Travel and reimbursment

Revised 12.02.2024

The guidelines apply to employees and students at UiT The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), and are a result of UiT's action plan for sustainability. The guidelines are part of the transport action area and aim to achieve the goal of reducing UiT's overall environmental footprint through more sustainable and environmentally friendly operations of the university.

UiT's location and activities involve significant travel domestically and internationally, including the use of airplanes. The guidelines should not limit the quality of UiT's core activities; however, all travel activities at UiT should be weighed against environmental considerations. In a comprehensive assessment, environmental considerations, economy, time consumption, and academic benefit should be included. Environmental considerations should be heavily weighted. The same overall assessment should be made in connection with the invitation of guest lecturers, examiners, external researchers, and other guests.

Evaluate alternatives for individual trips

• Is the particular trip considered necessary or strategically important?
• Can the trip be replaced by meetings on digital platforms?
• Is it practically possible to use another mode of transport than, for example, airplanes, which produce high greenhouse gas emissions?
• Can an alternative travel route that takes longer than flying be justified by the employee working during the trip and thus using the time effectively?

2. Plan, prioritize, and combine trips

• Can multiple short trips be combined through long-term and good planning?
• Can multiple purposes be combined in the same trip?
• Can examiners, opponents, and guest lecturers participate in digital ways, or combine several purposes in connection with travel to UiT?
• How many from UiT need to participate in the same trip, can the number of travelers be reduced?

3. Reduce the environmental footprint at events

• Can events be conducted digitally?
• Meetings, seminars, and gatherings for employees and students at UiT should, as a rule, be local.
• When participating in international conferences, UiT employees should actively participate in the program to justify a long journey. Leaders should prioritize sending younger researchers early in their careers to create networks and collaborations.
• The use of airplanes for own events should be limited, except for trips between UiT's campuses to maintain core activities.
• Groups of employees or students are not allowed to use airplanes abroad for gatherings that primarily have internal purposes. University management and leaders of faculties and departments may decide exceptions.
• When UiT leads national committees, councils, and similar, digital meetings should be prioritized. If UiT is a member, we should propose that 2/3 of the meetings be conducted digitally.

4. Practical implementation

• Employees should use UiT's travel agency agreement and the arrangements for follow-up and discounts included in this for booking business trips.
• Travel purposes and modes should be clarified with the immediate leader.
• From an environmental standpoint, the necessity of a trip should always be assessed before it is undertaken.
• The trip should, after a comprehensive assessment, be carried out in the fastest, cheapest, and most environmentally friendly manner for the state, as far as this is compatible with an efficient and proper execution of the trip.
• Coverage of a potentially higher travel cost for a more environmentally friendly trip should be agreed upon in advance with the immediate leader.
• Leaders should ensure that UiT's travel policy is informed about and followed up at all units.

Berg Hansen

Application for a travel advance is made via the Self-Service Portal or via the DFØ app. The application is routed to SELP and then to your manager for approval.

Follow the guide "Veileder - reisesøknad og reiseforskudd/ Guide — travel application and travel advance" to apply for a travel advance (Norwegian)

Note: travel advances for previous business trips must be settled before a new advance can be applied for and granted, cf. §14 in the domestic special agreement and §15 in the foreign special agreement.

Approved travel advances are paid twice a month on the payment dates for travel disbursements (all clients), in accordance with DFØ’s run schedule.

The travel advance must be approved by your manager before the approval deadline — “Registration and approval deadline for approver2” — in DFØ’s run schedule.

When the trip has been completed, and no later than one month afterwards, you must register a travel expense claim to settle the travel advance you received.

Follow the guide "Veileder - reisesøknad og reiseforskudd / Guide — travel application and travel advance" (Norwegian) to settle your travel advance.

Fieldwork and seagoing expeditions is not a business trip. Fieldwork and seagoing expeditions is understood as a mandated work conducted outside the regular workplace, such as collecting materials/data, measurements, sampling, excavations, etc., which is not a completed work but is expected to be processed later.

• Assignments of a sporadic and short-term nature, lasting less than a continuous 12 hours, fall outside the definition.
• Fieldwork and seagoing expeditions that is not mandated and is performed in connection with one's own research activities is not covered by the guidelines.

Employees are insured against accidents during the duration of the fieldwork and seagoing expeditions.

Compensation for damage and loss of travel goods up to a value of NOK 30,000 can be provided.

