High Risk Country List
Northeastern University is committed to the health, safety and security of all members of the university community whether on campus or abroad.
The university understands international travel involves inherent risks. Some destinations, however, pose greater risks than others to a traveler’s health and safety.
Under the university’s Policy on International Travel , students, staff and administrators may not travel to “high-risk” destinations on university travel, as defined in the policy, without prior approval. If you are proposing to travel to, or transit through, a country that appears on the below list, you should consult with the International Safety Office to confirm whether your specific destination requires a petition. If so, you will need to submit a petition through the Global Experience Office, as described in the Petition Process page.
Travelers must submit the completed petition for GSSAC review when their specific destination is identified as a Travel Advisory level 3 “Reconsider travel”, level 4 “Do not travel”, or is among the states, provinces, or cities mentioned within the Travel Advisory’s caveat as “Reconsider travel” or “Do not travel”. Travelers are authorized to depart for a high risk destination once the exception petition receives provost approval.
Travelers are required to meet with the International Safety Office to review the completed petition, but are not required to obtain provost’s approval, when their destination is on the universities high-risk list, holds a U.S. Department of State Travel Advisory level 1 “Exercise normal precautions” and level 2 “Exercise enhances caution”, and the particular state, province or city is NOT mentioned in the Travel Advisory’s caveat as “Reconsider travel” or “Do not travel”. Travelers are authorized to depart for a high-risk destination once they review the exception petition with ISO.
High Risk Country List
Do not travel to:
(only Nagorno-Karabakh region)
(only Nagorno-Karabakh region)
(except Belem, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Campinas, Campo Grande, Cuiaba, Curitiba, Macae, Natal, Porto Alegre, Santo, and Luis Eduardo Magalhaes)
(only Rakhine, Kachin, Shan, and Chin states)
(except Barranquilla, Bogota, Cartagena and Medellin)
(only Guayaquil and northern border with Colombia)
(except Addis Ababa)
(except Banjul)
(only South Ossetia and Abkhazia)
(Only Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh (except Delhi), Bihar, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Mizoram, West Bengal (except Kolkata))
(only Papua and Central Sulawesi)
(only Kingston, Montego Bay, and Spanish Town)
(only Syrian and Iraqi border areas)
(Only the northern region to include: North Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zubin Potok, and Zvecan)
(except Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, DF/Mexico City, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Yucatan states, and the tourist areas of Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Chapala, and Ajijic of Jalisco state)
(only Maputo)
(only border area with Saudi Arabia and Yemen)
(only Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao)
(only the north Caucasus, including Chechnya and Mount Elbrus, and Crimea)
(only border area with DRC)
(only 50 miles of the border with Yemen, and Eastern Province, including Qatif)
(Only Johannesburg and; Pretoria)
(only Dili)
(Only the region near the Syrian and Iraq Borders, to include: Batman, Bingol, Bitlis, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hakkari, Hatay, Kilis, Mardin, Sanliurfa, Siirt, Sirnak, Tunceli, and Van)
(only Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Vinnitsya, and Crimean Peninsula)
The university uses the following criteria to determine what countries or areas are designated “high-risk”:
- Countries with current U.S. Department of State Travel Advisories levels three and four.
- Countries, cities, or regions designated with a risk rating of “High” (Level Four) or “Very High” (Level Five) by WorldAware, the university’s international response provider. This information can be viewed on the “Location Intel” page in My Travel Plans on the myNEU portal.
- Areas or regions under a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Travel Notice Warning Level 3.
The university also reserves the right as its sole discretion to designate other locations as “high-risk.”