Employee International Travel Petition

Employee International

Travel Petition

Virginia Commonwealth University faculty or staff members wishing to petition for an exception to VCU’s travel restriction to a U.S. Department of State Level 3 or Level 4 country should complete the following petition form (please note: no petition is required for levels 1 or 2 destinations).

University-sanctioned* international travel for essential† purposes (see definition below) to a U.S. Department of State Level 3 or Level 4 country for employees will be considered by petition to VCU’s International Travel Advisory Committee (ITAC); ITAC will make the final decision. Petitions to Level 4 destinations will rarely be considered.

Employees should not complete the travel pre-approval process in ChromeRiver until final approval of the petition has been granted. This petition process does not replace fiscal/administrative levels of approval for travel, and exists for review of an exception to the travel prohibition only.

Ideally, petitions from VCU Richmond should be submitted about three months prior to departure and no less than three weeks prior to confirmation of travel (i.e. flight booking or program payment deadline). Due to the dynamic nature of travel risks, justification will need to be provided for petitions submitted farther than three months in advance of departure. Employees should expect the petition process to take, at minimum, 3 weeks. As VCUarts Qatar-based travelers operate under different geographical circumstances, every effort should be made to apply for a petition in a timely manner before flight booking and program payment deadlines on the Qatar campus.

VCUArts Qatar students, employees and/or community members (whose travel is funded by VCU): Travel within Qatar is considered domestic travel for the purpose of ITAC petitions. Travel across international borders would be subject to review by ITAC, but not travel within Qatar or to the U.S.

Travel to VCUArts Qatar: Travel to VCUArts Qatar does not require a petition to ITAC.

*Definition of “university-sanctioned international travel”: University-sanctioned international travel is defined as any travel activities outside the United States of America or its territories engaged in by students, employees, and/or community members (whose travel is funded by VCU) related to the individual’s position or role at the university, regardless of the source of funds. This includes, but is not limited to, travel related to instruction, research, or business such as conferences, presentations, recruiting, site/program assessment or development, credit-bearing or non-credit bearing education abroad, internships, service-learning, volunteer or work programs, fellowships, athletics events, field studies, or professional development activities. This does not include travel activities engaged in by students or employees in a personal capacity such as personal vacations and personal travel; individual travel that has no affiliation with VCU is not monitored by the university.

†Definition of "essential travel": Essential travel is defined as supporting activities that are necessary for work (for employees) and must be done in person. Essential travel may include research, teaching, study/education abroad, and other activities of immediate importance to the university’s mission. We encourage students and employees to frequently refer to the CDC and U.S. Department of State to be fully informed of potential health and other risks and the most up-to-date travel requirements and restrictions that may be in place.

Please reach out to the Global Education Office at itac@vcu.edu or abroad@vcu.edu with any questions regarding the petition process. VCUarts Qatar-based travelers should also cc akcecetka@vcu.edu. For more information on VCU’s International Travel Advisory Committee, please visit https://global.vcu.edu/itac/

Name*

VCU E-mail*

V#*

Please enter your Employee ID Number in this field.

Faculty or Staff*

Select or enter value

Campus*

Select or enter value

Other Campus

Proposed destination city and country*

Please note, if you are traveling to the VCUarts Qatar campus from the U.S. or another country, the ITAC petition process is not required.

Travel dates*

Intended activity at destination(s)*

Emergency contact abroad*

Please use the box below to provide information about the person(s) and/or institution/organization(s) that will serve as the on-site emergency point(s) of contact in your destination(s). (Ideally this should be someone that VCU can contact 24/7 to check on you if there is an emergency in the destination while you are there, and someone you would rely on in an emergency situation in your destination.)

Please use the following format:

Name of person(s) and/or organization(s)
E-mail address(es)
Phone number(s)

Contact info abroad*

Please provide a contact number where you can be reached in case of an emergency while abroad (with country code, if applicable).

Are you traveling as a group?*

Select or enter value

Are you the group leader?*

Select or enter value

Does it involve VCU students? If yes, please explain.*

Travel justification*

Why is the travel necessary and/or how will it serve the university's mission?

