Travel Alert
See the latest resources regarding federal legislation’s effects on global travel
Update on travel to the Middle East: All official UW travel to the following countries should be deferred until further notice: Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Official student travel to these countries will not be approved. The capacity of US embassies to assist travelers in these countries is diminished. Any official university travel to these countries will not include coverage for evacuation under the UW Global Insurance policy. For the most recent alerts and embassy messages from the U.S. Department of State, go to the U.S. DOS Travel Advisory page.
Please contact UW Global Travel Health and Safety at travelemergency@uw.edu with any questions.
- All official international travel must be registered through UW Global. If the travel is funded, supported, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with the University it is considered “official travel.”
- Travel waivers are required for high-risk areas, as defined by the US Department of State (DoS). The International Travel Risk Assessment and Safety Committee and University Provost review high-risk travel requests. If a waiver is required, it will be included in the registration process.
- There are different rules for different travelers. High-risk travel is required to be essential and time-necessitated. For faculty and staff, this applies to DoS L4 regions and countries. For students, this applies to DoS L3 and L4 regions and countries.
- Travel waivers and review requirements may change on short notice. This includes if a country or region’s advisory changes before or while a traveler is abroad.
Requirements based on traveler type:
|
L1: Exercise Normal Precautions
|
L2:
Exercise Increased Caution
|
L3:
Reconsider Travel
|
L4:
Do Not Travel
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
Faculty, staff, and academic personnelEffective July 25, 2025 |
Travel registration required
Signature waiver required for countries with L4 regions |
Travel registration with ITRASC review required | ||
Graduate studentsEffective January 1, 2022 |
Travel registration required
Basic waiver required for countries with L3 and L4 regions |
Travel registration with ITRASC review required | Travel registration with ITRASC review required and departmental endorsement | |
Undergraduate studentsEffective January 1, 2022 |
Travel registration required
Basic waiver required for countries with L3 and L4 regions |
Travel registration with ITRASC review required | Travel registration with ITRASC review required and departmental endorsement (unlikely approval) | |
Interactive Department of State Advisory Map
Why was I required to submit a travel waiver if I’m not traveling to a high-risk city?
Our system is automated to flag any country where the Department of State has issued an travel advisory (including regional ones), which is why a travel waiver is required for your itinerary country. Due to technical constraints, we are unable to filter out destinations by city. We are similarly unable to account for every city in every Level 3 or 4 region around the world. The solution is a travel waiver that deploys based on the itinerary country, not city or region. The intention is to help us mitigate and reduce the possibility that we would be unaware of UW travel to a high-risk area.
Each travel waiver is granted on a case-by-case basis and any future high-risk travel will require that you submit another waiver. Previous approvals do not guarantee future approvals to travel.
For faculty, other academic personnel, staff, and graduate students: the UW International Travel Policy (APS 75.1) is effective as of July 25, 2025
For students: Official Student International Travel Policy is effective for travel on or after January 1, 2022