Students

By supporting you in understanding and mitigating the possible risks you may encounter, U of T Safety Abroad is dedicated to supporting safer student experiences abroad. Review the steps below to get started on learning more about what you are required to do in order to travel on university activity, and how U of T Safety Abroad can help you.

Safety Abroad Requirements

Before travelling on university activity abroad, there are certain steps that you must complete.

*For travel to higher risk locations, see the “Travel Advisories” section below.

Do the Safety Abroad requirements apply to me?

Yes, if you’re traveling on University Activity! Not sure if you’re traveling on university activity?

University activity is defined as any of the following:

  • Activity that is funded in part or in whole by the university
  • Activity that is organized, sanctioned, recognized or administered by the university
  • Activity which provides participants with academic credit
Read through the Safety Resources

What do you have to do before going overseas as a University of Toronto student?

Before travelling overseas on University of Toronto activities, all students will need to complete several Safety Abroad requirements. You will need to check your destination’s Travel Advisory, complete a Safety Abroad Workshop, acquire travel health insurance, and, finally, add your trip to the Safety Abroad Registry.

These requirements are meant to help keep you safe overseas, help you plan for any issues you might face, and improve the University of Toronto’s ability to support you during your trip. For example, after completing these requirements, you will know how to access services such as International SOS, which provides emergency support to U of T students overseas.

So, what do you have to do to complete these requirements?

First, take a look at the Government of Canada’s Travel Advisories. These Advisories are frequently updated, and provide guidance on visas, vaccinations, safety issues, emergency numbers, and other useful information.

The Advisories also have 4 levels of risk ratings. These levels are the basis for Safety Abroad’s risk ratings for student travel, as they indicate levels of safety and security concerns for each location.

Locations with risk levels 1 and 2 are open to all students who have completed the requirements in this video.

Students may be allowed to travel to the higher risk levels of 3 or 4 in certain circumstances. Students planning travel to these regions will need to contact Safety Abroad to complete a Safety Planning Record.

Next, register for a Safety Abroad Workshop. These workshops, held online or in-person, are designed to help you think through various situations you might encounter while overseas. Considering these situations and how you might deal with them will help you prepare for your trip.

Third, you will need to acquire appropriate and sufficient travel health insurance. While you may have medical coverage in Canada, you likely will not have any coverage overseas. Health care costs can be extremely high overseas, so having the right health insurance for your trip is extremely important. You can find more information in the Health and Wellness section of this website.

Finally, add your trip information to the Safety Abroad Registry. This information allows us to record your travel dates and location so that we can offer support and emergency assistance.

If any of this information changes, make sure to contact Safety Abroad to keep us updated, so that we can better help you in case of emergencies.

After completing these steps, you are ready for your trip overseas! Just remember to keep Safety Abroad updated of any changes, and know who to contact in case of emergency.

Now that you know you’re traveling on university activity, it’s important to research the advisory level for the location to which you’re traveling. This will help guide what your next steps should be.

What are the Travel Advisories?

U of T refers to the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) Travel Advice and Advisories to assess the risks associated with a particular country. These Travel Advisories have four levels under which countries, and sometimes regions within countries, can fall. Locations with Avoid non-essential travel (Level 3) and/or Avoid all travel (Level 4) advisories are considered higher risk destinations.

Level 1

Exercise normal security precautions

Level 2

Exercise a high degree of caution

Level 3

Avoid non-essential travel*

Level 4

Avoid all travel*

Check the travel advisory level for your destination(s).

Are you traveling to a higher risk destination?

Locations identified as “Avoid Non-Essential Travel” or “Avoid All Travel” by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) are considered higher risk travel destinations.

Travel for university activities to these higher risk locations will not be approved for undergraduate and Masters level students. If you are an undergraduate or Masters level student, please reach out to safety.abroad@utoronto.ca for guidance on your situation.

