Business Trip Request

• Give a motivation for a possible advance payment (e.g., with an invoice of the conference fee or a clear booking of an accommodation).
• Let us know whether train tickets, airline tickets, etc. are/will be paid for by the MPI.
• If you are combining a business trip with a private trip/holiday of up to five working days, remember to fill in a holiday request form for those days and attach a copy of it (submit the original separately to HR).
• If you are combining a business trip with a private trip/holiday of up to five working days, remember to make a price comparison between the travel costs if only the business trip (on the dates of the mission) is made and the travel costs of the planned trip (business trip plus linked private extension).
• Check if you want to make use of the business travel insurance. Please indicate the number of days on the form.
• If you are travelling to Austria, Croatia, France, or Greece, you will need a 'certificate of coverage'. This certificate will be requested for you.

When in doubt about any of the information above, drop by room 139 or send an e-mail to travel@mpi.nl.

It is necessary to provide detailed information about the business trip, such as the name of the conference, the place (town and university, institute, venue), the name of the person you are visiting et cetera.

Your travels have to be as close to the start and end of your business as possible. 

If you want to add some holidays to your trip, please be aware that there is a maximum of 5 working days + weekend. Please add the holiday dates to your BTR and hand in your holiday request as usual. If you want to add a vacation to/from a different location than the place of the official business, please note that when the maximum of 5 days + weekend is exceeded, the travel expenses for the outbound and return journey cannot be reimbursed. Please contact Arnold for detailed information at travel@mpi.nl.

Advances can be asked for conference fees and travel expenses within the BTR. Please attach a copy of the conference registration fee or travel expenses. For fees and expenses that have already been paid by you, a proof of payment should be attached and the reimbursement of those costs will be made immediately. 

Without any proof of payment, you will receive the advance payment about two weeks before your first travel day. The maximum amount of an advance without proof of payment is 80% of the expected costs. 

Conference fees cannot be paid by the MPI on your behalf, they need to be paid by yourself. In some cases you need to pay a membership fee before you can sign in for the conference or submit an abstract. Normally, membership fees will not be reimbursed, but with some additional explanations and reasoning, it is possible.

In case you get a grant from the International Office, you can fill in the BTR as usual and have it approved by the head of the group. On this sheet, please cross 'trip will be paid by other' and add a copy of the acceptance letter. Please read the acceptance letter very carefully. In deviation from our reimbursement rules, the grant can only be submitted within 3 months after return! Therefore, please provide us the reimbursement request in time. The trip can be treated as a normal trip which means that you will give us all original receipts together with the reimbursement request after you return. Then we will reimburse you all reimbursable travel expenses and we will ask the Radboud University for reimbursement later on. Please note that this is only done for MPI employees, not for guests!

If you want to travel abroad as a student or scientist, the necessary visa depends on your destination and the purpose of your trip. Here are some general guidelines:

• Within the European Union (EU)
  If you want to travel to a country within the EU or the Schengen Area and you stay for up to 90 days, you do not need a visa. For longer stays, you must register your stay with the local municipality.
• Outside the European Union (EU)
  For most countries outside the EU, you need a visa to study or work. This can range from a student visa to a seeker's visa or an exchange visa such as a J-1 visa.

You can find information about visas on the Worldwide Travel Visa Guide: https://visaguide.world/online/.

Please make sure you apply for the right visa if you are making a business trip to the United States (https://usa-esta.net/en/the-different-visas-for-the-united-states/) or the United Kingdom (Visas and immigration - GOV.UK), for example.

When applying for a visa, it does make a difference whether it concerns a trip to a conference, a collaboration in an institute, etc.

If you go on a business trip outside the Netherlands, we have to request 'Certificates of coverage'. With this certificate, you state that you are insured in the Netherlands. This is an EU regulation and has to be followed for your business trip to Austria or France (and [less important] to Croatia or Greece). For business trips longer than 7 days, please contact Arnold Harbers.

Additional information about travel insurance for business trips can be found here. 

For fieldwork trip requests, the business trips procedure is applicable. 

When you are planning a fieldtrip, it is very important that you first read the Essential Notes for Fieldworkers. 

​​Business trips, and air travel in particular, are one of the biggest sources of emissions in the scientific community. One of the most effective measures to reduce these emissions is a travel policy. Knowing the effects of one's own travel behaviour, optimizing travel planning and a generally conscious approach to business travel have a significant influence on climate protection.
Against this background, the sustainability group of the MPI for Comparative Public Law and International Law (MPIL) has developed​​ recommendations for business trips together with the Board of Directors (see documents).

Their most important principles are a recommendable blueprint for other institutions:

Principle (§ 1): business trips should be as climate-friendly as possible.
Short trips (§ 2): Travel up to 8 hours only with climate-friendly means of transportation.
Medium distances (§ 3): For journeys of 8-16 hours, avoid flights wherever possible. Check alternatives: overnight train travel, overnight stopover, virtual participation.
Long distances (§ 4): Reduce intercontinental travel as far as possible.
Weighing up (§ 5): For medium and long distances, weigh up all relevant aspects for and against the flight to the specific event, in particular: How much travel time is saved? What is the added value of attending the event in person? How long will the total stay at the destination be? How often have you already flown?
Emission-saving flying (§ 6): Avoid short feeder flights.
Booking via the ORBS (§§ 7-8) leads to an automatic compensation payment for CO2 emissions and recording of travel data for transparency.
Best practice examples (§ 9): Share examples of climate-friendly business trips in MAX.
Institute events (§§ 10-13): Consider air kilometers when choosing the venue. Enable virtual participation. Encourage climate-friendly travel.