To further safeguard University of Michigan community members who are traveling, faculty, staff and students are now required to receive pre-approval before visiting higher-risk locations abroad.
This change impacts travelers from all three campuses and Michigan Medicine, who are bound for locations designated as higher risk by U-M’s evacuation assistance provided Crisis24, whether the travel is for U-M Related Travel or for leisure.
MORE INFORMATION
Receiving pre-approval will ensure travelers are eligible for political or natural disaster evacuation coverage through Crisis24, which is contracted through the GeoBlue Travel Abroad Health Insurance.
Pre-approval instructions vary by traveler type and are available on:
- Global Michigan’s Crisis24 page.
- Each affected country’s risk rating page.
- Requirements pages for each traveler group:
- Faculty and staff on UMRT.
- Graduate students on U-M Related Travel. (Note: Undergraduate students are prohibited from traveling to higher-risk locations for the purposes of university work or study.)
- Faculty, staff and students on leisure travel.
Countries deemed higher risk that require pre-approval include Afghanistan, Belarus, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia (Tigray region only), Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria (Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, and northern Adamawa states only), North Korea, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.
For more information or questions about this new process, email [email protected].
Peter Toogood
So just to be clear, I am expected to ask permission to take a vacation in Israel. Did I interpret that correctly?
Jenn Berks
Nope you did not interpret correctly. If you follow the links provided for leisure travel you will see that it doesn’t stop you from traveling there, you just won’t necessarily have access to evacuation services via UM’s provider.
“Crisis24 will notify the traveler whether the request is approved or denied. Travel that is not approved before departure by the assistance provider will not be eligible for political evacuation or natural disaster evacuation coverage.”
David Bleckley
If you want access to the services we get from the University while vacationing abroad, you need to follow the process. If you don’t want access to that service, you don’t need to. Here’s the language from the website:
Faculty, staff, and students on personal / leisure travel who do not complete this process before departure will not have Crisis24 political and natural disaster evacuation coverage in these locations.