PhD students travelling for research essential to completing their degree requirements may be eligible for an exception. If you are a PhD student, please discuss your travel plans with your supervisor and reach out to safety.abroad@utoronto.ca for guidance.

If Safety Abroad supports a student in moving forward with a request for approval, then please note that their supervisor will also need to support with the process. Please also note that final approvals are not from Safety Abroad. Final approvals will come from the Department Chair and/or Division Head depending on the advisory level of the region. Depending on the complexity of the student’s experience, the process can take between 2-6 weeks on average.

If the higher risk travel is approved, Safety Abroad can then support students in completing the Safety Abroad requirements.

If you have any questions, or if you are planning to travel to one of these higher risk level regions, please contact Safety.Abroad@utoronto.ca as soon as possible to learn about these additional requirements

You must complete a Safety Abroad Workshop prior to your departure. Once complete, the Workshop is valid for 18 months.

What is the Safety Abroad Workshop?

The Safety Abroad Workshop is accessible online and in-person and covers topics such as health and wellness, personal safety, and intercultural awareness. The workshop is designed to help you identify and mitigate risks in your international destination. You must complete the workshop prior to your departure.

How do I register?

Online: Register here to access the workshops online through Quercus. You’ll be able to complete the modules at your own pace and even log back in if you want to review any material in the future.

  • Note: the most recent version of the Safety Abroad Workshop – “SL – Safety Abroad (Updated: Dec 2025)” – was launched December 8 2025. If you completed an earlier version, we have retained a copy of your completion records. Please note that the Workshop is valid for 18 months from your date of completion.

In-Person: Students are asked to complete the online workshop. If you are unable to do so, please email Safety.Abroad@utoronto.ca.

If you have any questions about in-person workshops or in-person group presentations, please contact Safety.Abroad@utoronto.ca.

Already completed a workshop?

If you completed the Safety Abroad Workshop in the last 18 months (perhaps for a previous university-related trip abroad), you will not need to complete another one! Not sure if your Workshop is still valid? Contact us.

If you will be travelling, make sure to contact your health insurance provider and check your coverage is activated.

Before you go, you will be asked to confirm you have secured appropriate and sufficient travel health insurance. You will also be asked for your travel health insurance information when adding your trip details to the Safety Abroad Registry.

Why do I need Travel Health Insurance?

Health care costs can be extremely high overseas, and your Canadian health insurance will likely only cover a small percentage, or nothing at all, of your costs. In order to avoid paying far more than expected for your trip, you will need travel health insurance.

How do I get Travel Health Insurance?

You may already have travel health insurance coverage through your student union!

Read more about how to check if you are covered, find out what is considered “appropriate and sufficient”, and learn more about what to consider when selecting travel health insurance on our Resources – Health & Wellness page.

Before you leave, you will need to register your travel in the Safety Abroad Registry.

What is the Safety Abroad Registry?

The Safety Abroad Registry allows U of T Safety Abroad to track your travel dates and location so that we can offer support and emergency assistance.

You need to complete a registration for each trip you go on. One trip can have multiple locations.

How can I add my information to the Safety Abroad Registry?

You can register here.* In order to register, have your emergency contact, health insurance, passport and local contact information ready.

Once you have registered, you will be asked to e-sign the Consent and Terms of Participation waivers.

*If you are unable to register your trip, please contact Safety.Abroad@utoronto.ca.

Please review the following frequently asked questions. If you don’t find an answer to your question, please email safety.abroad@utoronto.ca.

For urgent situations, please refer to the resources available In an Emergency.

Further resources and information can be found in the Safety Abroad Resource pages.

Student Safety Abroad provides advice, support and emergency assistance for students participating in University of Toronto sanctioned activities outside of Canada. By supporting you in understanding and mitigating the possible risks you may encounter, U of T Safety Abroad is dedicated to supporting safer student experiences while abroad.

