Accounts Payable

International Travel

A detailed checklist for international travel is located on the SAGE Website. It is recommended that Valencia staff and faculty traveling overseas register with the SAGE office in order to get support in the event of an emergency. As part of that support, the SAGE Department will provide you with an emergency binder, international cell phone (if needed), and registers your trip with the Department of State.

In regards to  International Per Diem, if an employee is requesting international per diem, each situation can be different. However, there are some similarities which can be highlighted:

• If a staff member is paying for their international hotel using a P-Card they must contact Procurement Services and notify them that they are traveling out of the country and will be using their P-Card. Accounts Payable will reimburse the maximum per diem rate on the per diem (and deduct the hotel costs if using a P-Card in the advance section of the per diem) to determine their reimbursement. This is if the employee is traveling and is incurring actual hotel expenses as an advance. NOTE: Most international travel is processed and paid for as a group, not as an individual hotel expense.
• If a staff member is claiming the Maximum Per Diem Rates for the Country and City they will be traveling to, they must not include incidentals in their request for reimbursement (this includes laundry, dry cleaning, etc.). The incidentals and Foreign Per Diem Rates can be found on the FTR Appendix B (Breakdown of meals/incidentals).
• If a staff member is traveling to more than 1 city, they must add up the total for the days and they must attach a copy of the Foreign Per Diem Rates in U.S. dollars to show the Country and effective date of the rate of travel.
• Staff members should use the International Per Diem form located on the SAGE website.
• The College will NOT reimburse passport renewals. However, if an employee does not have a passport and needs one to travel out of the country, the College will pay the expense IF they employee does not have a passport using Fund 6. See https://travel.state.gov/content/travel.html for the requirements to enter the country.
• The College will reimburse the CISI Insurance of $24.00 mentioned in Step 10 of the SAGE instructions.
• The College will reimburse the costs of an international phone card when using an International Phone that SAGE has provided from their office.
• If an expense is recommended, it is up to the traveler to choose to pay the expense.
• The College will reimburse the cost of visas if the visa is placed on the Authorization for Travel and is signed by the employee's supervisor and the budget manger (which is the normal process). Accounts Payable will pay for the expense out of the designated college budget. The supervisor's signatures allow the trip to be considered a required part of the employee's job duties. Our guideline for the required expenditures will be the entry/exit requirements for US Citizens as posted on the Department of State Website at the time the  Authorization for Travel is submitted.

For questions or concerns specific to International Travel, contact Sage Office at studyabroad@valenciacollege.edu.

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College Preferred Travel Agent