If financial support is requested for your visit to the IMA, your invitation letter will contain the specifics of your award amount as governed by the policies below. Please carefully review the associated policies and contact visit staff with any questions.
You will
receive a
reimbursement form in your registration packet. Please submit
your
expense reimbursement form to the Accounting office. Requests for reimbursement will not be accepted in excess of 6
months
after the departure date stated on the expense form. It will take approximately 4-6 weeks for you to
receive the expense reimbursement.
Local Expenses
Short Term Visitors (less than 30
days)
If the IMA has offered to pay your local expenses, our housing
coordinator will work with you to secure accommodations. In
addition to your housing, you will be reimbursed $40.00 per day
for meals and miscellaneous expenses.
If you prefer to make your own housing arrangements, the IMA
will reimburse you at a rate of $50.00 per day for meals and
miscellaneous expenses. Your reimbursement can be increased up
to a maximum of $75 per day for all expenses if you provide
receipts for your lodging.
Long Term Visitors (more than 30
days)
Our housing coordinator will assist you in securing housing for
your
stay. Visitors for one month or more will be reimbursed up to
the amount
agreed upon in your invitation letter toward local living
expenses such
as housing (lodging receipts for a minimum amount are
required), meals
and taxi. If you stay less than 30 days, the amount reimbursed
to you
will be prorated to the number of days you will be in residence
at the IMA. Please note that if you are away from the IMA for more than two days during your visit you are required to inform visit staff so that your local per diem reimbursement can be prorated accordingly.
If you will be away from the IMA for more than two days during
your visit, please send e-mail to this helps
us to direct phone calls, take care of mail that may
accumulate, etc.
Travel Expenses
Participants are expected to be present for the duration of the IMA event — this reflects the IMA's commitment to our funding agencies and to highly interactive events. Any IMA offer for partial or full airfare reimbursement to participate in a workshop assumes that the participant will attend at least ½ of the event (e.g. 2.5 days of a 5-day workshop, 1.5 days of a 3-day workshop, excluding travel).
Air Travel from the United
States
If the IMA has offered to pay your domestic airfare, we will
reimburse
the market value of the lowest cost regular round trip airfare
unless
otherwise specified in your invitation. This usually requires
booking a
ticket at least 21 days in advance of your visit.
If you purchase a higher priced ticket, the IMA will partially
reimburse
the cost, up to the lowest cost regular fare or up to the allowed amount in the invitation. Reasonable ground
transportation costs are also reimbursable (receipts are
required for
all fares above $24). Fees charged by airlines for aisle seats
are not
reimbursable. IMA Visitors should choose seats that are not
assessed
extra fees.
International Air Travel (including
Canada)
International airfare reimbursements through the IMA are
subject to the same advanced purchase and minimum stay
considerations outlined in the first paragraph of the Domestic
air travel section above. Please review that paragraph
carefully.
If the IMA has offered to reimburse part of the cost of your
international airfare, the IMA's funding sources require that
you purchase your ticket on a U.S.-flag
air carrier.
You will not receive airfare reimbursement if any portion of the travel is with a foreign carrier. If the
U.S.-flag air
carrier does not serve an origin or interchange point, a
foreign-flag
carrier shall be used to the nearest interchange point on a
usually
traveled route to connect with a U.S.-flag air carrier. Tickets
(or
documentation for electronic tickets) must identify the U.S.
flag air
carrier's designator code and flight number." Your travel agent
may,
with the best of intentions, attempt to persuade you that
because the
flight is code-shared it doesn't matter which company you buy
the ticket
from: for example, KLM or British Airways or Air France,
especially
because these are generally less expensive. However, it does
matter to
the IMA. If you buy a ticket from KLM, for example, the flight
numbers
will be preceded by the code "KL" and we cannot reimburse this.
The
flight numbers must have the code from the U.S. airline (e.g.,
"NW" for
Northwest, "UA" for United Airlines, "DL" for Delta, "TW" for
TWA,
etc.). Then it does not matter to whom the actual air carrier
belongs.
This restriction is needed to comply with applicable
U.S. government regulations. Fees
charged by airlines for aisle seats are not reimbursable. IMA Visitors should choose seats that are not assessed extra fees. If any portion of this policy is not clear, contact IMA staff before purchasing your ticket.
Automobile Travel/Mileage
Reimbursement
If you chose to drive to the IMA, we will reimburse $0.55 cents
per mile
(effective July 1, 2011) and local parking costs up to the
amount of
the lowest cost airfare. Mileage can be shown by conducting an
Internet
map search and printing the results. It is also helpful to do a
search
for the lowest cost airfare, for the dates of your visit, for
comparison. Please keep receipts for parking reimbursement.
Other Information
The IMA will reimburse your taxi to and from Mpls/St. Paul
Airport (MSP), but we do not reimburse for rental vehicles.
The IMA and the University of Minnesota encourages everyone
to use a personal phone card, call collect or charge the call
to your home phone number for "personal" phone calls.
The IMA is not able to accept payment by credit card for
workshop dinners or any other purpose.
Banking
Check Cashing:University of
Minnesota checks can be cashed at
The Bursar's Office in Williamson Hall, on lower level,
from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday - Friday at a cost of 50
cents.
Any Wells Fargo (see phone book for locations)
Third Party and/or Non University Check
Cashing and/or Currency Exchange: If you are an
international visitor without a United States bank account
and would like to cash a check from a third party and/or other
institution you may cash these checks at the TravelEx,
Lindbergh
terminal, MSP Airport. At the TravelEX you may exchange
currency,
transfer money, and cash travelers checks. There is a fee for
this
service of $7.95 or 2% of the check, whichever is greater. The
TravelEx
is located at the Lindbergh Terminal, between Doors 5 and 6 in
the
Ticketing lobby. It is open from 6am until 9pm daily. The phone
number
is 612-713-7483.
Banks:Several are located nearby
if you wish to set up an account or transact other business
TCF
University Hotel Minneapolis (formerly Radisson Hotel) : 615 Washington Avenue. Phone:
612-331-3639.
Dinky Dome: 1501 University Avenue SE. Phone: 612-823-2265
US Bank
Branches in Coffman Memorial Union and in Dinkytown at 401 14th
Avenue SE
Phone: 612-US BANKS.
International Banking:
Bank Accounts
TCF
Radisson Metrodome: 615 Washington Avenue. Phone:
612-331-3639.
Dinky Dome: 1501 University Avenue SE. Phone: 612-823-2265
US Bank
Branches in Coffman Memorial Union and in Dinkytown at 401,
14th Avenue SE
Phone: 612-US BANKS.