Some issues reported that Safety Abroad can help you with would be:

  • Theft
  • Breach of security
  • Unsafe housing
  • Lost/Stolen documents
  • Mental or physical health
  • Harassment
  • Natural disasters
  • Political unrest

Check the In an Emergency page for more information or email Safety Abroad at safety.abroad@utoronto.ca for support and inquiries. Kindly ensure that you use your University of Toronto email address when contacting us to avoid delays.

All students travelling outside of Canada for university-related activities* (e.g. field trips, exchanges, internships, etc.) must complete the Safety Abroad requirements before departure. Also, if the activity is directly connected to your academic degree (e.g. field research, conferences), then that would be considered university activity as well.

*University activity is defined as any of the following:

  • Activity that is funded in part or in whole by the university
  • Activity that is organized, sanctioned, recognized, or administered by the university
  • Activity which provides participants with academic credit

If you are not sure if you need to complete the Safety Abroad requirements, please email safety.abroad@utoronto.ca.

The Safety Abroad requirements are not only a mandatory pre-departure requirement for all University of Toronto students participating in university activities outside of Canada, but also an important resource to support you while you are outside of Canada. By registering with Safety Abroad, you have access to emergency support from both U of T Safety Abroad and International SOS. 

Please note that all Safety Abroad requirements, including both the Safety Abroad Workshop and Safety Abroad Registry, are requirements that should be completed before your departure.

If you do not complete all Safety Abroad requirements, your travel will be considered personal travel, not university-related activities. This impacts our ability to support you in an emergency and could also affect your eligibility for funding, academic recognition, program participation, or may even result in receiving a No Credit Record (NCR). 

Important: The Safety Abroad Registry cannot be backdated. According to university policies, an activity will only be considered university-sanctioned activity once all Safety Abroad requirements are complete. 

The Safety Abroad requirements apply to all university activities outside of Canada.

University activities include those that are:

  • Activity that is funded in part or in whole by the university
  • Activity that is organized, sanctioned, recognized, or administered by the university
  • Activity which provides participants with academic credit

For example, if the activity is directly connected to your academic degree (e.g. research, conferences, internships recognized by a program at U of T), or if you are representing the University of Toronto (e.g. at a competition or conference), then your travel would be considered university-related.

During your trip, would you be engaging in activities related to your degree here at the University of Toronto? If so, then the travel would be considered university-related, and the Safety Abroad requirements (including the Safety Abroad Registry) would apply.

Questions? Please email safety.abroad@utoronto.ca

If your university-related activity* is virtual, but you need to travel to another location to participate (for example, traveling to a different city or country to join the virtual activity), you need to complete the Safety Abroad requirements.

However, if you are participating 100% virtually from home—regardless of where your home is—you do not need to complete the Safety Abroad requirements. The same applies if you are only traveling within Canada, as Safety Abroad requirements do not apply to domestic (within Canada) travel.

*University activity is defined as any of the following:

  • Activity that is funded in part or in whole by the university
  • Activity that is organized, sanctioned, recognized, or administered by the university
  • Activity which provides participants with academic credit

Not sure? Please email safety.abroad@utoronto.ca.

Please complete the Safety Abroad requirements as soon as possible. While we cannot guarantee full recognition of your activity, completing the requirements now may still allow us to support you in an emergency.

Please note that the Safety Abroad Registry cannot be backdated. When registering, please use the current date as your “arrival date” (the system does not accept dates in the past), and use your program’s end date or your return date as your “departure date.” 

If you have any questions, or any difficulties completing the requirements, please email safety.abroad@utoronto.ca.

We cannot backdate the Safety Abroad Registry, and we cannot recognize any registration submitted after your activity or travel has ended. 

Please note that Safety Abroad cannot make exceptions, especially for the Safety Abroad Registry.

Please email both Safety Abroad (safety.abroad@utoronto.ca) and your program or funding coordinator to explain your situation in detail if there are extenuating circumstances.  

