Petition Instructions for Undergraduate Students or Groups traveling abroad that will include Undergraduate Students

Duke Undergraduates, or the Faculty, Staff or Program/Club/Dept. organizing a group trip that will include Undergraduates, who wish to travel, or lead travel, to a location on the Duke Restricted Regions List (RRL) where there will be one or more Undergraduate Students participating must petition the Provost, through the Global Travel Advisory Committee (GTAC), at least 60-days in advance of the intended travel dates requesting a waiver of the restriction.  “Group petitions” are recommended when a group/class trip to a destination that appears on the RRL will involve a shared itinerary, meaning all students will participate in the same agenda of activities, lodge together, travel between in-country locations together, etc.

Programs, units and schools who provide support – whether it is financial, granting approval or granting credit (even if the granting of credit is post-travel) must ensure that Undergraduate Students have been granted a waiver of the Duke restriction and have fulfilled all of the subsequent requirements prior to providing any Duke-support for the travel.

Per the University’s Global Travel Policy, if travel abroad to a destination on the Duke RRL is part of a course or for class credit, a waiver must be granted based on preliminary travel plans/itinerary prior to advertising or enrolling students in the course.  If a destination becomes restricted after the course has made, the Faculty or Department Chair is required to submit a group petition as soon as it is recognized that the destination(s) to be visited appears on the Duke RRL.

Faculty and Staff who work with student travelers should stay apprised of the destinations which have restrictions placed on them. Sign up for email updates when changes are made to the RRL by emailing travelpolicyupdates-request@duke.edu(link sends e-mail).

A completed petition packet should include the following six items:

  1. The program/school/department at Duke University that is supporting the travel;
  2. The specific location or locations that will be visited and the dates you, or the group, plan to be there;
  3. The activities in which the Undergraduate Student will be engaging such as the in-country hosts/organizers, how ground transport will be handled, where the students will be lodging, etc.;
  4. A personal statement* about the reasons for the trip, why it is academically or otherwise justified, and why the traveler believes the risk, given their planned risk mitigation efforts, will not be excessive.  This statement should include any language skills or cultural knowledge that the traveler has that is applicable to the proposed destination and/or the activity;
  5. A risk mitigation strategy (students should study their destination, identify as many risks as they can and note how they plan to handle them if they were to occur); and
  6. Any supporting documentation or statements from relevant personnel (e.g., faculty, program sponsors, people at host institution, etc.).

*Personal statements should be written by each individual student in the group when participants are known.  For Faculty/Chairs petitioning prior to a course making, these

Processing of petitions can take up to 1-month for a decision as GTAC and/or the Provost engage in-country and/or faculty/staff experts on the destination in order to gather input related to the proposed activity, location and on-the-ground contacts/entities. All decisions made by the Provost on petitions are final. 

If/when the petition is approved, the Undergraduate Student(s) and a Parent or Legal Guardian will be required to sign/remit an "Acknowledgement of Risks and Potential Harms, Agreement to Mitigate Risks and Waiver and Release of Liability.”  This form will be sent electronically using AdobeSign software therefore we will need email addresses of student participants and a parent/legal guardian for each.

All travelers are required to register travel in the Duke University Travel Registry in order to be considered in full compliance with Duke's Global Travel Policy once a waiver was granted.  Group travel can be entered via a batch upload post-decision.  Both the student and funding/coordinating unit will be notified when the petitioner has fulfilled all of the requirements.

Petition Examples

Previous Undergraduate Petitioners have granted us permission to share their submission with you as examples. Please contact globaltravel@duke.edu(link sends e-mail) to request a copy.

Petition Instructions

Please send this information in electronic form to:

    Christy Parrish

    Director, Global Travel Policies and Incident Management

    Global Travel Office
    Duke University