About the travel policy and MyTrips
The university’s International Travel Oversight Committee (ITOC) has been working on this policy for the past year at the request of university leadership. ITOC advises the Provost’s Office and makes policy recommendations on international travel conducted by students, faculty, and staff of WashU. The committee represents senior emergency management, legal, risk, administrative, and travel officers from WashU with purview over areas where university funds or university personnel are involved in travel outside the United States.
The ITOC has been in existence for many years and is present at most major research universities for the purpose of ensuring the safety of university travelers and enabling the ability to marshal university resources such as emergency travel assistance or disaster/conflict area extraction in the event of political unrest or natural disasters.
Registration for university-related international travel is required of all students and all benefits-eligible faculty, staff, clinical fellows, and post-doctoral researchers traveling outside the United States for university purposes. This includes:
- an undergraduate student participating in a university-sponsored program or experience abroad
- a graduate or professional student traveling on university-funded or university-related business, field study, research, conference attendance, internship, or study abroad program
- a faculty or staff member, traveling on university-sponsored or supported international travel as defined in the university international travel policy
Without international travel registration by all university community members on university-sponsored or supported travel, it is difficult for the university to assist in emergencies or times of crisis.
From a safety perspective, we won’t have the information we need to help you in case of a travel emergency. This will delay and impede our ability to provide support and resources during an emergency or crisis.
From an administrative perspective, travel advance/travel reports cannot be processed in a timely manner. Reimbursement could be delayed.
Students who do not register may not receive course credit for their academic experience.
You will not be required to register for personal travel. However, International SOS, which can be accessed through the university’s global website offers a number of resource that are helpful to all travelers.
No. The university does not currently have a policy for registering domestic travel.
Yes, you must register your travel to Canada as it is an international destination.
Using MyTrips
Please set up your profile as soon as possible. This will eliminate a step when you are ready to register your trip.
- University email address
- Your home country (the country you reside in)
- The number of the mobile phone you’ll use while traveling (if applicable)
- Your employee or student ID number
- Personal emergency contact information
- Departmental contact if you are faculty or staff
- Your department or school
- Your role at the university
- Dates of travel
- Your travel details, including flights, accommodations, etc.
- Purpose of your trip
- Whether you are traveling with someone (e.g. faculty member, an accompanying spouse/dependent)
- In-country emergency contact information
Yes, you can register travel for someone else, but you must first request administrator access. To do this, please email ITOC@wustl.edu and request TravelTracker Manual Trip Entry access. You will receive an email from International SOS granting you this access. Once you receive this access, you can register the traveler’s itinerary manually. Please see instructions for Proxy Registration using the TravelTracker Manual Trip Entry feature for administrators. You must also create your own MyTrips login. Go to mytrips.wustl.edu for instructions on how to create your own profile and how to register by proxy. You can also register by proxy if you have access to the traveler’s MyTrips login credentials (username, password).
Yes, you can create a profile for another person provided you have her/his permission to do so. You will Create a Profile by using the traveler’s WashU email as the username. You will need to have some of the traveler’s details such as personal emergency contact information, mobile number when traveling, etc.
Go to MyTrips-instructions for more information about creating a profile.
Yes, you can register a group of travelers by using the ISOS Manual Trip Entry feature for administrators. You must contact ITOC@wustl.edu to request access as an administrator for group travel entry. After you receive this access, go to MyTrips-instructions.
Yes, forward the itinerary to the traveler’s wustl.edu e-mail address and cc:
WashUTravel-To@itinerary.internationalsos.com.
Additional common questions
If your trip is canceled for any reason (illness, change in schedule, or your travel proposal is not approved), please delete your itinerary from MyTrips. If your travel details change, you will need to update your travel itinerary in MyTrips.
When submitting a travel advance/travel report for reimbursement, submit forms/documents as you usually do, however you will be required to indicate whether you entered your itinerary in MyTrips on your travel advance/travel report when reimbursement is for international travel.
Note: Please retain this information for a period of one year in case of a travel registry audit.
You do not need to have a smartphone or use a smartphone when traveling. You can print out the pre-trip information before you begin your travels, and you can check emails when you have access to Wi-Fi or IP connection to retrieve updates/alerts issued in the country in which you are traveling. In more remote areas, the university will also rely on the in-country emergency contacts provided by the traveler. For some remote destinations, faculty may opt to take a satellite phone.