RESTRICTED TRAVEL

UCF encourages international travel in the pursuit of our global strategy and academic mission while aiming to make those travels as safe as possible.

Per UCF Policy 2-903, UCF Global restricts travel to any country or region designated by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a Level 3 OR by the Department of State (DoS) Level 3 or 4.

  • Until further notice, international travel is not permitted to any country with a Travel Advisory Level 4 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • On a case-by-case basis, international travel may be approved by UCF Global—with dean and chair approval—to countries on the Travel Advisory and Restrictions list.
  • These guidelines will apply to all student, faculty, and staff travel.
We advise all travelers to read the country-specific Travel Advisories and U.S. Embassy COVID pages for updates on the impact of COVID-19 worldwide.
KEY FEATURES

UCF encourages international travel in the pursuit of our global strategy and academic mission while aiming to make those travels as safe as possible. To this end, UCF constantly monitors global health, safety, and security information. In accordance with UCF Policy, Florida statutes, and U.S. law, certain destinations have been identified as “restricted”.

Regardless of destination, all faculty, staff, and students are asked to register their university sponsored international travel prior to departure. This registration entitles the traveler to automatic enrollment in the Accident/Sickness insurance policy, access to travel, assistance services, and allows administrations to quickly locate travelers when an emergency occurs.

STEP 1 - REGISTER YOUR TRAVEL
STEP 2 - SUBMIT A TRAVEL APPROVAL PETITION
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RESTRICTED DESTINATIONS

Please read the country-specific travel advisories from the Department of State and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention for updates on the impact of COVID-19 worldwide.

UCF International Health and Safety reserves the right to make immediate adjustments if conditions in a country change significantly. Students should always monitor advisories for their intended location by for downloading AlertTraveler.

Likewise, we encourage faculty and staff to register for the U.S. Department of State’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).

Students will take 16-18 hours of class per week for eight weeks. Each session, students will engage in two combined courses addressing six language skills:

DEPARTMENT OF STATE
CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

Prior approval by the provost or provost designee is required for travel to countries for which the U.S. Department of State has issued a Level 3 or Level 4 Travel Advisory or for which the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 3 Travel Warning for which university funds will be used, academic credit provided and/or there is an implied connection to the university. The university may also restrict certain other destinations, at its discretion, where the security, health, and/or political situation is unstable. This restriction does not apply to privately funded travel that is not related to university business or is in no way affiliated to UCF (e.g., a personal vacation).

For more information, please read UCF Policy 2-903.

While most exception decisions take less than 10 days, some travel can require up to 90 days for applicable licenses. Please plan accordingly.

Questions or concerns may be directed to International Health & Safety at intlsafety@ucf.edu.

When adding a country or region to the Restricted Travel List, we factor in criteria from government, insurance, and in-country resources.

Some of which include but are not limited to:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL (OFAC)

Issues comprehensive sanctions against countries that prohibit all direct or indirect imports/exports, trade brokering, financing or facilitating against most goods, technology and services. Visit the Office of Export Compliance for more details.

UNITED HEALTHCARE GLOBAL

A UCF partner that helps monitor and identify risks thought the world. They use threat level ratings 1 (Very Low Threat) to 5 (Very High Threat) to rate risks abroad.

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC)

Issues travel notices to inform travelers about current health issues related to specific designations and are categorized by Warning Level 3 (avoid nonessential travel), Alert Level 2 (practice enhanced precautions) and Watch Level 1 (practice usual precautions).

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Issues travel advisories for every country, including four standard levels of advice, risk descriptions and actions that U.S. citizens should implement to help ensure their safety.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Process to Seek an Exception

  1. Complete the online Travel Authorization Petition. Refer to this guide for detailed instructions.
  2. This form will be routed to the Dean and Chair of your academic unit, Export Control, UCF Global for review, and the Provost/ Provost Designee for final exception decision.
  3. Progress of your form can be tracked via the online portal through which you submit the request.

Countries Classified as a Terrorist State

  • Countries under U.S. Sanction, embargo or that are working on sensitive projects or equipment, may require additional government approval.
  • Questions or concerns may be directed to the Office of Export Compliance.

Countries Classified as a Terrorist State

According to Chapter 1011 (6), Florida Statutes:

  • There is no process to approve travel using any university funds to the following countries: Iran, Sudan and Syria, and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).
  • “None of the state or non-state funds made available to state universities may be used to implement, organize, direct, coordinate, or administer, or to support the implementation, organization, direction, coordination, or administration of, activities related to or involving travel to a terrorist state.”

Travel to Cuba

The United States government has reestablished diplomatic relations with Cuba. This action, together with the removal of Cuba from the State Department’s list of countries that sponsor terrorism, means that UCF and other public universities in Florida are no longer prohibited from using university dollars to pay for faculty travel to Cuba in furtherance of the university’s educational activities.

Your travel must still comply with the requirements for general licenses established by the federal government, or if not, a special license must be obtained, in accordance with the amended regulations announced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of Treasury.

All existing university policies and procedures applicable to foreign travel will apply to travel to Cuba as well. You may also consult the U.S. State Department’s website for additional travel-related information.

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