Travel insurance during expeditions (the expedition agreement) applies to permanent and temporary employees who have their regular work on land and who temporarily perform service related to their regular work aboard ships on expeditions.

Employees are insured against accidents during the duration of the expedition.

• Damage to or loss of private belongings can be compensated when the damage or loss has occurred in connection with the service due to theft, burglary, natural disasters, fire, accidental mishaps, and similar events.
• Private belongings that can be compensated under the provision include clothes and other items that the employee has either used in the service or brought to the service location and which it is natural for the employee to have present.
• In assessing whether the financial loss should be fully or partially covered, particular consideration is given to whether the traveler has exercised ordinary diligence. Damage/loss must be reported immediately to the employer. An application for insurance settlement must be submitted within a reasonable time after returning home.
• If the employee has taken out their own insurances, these should be fully utilized before the state covers any of the damage/loss. When using own insurances, the deductible is covered.

https://www.sikresiden.no/paareise

UiT covers travel and subsistence expenses for state employees according to special agreements for domestic and international travel:

• Special agreement on coverage of travel and subsistence expenses outside Norway (Page not aviable in English)
• Special agreement on coverage of travel and subsistence expenses within Norway (Page not aviable in English)

Settlement of travel expenses is personal, and reimbursement of travel expenses is reported and taxed, and will appear on the annual statement.

If one pays for others and includes this in their own travel settlement, it will lead to errors in reporting to the tax authorities. In cases where an employee pays for others, it must be settled internally.

The Special Agreement for the coverage of expenses for travel and meals does not apply to scholarship travels. Exceptions can, however, be made in cases where the employer has a significant interest in the travel being carried out. It is the employer who makes this assessment. In such cases, the special agreement may be applied wholly or partially.

The travel expense report should be submitted in the DFØ self-service portal or via the DFØ app as soon as possible after the trip has concluded.

It is very important that the travel expense report is filled out correctly, with the right cost center and subproject. All expenses must be registered one by one with the receipt uploaded, and the amounts must match the receipts. Note that the documentation must show that the amount has been paid (receipt approved for purchase). Be sure to select the correct expense type for each expenditure.

For air travel, there must be confirmation that the flight has been completed (boarding pass or flown receipt from Berg-Hansen). This can be retrieved by logging in to the Start page job travels - Berg-Hansen. Under the tab travel folder - receipts, you will find an overview of all your bookings, flown, and receipts.

Here you will find guidance on how to submit settlements for the mobility grant/travel grant after research terms and scholarship trips.

• How to submit your mobility grant settlement

UiT currently has a credit card agreement with AirPlus (formerly Eurocard).

The “Book NOW – Pay LATER” service is automatically included with the credit card. The service allows you to book travel well in advance of departure, while the card is only charged after the trip has been completed.

Employees pay the card company’s invoice themselves and reclaim the expenses via a travel expense claim.

If processing delays of travel expense claims are caused by internal UiT procedures, employees may claim reimbursement for any accrued interest via an expense reimbursement. To receive reimbursement, the employee must add a comment explaining the reason for the accrued interest. It is important that travel expense claims are submitted as soon as possible after the trip to avoid unnecessary interest and fees. If the employee fails to submit the travel expense claim on time and this results in interest or fees on unpaid invoices from AirPlus, the employee is personally responsible for covering these costs.

Reference: Guidelines for the credit card scheme (Norwegian).

NB! You MUST be an UiT employee and logged in to the webpage to view the application form for Eurocard.

After you have received the credit card, you must register the card in the following portals:

Berg-Hansen travel portal

• Log in to the travel portal (Feide login)
• Click “Profile” in the left-hand menu
• Select “Credit card” in the right-hand menu and add the credit card

Self-Service Portal (DFØ)

• Follow the guide “Register credit card" in the Self-Service Portal.

Once the card is registered it can be used to pay for the business trip. Transactions charged to the card can be imported directly into the travel expense claim, which simplifies and speeds up completing the travel expense report.

If more than 50% of the transport costs are paid with the credit card, the trip is covered by the card issuer’s travel insurance.

Terms of coverage:

• The cardholder is resident in the Nordic region and is a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme (Folketrygden) or an equivalent scheme in their Nordic country of residence.
• The insurance covers business trips of up to 90 days in duration.

See AirPlus for the full insurance terms and conditions.