Traveling abroad can be challenging, but the Safety Abroad Resources pages provide helpful tips on staying safe and healthy. While no guide can cover everything, identifying potential issues and preparing strategies can help reduce risks and worries.

Under the resources, you can find tips on:

Because uninsured healthcare can be extremely expensive!

Your local health insurance in Canada (e.g. UHIP for international students, OHIP for Ontario residents) provides severely limited coverage outside of Canada. As such, OHIP/UHIP are not considered sufficient nor appropriate coverage for your time outside of Canada.

University of Toronto policy requires students to have sufficient and appropriate health insurance coverage for the risks associated with their destinations, which is why we ask for the health insurance information on the Safety Abroad Registry.

If you have not opted out of incidental fees and if you are not a citizen of your host country, you may already have travel health insurance through your student union. We strongly recommend contacting your student union to confirm whether you have coverage, and to learn more.

Learn more about travel health insurance and how to contact your student union.    

If you are a citizen of the country to which you are travelling, then you will need to check if you have travel insurance coverage. Many travel insurance providers do not provide coverage to people travelling to their country of citizenship.

If you are not covered by a travel insurance plan and have local health insurance coverage, please do include your local health insurance on the Safety Abroad Registry:

  • Health Insurance Provider: include the name of your insurance provider (e.g. government department/agency, company name)
  • Phone Number: include the number you would call if you have questions about your health insurance coverage, or if you have lost the card you show to demonstrate your coverage
  • Policy Number: include the number by which you can demonstrate you have coverage (e.g. the number on a card you would show at a hospital or clinic)

Keep in mind that your health insurance should be in place prior to departure, and that it should cover you for the entire period of your university activity. Sometimes there can be a delay for citizens to restart their local health insurance. If there is a delay, you’ll need to purchase additional insurance to cover you while you wait.  

Please also note that your local health insurance is not the same as travel health insurance. We’d strongly advise comparing your coverage with, as an example, the U of T UTSU extended insurance plan’s travel insurance coverage, which is generally sufficient insurance for most students. We are not able to advise on what provider is best, but please include the health insurance that provides the most sufficient and appropriate coverage for your needs.

More information about travel/health insurance.

You will need to demonstrate before your departure that you have secured sufficient and appropriate travel health insurance coverage for your travel outside of Canada.  

If you haven’t opted out of incidental fees, and if you are not travelling to your country of citizenship, you may already have travel health insurance through your student union. You can find the contact information for your student union, and read more about travel health insurance, on the Health & Wellness section of the Safety Abroad website. 

We also strongly recommend comparing the coverage between travel insurance (e.g. UTSU’s extended insurance plan) and the health insurance you’ll receive in the host country. As an example, travel insurance tends to cover things such as emergency evacuations, trip cancellations, and return of remains. Local health insurance conversely tends to cover more regular healthcare needs (e.g. prescription refills, non-emergency doctors visits).

If you are a citizen of your host country and will have a waiting period before your local insurance can be activated, we strongly advise looking into options for coverage during the waiting period (e.g. returning expat health insurance).

Questions? Email safety.abroad@utoronto.ca

An Activity Sponsor is a University of Toronto staff or faculty member that knows most about your travel activity and can support Safety Abroad with additional information about the trip, or about yourself, in case of emergency. This can be someone involved in organizing your trip (e.g. internship or exchange coordinator) or supervising your work while there (e.g. graduate research supervisor).

  • If you are participating in a program, contact the person(s) involved in managing and organizing the activity for their guidance.
  • Graduate students: If you’re not sure, often the person who knows the most about your travel plans is your supervisor or graduate coordinator
  • For Sponsoring Organization Affiliation: choose your faculty or department.

