Faculty & staff travel safety

Plane flying through sky

Faculty and staff are required to register their travel with Safety Abroad when embarking on university-sanctioned international travel. The team will work with you to ensure you have completed the required steps in order for you to meet your safety and security responsibilities prior to travel. Your safety and security is a mutual obligation and priority.  

Staff or faculty members travelling within Canada do not need to register their travel.

If you are leading a field course or student group travel for academic, research, fieldwork, sports, clubs, or any other University activity, please visit the Group Travel page.

Determine the advisory level of your destination

Before planning travel, refer to the  Government of Canada travel advice and advisories to determine the advisory level for your destination.

For travel to Level 1 (take normal security precautions) and Level 2 (exercise a high degree of caution) destinations, follow the process below. 

Travel to destinations identified as Level 3 (avoid non-essential travel) or Level 4 (avoid all travel) is considered high-risk by the University of Waterloo andgenerally not allowed. You must consult with your supervisor and receive approval from the Provost through the approval procedure for high-risk travel.

Additionally, please review the Government of Canada travel health recommendations prior to travel.

Faculty/Staff international travel process:

Student travel process including approval, registration, training and a globe

Approval

Registration

Fill out the International Travel Registration form to register your university-sanctioned travel to a Level 1 or Level 2 destination. Once registered, you will receive an email, typically within 2-3 business days, which will provide you with further instructions on the next steps to complete pre-departure required risk mitigation training.

When registering your travel, you will be required to:

  • provide the name and email of your approving authority,
  • provide details of your itinerary (locations and dates),
  • attest that you are fully vaccinated for your travel destination and activities,
  • attest that you have adequate travel and health insurance,
  • confirm that your emergency contact information is up-to-date in Workday,
  • confirm that you will abide by the required travel safety and security practices provided to you and
  • confirm that you will contact safetyabroad@uwaterloo.ca for further direction if you cannot abide by any of the above.

If your travel activity involves "significant risk fieldwork" you must complete and submit the following forms:

To assess if your activity is considered "significant risk fieldwork", please review the safety office guidelines.

Pre-departure training

Review the destination-specific Travel Risk Brief from Anvil Group, the University's travel safety and security provider.

You have been enrolled in the LEARN pre-departure faculty and staff international travel course. We encourage you to review the course modules as they provide you with practical and important information including:

  • government information,
  • health & vaccinations,
  • insurance,
  • Anvil Group and
  • emergency preparedness.

Refer to the following links for additional information regarding faculty and staff travel.

Please reach out to Safety Abroad if you have any questions or concerns.