International Travel
When does International Travel require pre-approval? What constitutes approval?Related Policies
Related Policy: UNM Policy 4030
Section 4.2 International Travel
Pre-Approval
The procedures require pre-approval by a chair, dean or supervisor of the traveler before travel. The intent is that the pre-approval is obtained before any money is spent on the travel. This pre-approval is required for
- PI's traveling on externally funded research
- Any travel for UNM business, regardless of the source of funding
Intent
The intent of this approval is that there should be a secondary review on all travel by someone in authority over the traveler to confirm that the travel appears reasonable. The person is not expected to specifically pre-approve expenses in the pre-approval. They simply need to state that they are aware of the travel and, to the best of their knowledge and that it appears appropriate for the stated business purpose.
Wording
The requestor should provide a business purpose that references the funding source (i.e. grant number), the grant title, the purpose of the grant if it is not clear from the title, and the way that the travel supports the grant goals. For example,
“I am requesting pre-approval for travel to Beijing, China on September 1 to 7, 2019 to present a talk entitled “The effect of green chile on health” at the International Conference on spicy foods as part of my grant NSF 12345 “International foods and health.”
Process
The chair can approve the request by email stating travel and business description appears appropriate for the source of funding. The pre-approval can be obtained by email and must be obtained before travel. The approval should be uploaded to Chrome River after the travel (during reimbursement). The intent is that the pre-approval is obtained before any money is spent on the travel.
For recurring international trips, multiple trips can be pre-approved.
For Whom
This applies only to UNM faculty, staff and students traveling to international destinations, NOT to international visitors traveling to UNM.
For foreign national visitors to UNM who are not UNM employees, pre-approval (IS or IS NOT required).
Limitations
This pre-approval does not constitute a guarantee that all expenses are reimbursable. If the traveler has unusual circumstances (i.e. travel time not aligning with meeting time, personal time during travel, or multiple trips funded by different sources, etc.), in order to verify that anticipated expenses are appropriate, they should verify this with the Department Administrator or similar staff for advice.