If you are unsure of who to include as your Activity Sponsor, email safety.abroad@utoronto.ca

If you have not confirmed your Out of Country address yet, please wait to complete the Safety Abroad Registry until you have the information needed. If you are still unable to confirm this information 4 weeks prior to departure – please email safety.abroad@utoronto.ca 

Planning to look for accommodation after you arrive? Include your temporary accommodation (e.g. hotel) for now. Then, when you confirm your final address, make sure to email Safety Abroad with the information to keep the Registry updated in case of emergency.

Confirmed your accommodation, but missing specific details (e.g. dorm room number, AirBnB address)? Please provide the information you have in the Out of Country Address section and email safety.abroad@utoronto.ca to let us know you are waiting on additional details.

  • Note for Dormitories: If staying in your host university dormitories and waiting to learn the exact information, please include the information for your host university’s housing services office or equivalent, including a phone number we can call in an emergency. Then, once you confirm the detailed information, please email us to update the Registry.

Safety Abroad Housing Resources

Questions? Email safety.abroad@utoronto.ca

The Safety Abroad Registry must be completed for each new trip you undertake.

The Registry contains information specific to your trip and destination, such as your accommodation, your travel dates and destination(s), and your Activity Sponsor. For that reason, the Registry must be submitted each time you take a trip.

Once the registered trip dates have passed, your trip will be marked as complete and your registration will be archived.

Please also note that the Safety Abroad Registry will be complete only for the location(s) you have registered. If you travel to additional destinations, please ensure you submit this information on the Safety Abroad Registry.

Complete your Safety Abroad Workshop early to help you prepare for your upcoming travel outside of Canada. We strongly recommend that you complete the Safety Abroad Workshop before filling out the Safety Abroad Registry, as the Workshop provides helpful guidance on how to complete the Registry accurately.

Completing the Workshop early allows you to think through any concerns you may have about your trip and to reach out for support as needed, without the stress of last-minute preparations. The Workshop also helps you understand potential risks, develop safety strategies, and ensures you are aware of the support available to you while abroad.

Keep in mind:

  • The workshop is online and usually takes only 90 minutes to complete.
  • The Workshop is valid for 18 months from the date of completion.
  • Both the Safety Abroad Workshop and the Safety Abroad Registry should be completed approximately six weeks prior to your departure.

Register for the Safety Abroad Workshop

If you encounter any difficulties accessing the Safety Abroad Workshop or experience issues with the workshop modules, please contact us at safety.abroad@utoronto.ca.

If you are having technical issues with the modules, please email us with the following and we’ll investigate:

  • A description of the issue and screenshot(s) of what you’re seeing
  • Your UTORid

If you need help registering for the Safety Abroad Workshop, please email us with the following and we’ll add you:

  • Your UTORid
  • Your UToronto email address
  • Your preferred name on Quercus

If you’re experiencing issues with the workshop module(s) not showing your grade, please email us a screenshot of the final page (the “Congratulations” page) of the module(s). We can then manually update your completion status.

Yes, it is essential to know your local emergency information. 911 is not a worldwide accepted number for emergency services!

You should also program these numbers into your phone, so you don’t have to research them in an emergency.

You can use the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) Travel Advice and Advisories to gather important and necessary information regarding your Host Country such as:

  • Local Emergency Numbers
  • Risk Level, including information on Safety and Security risks, and any ongoing situations
  • Health and Wellness, including information about accessing medical services
  • Climate and Natural Disasters information, including links to local agencies for more information
  • Canadian Consular and Embassy services provided in your host country.
    • Travelling on a Canadian passport: Before traveling, ensure you know where the nearest Canadian embassy/consulate is, have the phone number in your phone, and understand the services provided.
    • Not travelling on a Canadian passport? Please explore the Consular and Embassy services offered by your home country within your host country, and make sure you have their phone numbers in your phone.

You can use the Global Affairs Canada Travel Advisories as a starting point for researching your destination, but we recommend doing further research beyond the advisories. The more prepared you are for your trip, the better!

You can also refer to the In an Emergency section for more information on what to do in the event of an unexpected situation.

Emergency Communications Travel PlanDownload