Foreign Guest Traveler Payments
Directive Statement
The UF Travel Office has established a process to assist departments with providing reimbursement to International Guest Travelers before the guest departs from the US.
Reason for Directive:
The University of Florida hosts international guests for various purposes, including speaking engagements and research opportunities. Most Foreign Guest Travelers should be reimbursed after their trip is completed, via check or a Bank Wire Payment. International travelers are often not able to cash checks from US banks in their country. See Bank Wires for Foreign Guest Travelers (add link to new instruction guide) for instructions regarding processing outgoing bank wires to foreign guests.
This process is allowed in situations where payment could not be made by any other means, or would bring hardship to the international visitor. Entering inaccurate travel dates for other reasons is not allowed unless approved by the Travel Office.
Who must comply?
All UF departments.
Procedures
- Note: It is imperative that this process starts several weeks before the Guest Traveler is set to visit. A minimum of three weeks is recommended.
- Departments need to enter the Guest as a Person of interest (POI) 00016 in the HR ePAF module in my.UFL.edu. This creates a UFID for the visitor and adds them as a Guest payee in UF GO. The Guest will be in UF GO the following day.
- When entering a POI, first search for the Guest to determine if they are already a POI to ensure a second UFID is not created for the Guest.
- Once a guest is entered as a POI, the Guest can be used by any department on campus. The POI is active for 2 yrs.
For more information regarding how to add Guest Traveler information to UF GO, visit the Toolkit: Guest Travel Process
- The department will create a UFLOR International Travel Request (Guest) . Ensure that the Guest is entered in the Guest Traveler Use the correct travel dates.
- After the Guest Travel Request is approved, create a UFLOR Travel Report (Guest). Ensure the following items are completed on the Travel Report:
- On the Travel Report header, change the dates of travel so that the Business Travel End date is in the past. This will allow the report to be processed before the trip is over. For example, if the Guest’s actual travel dates are 8/10/25 to 8/16/25, the travel dates entered on the report header could be 7/29/25 to 8/4/25. The number of days are the same as the actual travel days. The report can be submitted on 8/5/25, which should allow enough time for the report to obtain all required approvals and for the check to be processed.
- The actual dates of travel MUST be listed in the comment field on the header. Changing the dates of travel on the travel report is ONLY allowed
- On the Travel Report Header, under “Special Payment Handling” choose Alternate Check Delivery.
- Complete the Alternate Check Delivery form and attach it to the expense report.
Disbursements will inform the department when the check is ready to be picked up. Please make sure that the individual listed on the Alternate Check Delivery form is the person picking up the check. They must present their ID before the check will be released.
Contacts
UF GO Contact Form