Office of International Programs

Office of International Programs

Travel Approval

Guidelines for Student Applications

The University of Minnesota encourages its students to participate in education experiences abroad. To minimize health and safety risks, University policy requires students, or faculty leading students, traveling to countries on the U.S. Department of State's travel warning list to seek special permission.

The International Travel Risk Assessment and Advisory Committee will review requests to travel to these countries. Applicants are encouraged to apply early. The committee review process commonly takes 6 to 8 weeks.

Approval Criteria

The proposal must be strongly linked to the student’s academic program, and the concerns raised in the questions below must be adequately addressed and documented. It is the student’s responsibility to prepare the documentation and work with the college or school in getting the necessary information. In the absence of a compelling case and justification, it is unlikely that the committee will approve the request.

Note: If a proposal is approved, it is approved under the conditions at the time of approval. If a new travel warning is issued, the proposal must be reconsidered. If the program is ongoing and the country remains under a travel warning, the program must be re-approved each time an individual or group of students plans to participate.

Application Contents

See below, or follow the link, for detailed information about each requirement

  1. Proposal
  2. Safety, emergency, and evacuation plan
  3. Letter of endorsement from the faculty sponsor, department chair, or academic adviser
  4. Letter of admission from non-U of M program, when applicable
  5. Letter of endorsement from the dean of the college
  6. Additional materials to support the petition, as needed
  7. Release and waiver
  8. Required international insurance application

Proposal Submission

The proposal should be submitted electronically six to eight weeks before proposed travel to Stacey Tsantir at stsantir@umn.edu

If electronic submission is not an option, submit hard copies to:
International Travel Risk Assessment and Advisory Committee
c/o Stacey Tsantir
Office of International Programs
100 University International Center
331 17th Avenue Southeast
Minneapolis, MN 55414

Application Details

The application must generally show the academic value of the program and how the structure of the program and safety procedures in place mitigate the concerns of the travel warning. Requests associated with sites not affiliated with a university or established sponsoring agency and requests to countries with high-level State Department warnings require substantial documentation. Students are responsible for working with their advisers and other appropriate individuals in their colleges/schools in preparing a written request.

  1. Proposal
    The proposal should be written in essay or letter form and should include:
    • your degree program, major, student status, and proposed dates
      of travel
    • a program overview or syllabus
    • answers to the following questions:
      • What are the compelling academic reasons for the experience in the specific location?
      • What alternative sites were considered and why will they not meet academic needs?
      • Will the program count as credit toward the degree or toward meeting a general requirement for the degree?
      • How does the structure of the program and safety procedures in place mitigate the concerns of the travel warning?
  2. Safety, emergency, and evacuation plan
    Students should work with program officials to obtain a copy of an existing plan or to develop documentation and procedures regarding safety, security, and evacuation. The sample emergency plan gives guidelines on the questions that must be addressed in the plan.

  3. Letter of endorsement from faculty sponsor, department chair, or academic adviser
    Students should submit a letter of endorsement from the faculty sponsor, department chair, or academic adviser.

  4. Letter of admission from the program (when applicable)
    Students attending a non-U of M program need to attach a letter of acceptance/admission from the program.

  5. Letter of endorsement from dean
    Students should submit a letter of endorsement from the dean of the college that is leading the program or in which the individual student is matriculated. Individual graduate students must provide a letter from the dean of their home college; a letter from the dean of Graduate Education is optional. This letter need not endorse the safety of the location but simply the academic value of the program.

  6. Additional materials
    Students should submit any additional materials appropriate for support of the petition. These would include any additional information that would be useful for the committee as background in making a decision, such as any prior relationships that have been established with a site or host institution.

  7. Release and waiver (Disregard the instructions on the forms and submit the signed release and waiver with your application. They will be forwarded to the correct office for processing, if approved.)

  8. International health insurance (Disregard the instructions on the form and submit the signed insurance form with your application. It will be forwarded to the correct office for processing, if approved.)