specific regions of a country and/or for specific types of risk indicators. Access Details on the New Scale.

Any student travel sponsored by the University that is to a country with the following risk designation(s) will need to be evaluated prior to departure. Level 4: All student travel to countries and/or regions with an overall Department of State travel advisory Level 4 is prohibited. Groups and individuals may not petition to travel to a Level 4 advisory.    

In addition, based on advisory level of the entire country and/or regions within the country, groups and individuals will need to submit an itinerary of travel 90 days before program departure date to the Director, Center for International Education. 

Submit a detailed travel itinerary if the country’s DOS travel advisory meets the following conditions:

  • Any country designated with a Level 3 advisory.
  • Any country designated with a Level 2 advisory that has areas of higher risk (levels 3 and 4) within the country.
  • Any country designated with a Level 1 advisory that has areas of higher risk (levels 3 and 4) within the country.

If deemed necessary after itinerary submission, the faculty-leader or individual may need to submit a formal petition for an exception to travel; the Education Abroad Advisory Council, the Office of Risk Management, and the Office of General Counsel must approve it. The Senior International Officer (SIO) will approve the final decision. Even if approval is obtained, the program or travel may still be cancelled, if circumstances change, up to the day of departure.