Essential Purpose of Travel Verification

To ensure the essential purpose of your proposed travel plans, please provide the contact information for the person at VCU who can verify the essential purpose of your proposed travel plans. This person should either be your VCU supervisor, chair, or dean (if you are an employee) and this person should already be aware of the details of your proposed travel plans. In providing this person's information, you hereby authorize members of the ITAC to contact this person to verify the essential nature of your proposed travel plans.

How is your travel being funded?*

Is VCU paying for your travel or are you paying for it personally?

Select or enter value

Name of person (for verification of essential travel)*

Person's title and unit (for verification of essential travel)*

Email address of person (for verification of essential travel)*

Relationship to traveler (for verification of essential travel)*

*Please select one*

Select or enter value

Other relationship*

Please explain the relationship to traveler

Risk review*

Please describe in detail specific resources you have reviewed/consulted to identify potential risks present in the destination and describe how you plan to mitigate those risks.

Specifically, you are expected to address how you will mitigate the specific risks mentioned in the U.S. Department of State's current travel advisory; otherwise, your petition will be returned to you.

Please also use this space to share any information about previous travel to this destination and/or other high risk destinations.

Clinical experience?*

Please check this box if this is a clinical experience.

Select or enter value

Authorized Approver*

Name of authorized approver in your department/School/College (i.e. the person in your department/School/College normally responsible for approving your travel).

Approver email*

Email of authorized approver in your department/School/College (i.e. the person in your department/School/College normally responsible for approving your travel).

Fiscal approver*

Name of fiscal approver in your department/School/College (i.e. the person in your department/School/College normally responsible for facilitating travel).

Fiscal email*

Email of fiscal approver in your department/School/College (i.e. the person in your department/School/College normally responsible for facilitating travel).

Additional info*

Please use the space below to provide any additional information that you would like the committee to know about you and/or your travel plans and your ability to mitigate the risks in the proposed destination.

The committee is interested in better understanding how you plan to stay safe while traveling to the high risk destination.

For example, do you have contacts in the destination who could be a resource to you? Do you have transportation pre-arranged?

International travel insurance acknowledgement

Cultural Insurance Services International (CISI) is the provider of travel accident insurance for VCU business travelers while on a VCU authorized trip outside of the U.S. While coverage for emergency medical, natural disaster, and security evacuation is automatic, travelers are encouraged to enroll their itineraries on the CISI website. VCU business travelers may also purchase international travel health insurance at an employee discounted rate of $1.55 per day for $500,000 of coverage, with no deductible. This plan is completely optional but does require individual enrollment and payment before travel. Interested travelers are encouraged to download the travel medical brochure to understand the coverage benefits and exclusions before making the decision to purchase.

Please read and acknowledge both of the following regarding the CISI plan for employees:

I acknowledge that upon approval of my petition, I will enroll my international travel itinerary on the CISI website prior to travel.*

I acknowledge that the available international travel health insurance is optional, and if selected, must be purchased before departure.*

I acknowledge that I am a VCUarts Qatar-based traveler and automatically enrolled in Global Rescue, which does not provide medical insurance.

Statement of affirmation

By checking this box, I affirm that all information provided in this petition for an exception to the VCU travel restriction is accurate, and that the review of my petition is contingent upon my department/unit head submitting a justification statement to ITAC@vcu.edu of how this petition request for international travel relates to my employment. Furthermore, I hereby give permission for the information I provided in this petition to be shared with members of the VCU International Travel Advisory Committee (ITAC) and other individuals at the university, in addition to individuals or organizations outside of VCU, for the purpose of ensuring essential purpose of travel, verifying on-site support, and reviewing my capability to mitigate risk in order to offer a recommendation for my petition request. I will follow all CDC and U.S. Department of State guidelines for international travel.*

Additional information

Please upload any additional information you would like to include with your petition.

Drag and drop files here or

Other risk mitigation*

Send me a copy of my responses

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