In addition to signing up for the STEP program, you are encouraged to do the following:

• Visit the UNC Travel Clinic: All students are encouraged to schedule a visit and become a more informed traveler regarding health issues in their host country.
• Leave a detailed itinerary with family or friends: This will be invaluable in case they need to contact you in case of an emergency.
• Leave a copy of your passport biographical-data page with your familiy: It is always easier to replace a lost or stolen passport if a copy is easily accessible.
• Sign your passport, and fill in the emergency information: Make sure you have a signed, valid passport, and a visa, if required, and fill in the emergency information page of your passport.
• Familiarize yourself with local conditions and laws: While in a foreign country, you are subject to its laws. The U.S. Department of State has useful cultural, legal, safety and other information about the countries you will visit.

In addition to providing comprehensive sickness and accident insurance, the GeoBlue policy provides emergency travel medical insurance, including coverage for medical evacuation and repatriation of remains, which generally is not provided by domestic insurance policies. GeoBlue also has identified a network of doctors worldwide who will provide treatment and file claims on your behalf without requiring payment at the time of treatment. Prior to departure for study abroad, GeoBlue assists students in establishing treatment for ongoing medical conditions while abroad (including doctor visits and continuing medications). For a brief summary of the features and benefits of this plan, please see the policy brochure.

After you have been enrolled in GeoBlue insurance and have received your medical insurance ID card from GeoBlue, you should go to the GeoBlue student website. Using the certificate number of the front of the card, sign in to the site to obtain comprehensive information relating to this plan, including a doctor locator, city health profiles and translations of medical terms and phrases. Your family can access this same information by logging in to the GeoBlue parent website. Your family will need your insurance ID card number or your email address to sign in.

While GeoBlue insurance is valid anywhere internationally, it is not valid in the United States. Therefore, you will need to maintain some type of domestic insurance coverage while you are abroad, whether it’s your UNC StudentBlue policy or your parents’ policy. Domestic insurance is necessary not only for your return to the US at the end of your program, but also in case an emergency situation causes you to come home before the end of your program.

Semester “exchange” students will automatically be enrolled in StudentBlue as they would in a typical semester and can take action to waive StudentBlue if they have an equivalent insurance policy.

Semester “non-exchange, study abroad, direct enroll” students are not automatically enrolled in StudentBlue and may need to take action to purchase this to maintain domestic coverage. Please contact Campus Health Insurance Associate at ([email protected]) or your Study Abroad Advisor for guidance on enrolling in StudentBlue.

• A global network of security and medical experts
• 24/7 assistance for participants and our team to navigate situations that occur on our program
• Pre-program travel advice
• Enhanced mental health support
• Resources covering topics such as travel risks, mental health, how to access services abroad, and specialty support for travelers (such as women and LGBTQ+). 

If your family needs to reach you while you are abroad because of an emergency, they can pass a message to you through the Office of Overseas Citizens Services, which can be contacted from within the United States at 888.407.4747 (toll free), and from abroad at +1.202.501.4444. The Office of Overseas Citizens Services will contact the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the country in which you are traveling in order to pass the message to you.

Become familiar with your program location as quickly as possible. Also familiarize yourself with cities you will visit before you begin to explore them. Review Department of State website or guide books for information about your host country and city. Cities in other countries, just like American cities, have their safe and less safe neighborhoods. You can find out what areas to avoid by asking at an information booth in a train station or airport when you arrive, or by asking your on-site primary contact person. Use your common sense and do not take risks.

Experiencing an emergency abroad? Call UNC Public Safety at +1 919-962-8100, any time, from anywhere in the world.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel
• GeoBlue Insurance – https://www.geobluestudents.com/for-students-members
• Information for Women Travelers – https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/go/Women.html
• LGBTQ Travel Information – http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/go/lgbt.html
• Mobility International – http://www.miusa.org
• Overseas Security Advisory Council – https://www.osac.gov/Pages/Home.aspx
• SAFETI Clearinghouse (Safety Abroad First Educational Travel Information) – http://www.globaled.us/safeti
• Travel Well: Health & Wellness Abroad – http://www.travelwellworldwide.com/
• U.S. Dept. of State International Travel Information – http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country.html

• Get immediate help: Know the local equivalent of 911 so that you can get immediate emergency assistance. To find the local emergency phone numbers in the country(ies) you will be visiting, go to travel.state.gov/destination and search for your country-specific information
• Notify your onsite contact: Know how to reach your Faculty Director, host institution or program provider emergency contact. Someone is available to you 24/7 on-site and you should contact this person as soon as is prudent so that s/he may assist you.
• Contact GeoBlue: They provide 24/7 health insurance assistance, call GeoBlue collect from outside the U.S. at +1.610.254.8771, toll free within the U.S. at 1.844.268.2686, or email [email protected]
• Contact UNC Study Abroad: During regular business hours, you can reach us at +1.919.962.7002; after hours contact the UNC Police at +1.919.962.8100. Students should ask the UNC Police to contact the Study Abroad Office.
• Contact the nearest U.S. Embassy. Consular personnel at U.S. Embassies abroad are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to provide emergency assistance to U.S. citizens. Contact information for U.S. Embassies and Consulates appears on the Bureau of Consular Affairs website. The Office of Overseas Citizen Services in the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs may also be reached for assistance with emergencies at +1.202.501.4444.
• Contact your family. If you are involved in any emergency, it is important for you to remain in contact with your family. They will be concerned about your well-being and will be anxious for regular updates from you. There is a limit to the nature and amount of information the Study Abroad Office may disclose to your parents (and/or designated emergency contacts), so it is best for those interested parties to communicate with you directly.

At its discretion, the Study Abroad Office and other campus units, in consultation with the UNC-Chapel Hill (“UNC”) Global Risk Response Team, may inform a student’s emergency contact[2] about a real or perceived health or safety emergency abroad. Such situations include, but are not limited to, when:

• UNC enacts new travel restrictions;
• UNC, the host institution, or provider decides to evacuate students from the site; or

Students’ academic program is terminated or disrupted for more than one week, or the program location changes after the study abroad contract is signed, due to a health or safety emergency.

[1] Emergency contacts are individuals listed by students in Connect Carolina or submitted with the study abroad application.

[2] Only emergency contacts of students with Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) waivers on file will be contacted. In case of a health or safety emergency relating to a student without a FERPA waiver on file, the UNC Global Risk Response Team, which includes the Dean of Students and the Office of University Counsel, may elect to contact the student’s emergency contact on file in accordance with the health and safety exception under UNC’s FERPA policy.

The University will consider the totality of the circumstances pertaining to a threat to the health or safety of student or to others.  If it determines there is an articulable and significant threat to health or safety, the University will record:  (i) the articulable and significant threat to the health or safety of a student or others that formed the basis for the disclosure; and (ii) to whom the University disclosed the information.  This record must be included in the record of disclosures and be kept with the student’s education records in accordance with the University’s Policies and Procedures Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.