International travel safety reminder

December 8, 2025

Dear UIC campus community,

We write to remind all UIC faculty, staff and students about traveling safely and the need for preapproval for and reporting of university-authorized or sponsored international travel funded by the university or other sources. All faculty, staff and students traveling internationally on UIC business must, according to the International Travel Safety Policy, enroll in the International Travel Safety Portal before traveling and to receive reimbursement.

Faculty and staff members traveling abroad for university-related purposes are required to:

  • Seek approval from their supervisor and/or departmental leader as outlined in their unit’s protocols for requesting travel.
  • Submit trip details in the International Travel Safety Portal.
  • Submit trip details to Gallagher for the university’s international health insurance (provided at no additional cost to faculty/staff members). Information about submitting trip details to Gallagher is available as a task in the International Travel Safety Portal.
  • After submitting trip details to both the International Travel Safety Portal and the Gallagher websites, travelers will receive email confirmations that can be used for expense report submission. Information about the documentation that is acceptable for expense reports is available under the FAQ section on the International Travel Safety webpage.

Students traveling abroad for university-related purposes are required to:

Per UIC’s International Travel Safety Policy, students traveling to a country with an elevated Travel Advisory from the U.S. Department of State (“Level 3: Reconsider Travel,” and “Level 4: Do Not Travel”) or the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“Level 3: Avoid Nonessential Travel”) are subject to additional review by the Office of Global Engagement.  To determine if the country to which you are traveling has an elevated travel advisory, please visit the U.S. Department of State – Travel Advisories and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Travelers’ Health.

Please note that UIC’s insurance provider, Gallagher, monitors global geopolitical situations and maintains an active list of countries/regions with war risk. If faculty, staff or students are approved to travel for university business to a country or region that is on this list, some important insurance benefits will not be provided without the purchase of a war risk endorsement through Gallagher. The university requires that a war risk endorsement be purchased in these cases. Please contact sao@uic.edu for the list of war risk countries or for more information.

Gallagher has recently updated its website. Individuals who have previously registered an account with Gallagher will need to create a new account the first time they submit travel details on the new website. Details are available within the International Travel Safety Portal.

Faculty and staff who plan to travel internationally as part of an outside activity must receive pre-approval for the international travel through the UIC Conflict of Commitment and Interest research portal accessed via the “UIC Research COI” link on the Conflict of Commitment and Interest webpage. Faculty and staff whose travel is paid for by any entity other than UIC as part of their UIC activities must receive preapproval under the Educational Materials and Missions exception to the Ethics Act. Purely personal travel should be reported to your supervisor or unit executive officer, but travelers should not enroll in the International Travel Safety Portal for this travel.

Faculty, staff and students who plan to travel internationally, particularly with UIC property (such as computers) or data, should review the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research travel guidance. This guidance includes recommendations for traveling with cellphones and information for travel laptops for researchers. These recommendations apply regardless of the purpose of travel.

Sincerely,

Karen J. Colley
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Joanna Groden
Vice Chancellor for Research

Neal R. McCrillis
Vice Provost for Global Engagement

For more information, please contact:
Kyle Rausch
oge@uic.edu
sao@uic.edu

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