Travel

This page provides travel related information for external collaborators authorized to receive UNU-WIDER travel funding. Here you can find information about flight tickets, insurance, passport and visa, health and vaccinations, and reimbursements related to travel. 

Flight tickets

External collaborators authorized to receive UNU-WIDER travel funding, will be provided with an air ticket in accordance with United Nations University Travel Policy. UNU-WIDER contact person will book the most economical route available, provided that the total additional time of the whole journey does not exceed the most direct route by 4 hours or more. Class of travel is economy class.

No air tickets should be purchased by the travellers themselves unless prior authorization has been received from UNU-WIDER.

Examples:

  1. The most direct Helsinki-Paris route is 3h 5min by a direct flight. We add 4 hours to the most direct flight time and book the least costly flight of a maximum duration of 7h 5min (=3h5min + 4h). This may result the flight to have a stopover and not being a direct flight.  
  2. The most direct route between London-Johannesburg is a direct flight for 10h 50min. We add 4 hours to the most direct flight time, and book the least costly flight of a maximum duration of 14h 50 min (=10h50 + 4h). This may result in a flight which has one or more stopovers.
Transportation from the airport to the venue

External collaborators will be provided with terminal expenses incurred for each required trip to/from the airport in the following fixed amount:

  New York Tokyo (Narita) Tokyo (Haneda) All other duty stations
When no official transportation is made available
Staff member USD78 USD74 USD47 USD47
Family member USD26 USD16 USD16 USD16
When official transportation is made available
Staff member USD14 USD14 USD14 USD14
Family member USD7 USD7 USD7 USD7

The terminal allowance for a return trip would typically consist of four (4) terminal allowances of above mentioned unit costs. E.g. 4*USD47=USD188 (not for New York or Tokyo). There is no need to submit taxi receipts.

No terminal expenses shall be paid for leaving the airport in an intermediate stopover.

Travel support / DSA

External collaborators authorized to receive UNU-WIDER travel funding will typically be offered DSA (Daily Subsistence Allowance / per diem) payment to cover hotel cost, meals and out-of-pocket travelling expenses. As a general rule the DSA is broken down as follows: 50% for hotel, 30% for meals and 20% for miscellaneous expenses.

External collaborators are required to settle any additional expenses incurred (such as phone calls, laundry, minibar, etc.) before departing the hotel. UNU-WIDER will not reimburse such costs.

Note that if UNU-WIDER provides one or more meals, the DSA will be deducted accordingly.

Insurance

Provided that you have a valid individual consultancy contract (not an institutional contract) with UNU-WIDER, UNU-WIDER will arrange at no expense to you an emergency medical insurance policy for the official duration of your travel. This insurance does not cover repatriation and personal belongings, such as luggage. We strongly recommended you to obtain your own travel insurance for elements not covered by the UNU emergency medical insurance policy.

If you do not have a valid consultancy contract with UNU-WIDER, please arrange your own insurance coverage for the travel.

Disclaimer: The United Nations University disclaims all responsibility for medical, accident and travel insurance, for compensation for death or disability, for loss of, or damage to, personal property and for any other loss that may be incurred during travel time or the period of participation. In this context, it is strongly recommended to secure, prior to departure, international medical insurance for the period of participation in the meeting.

Passport and visa

It is the traveller’s responsibility to ensure validity of the passport (typically for 6 months longer than your trip) and that the necessary visas, including transit visas are obtained prior to the travel.

Please check promptly with the nearest Embassy or Consulate in your area whether you need a visa to your destination.

Allow sufficient time before the start of the travel for visa processing. Should you have difficulty obtaining a visa let us know immediately.

For Schengen visa applications, emergency medical insurance provided by UNU-WIDER (see insurance paragraph above) is normally not sufficient and the traveller is responsible for organizing the required travel insurance. For more information please see HERE or contact your UNU-WIDER contact person.

UNU-WIDER will reimburse the cost of visas for those authorized for travel support; please retain the original receipts for this purpose (send advanced copies of such receipts to us). Should you need to incur any additional expenses related to your visa application (courier charges, travel costs for visa interview, etc.), please check first with UNU-WIDER for further guidance and authorization of these amounts.

Health and vaccinations

Please check the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Only vaccinations needed for UNU-WIDER related business travel might be covered upon prior authorization.  UNU-WIDER will reimburse the cost of the vaccination against original receipts. Please contact UNU-WIDER for further guidance and authorization of these amounts.

Reimbursements of air tickets, visas, vaccinations etc.

For costs authorized by UNU-WIDER, please submit us a signed UNU travel claim form (F.10). Payment will be done typically via bank transfer after successful completion of travel. In order to speed up the reimbursement process after the travel kindly take note of the following:

In case air tickets were purchased based on a prior authorization and/or visa expenses were incurred please send advance copies of the receipts and the tickets to your contact person via email together with a scanned copy of your signed F.10.

After the travel, please send the originals (used boarding passes, air ticket, visa receipts, vaccination receipts) together with the original signed F.10 to your contact person.

Address

UNU-WIDER
Name of the contact person
Katajanokanlaituri 6B
FI-00160 Helsinki
Finland