Please review all information before making travel arrangements

1) Travel supported by a lab (e.g., to scientific conferences) should be pre-approved by the relevant PI and handled entirely through the lab’s funds and the lab’s institution

2) Pre-approval is required for inter-lab travel that will be supported by the Administrative Core. The PI or traveler should email the Administrative Core and describe: a) who will be traveling; b) home lab; c) visited lab(s); d) dates of travel; and e) estimated cost for the travel.  The Administrative Core expects to approve all appropriate travel until imbalances in lab use become obvious or funds run low.

3) After approval, the traveler should make their own travel arrangements (following the policies listed below) and send receipts to the Administrative Core after the travel is completed.  The Core has some capacity to help with making travel arrangements if advanced payments are needed, however this requires substantial lead times. Please contact the Administrative Core at least 30 days before travel for any arrangements that will require an advance.

4) Reimbursements will be processed within 2-3 weeks of receiving all required expense documentation and can be sent via mail or wire transfer. Be sure to specify which form of payment you prefer when submitting your receipts.

Travel Policies

Passport

Before making any travel arrangements, please verify that passports are no less than 6 months from expiring and any necessary visas have been acquired. A working visa is required if any paid work will be done.

Expense Limits

Airfare 
We can only reimburse the lowest available non-refundable economy class flights. All receipts must include payment information. If you have a medical reason to fly another class, please contact us before booking your flight.

When traveling to the U.S. from a foreign country, or traveling between points outside of the U.S., the Fly America Act generally provides that foreign air travel funded by Federal grants may only be conducted on U.S. flag air carriers, or airlines under the Airline “Open Skies” Agreement. The current list of countries with Open Skies agreements includes Italy but not Argentina. For further details on international travel and permissible air carriers, please refer to the NIH Grants Policy Statement and this Fly America Act and Open Skies Agreement chart, which list the guidelines NIH requires us to follow.

Hotel 
< $200 per night 
Travelers may book through extended stay hotels or other accommodations. These options may be better suited for visits longer than one week. Hotel receipts must have a zero-balance reflecting completed payment. 
 
Ground Transportation 
Car rentals are not reimbursable, but travelers can be reimbursed for rideshare (Uber/Lyft), taxis, or public transit between the airport, accommodations and lab facilities. 
 
Meals  
Reimbursement rates for travel meals vary by location. Please contact the Administrative Core to verify the rates for your destination. 
 
Typical US$ rates are as follows: 
$15 Breakfast 
$20 Lunch 
$30 Dinner 
$5 Incidentals 
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$70 Per Day ($50 for first and last day of travel) 
Meals may be purchased from any food vendor – including restaurants or markets – but the total amount spent on groceries per day may not exceed the daily limit.

Receipts

You must retain original copies of all receipts and contact the Administrative Core to coordinate delivery. We cannot reimburse travel outside of transit to and from airports, accommodations and labs, meals that exceed the daily expenditure limit, or any expense without a copy of the receipt.