What Website Is Used To Register For The Step Program And Provide Country-specific Information?

Equally the globe grapples with political tensions, terrorist attacks, civil unrest, and natural disasters, frequent travelers know that staying prophylactic while abroad is a serious business.

Luckily for U.S. citizens, the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) is a free service provided by the U.Southward. Department of State to ensure that all Americans traveling or living abroad stay prophylactic, secure and informed.

Here's how to enroll yourself or your executives in this program, as well as the many benefits yous'll receive for doing and so.

Why Should You lot Enroll in STEP?

Being a smart traveler is about knowing where potential dangers lurk. When you participate in STEP (whether on your own or on behalf of your executive), you lot'll receive upwards-to-date news, data, warnings, advisories and travel alerts about your travel location, straight from the U.Southward. Embassy or Consulate at your destination.

Depending on the specific Step features y'all accept advantage of, the program tin:

Automatically notify you of any new Travel Advisories issued for countries where y'all or your executives regularly travel.
Deliver time-sensitive Travel Alerts regarding "specific condom and security concerns in a state, such every bit demonstrations, crime trends, and weather events." These Alerts are more than specific than the broader Travel Advisories, and are only issued to those who register their trips with Pace, as they are tailored specifically to destinations and dates of travel.
Proactively reach out to citizens traveling or residing overseas via the closest U.Due south. Embassy or Consulate to provide assistance in the event of a local emergency.

While U.Due south. Embassies and Consulates can assist if you encounter issues while traveling, their primary goal is facilitating positive relationships between countries — non getting travelers out of bad situations. The cardinal defining feature of STEP is its proactive nature. If you haven't registered your trip with STEP, the State Department won't know you or your executive is in the state in guild to attain out and offer assistance.

How to Enroll in STEP

STEP offers travelers three primary ways of advice, depending on how frequently they travel:

The power to annals a onetime trip
An account cosmos feature intended to streamline the process for regular travelers
A country-specific alert service, independent of any travel plans

Register a One-Time Trip

To register a single trip for your executive (either to test the service or if they travel internationally infrequently), click the image that reads "Traveling? Enroll a trip and get Alerts."

You will offset be prompted to confirm your executive's citizenship condition and travel plans:

Answering "No" to either question will redirect y'all to the state-specific alerts registration service, as Pace is intended for utilize past U.S. citizens simply. Side by side, yous'll be asked to agree with the program's Privacy Deed Information:

Checking the box will brand the adjacent section ("Traveler Information") accessible. Here, you will exist prompted to complete your executive's bones profile information. Use the "Comments" section to include data that may be useful in helping local embassies decide when you or your executive should exist contacted or what blazon of assistance they may require while traveling.

The "Traveler Information" screen will besides prompt you to confirm your executive's contact information. If they ordinarily apply multiple forms of contact, use the "Add Additional E-mail" or "Add together Additional Phone" for their information.

Clicking "Next" after completing this section will take you to the "Emergency Contact Information" section. Though this section is optional, it'due south a good idea to include a defended emergency contact, such as yourself, a spouse or other appropriate person. Merely exist sure the person you include hither is not someone who normally travels with your executive.

You will exist asked to provide contact information for this person likewise, before clicking "Adjacent" to motility on to the "Itinerary Info" section. If y'all have multiple stakeholders you'd like to associate with your executive's trip, use the "Add Additional E-mail" and "Add Additional Phone" links to annals their contact information.

Side by side, you'll exist asked to provide information about your executive'due south destination, as well as contact information that volition be active while your executive is traveling.

Notation the "Add Additional Destination" link at the lesser of the section. If your executive will be visiting multiple countries on their adjacent trip, use this feature to make sure they receive alerts and travel assistance for each destination.

Clicking "Next" takes you to a screen where you will be prompted to add details for whatsoever additional passengers traveling with your executive. If your executive volition be traveling alone, skip this section and click "Next" again.

Once the details of your trip accept been entered correctly, the Step enrollment tool will display any pertinent details regarding travel to your executive's destination. You may see specific alerts or full general guidance (as below), depending on the advisories that take been issued for your executive'southward destination.

Clicking "Next" after reviewing this data will take you to a final confirmation screen, which will confirm the details yous've entered regarding your executive's trip. Enrollment in STEP is not complete until you've clicked the "End" button.

Annals for an Account

If your executive travels oft to international destinations, consider registering for an account in club to minimize the data entry required to receive STEP enrollment for each trip.

Begin by clicking the green-highlighted image that reads "Frequent Traveler? Create an business relationship" on the domicile screen. Many of the screens in this process will look similar to those associated with registering a single trip, get-go with the demand to agree to the STEP Privacy Deed.

One new addition, however, is the inclusion of an account registry screen, where yous'll select the username, password and security question to be associated with the new account. If you lot're creating an account for your executive, add these answers to their travel brief , should they need to admission the account on their own while traveling.

Add together your executive's information to the "Traveler Information" screen that appears adjacent. If you elect to leave notes in the "Comments" box, however, keep the information generic. You'll be able to provide details on needs relating to specific trips or destinations afterward on; this enrollment procedure applies to your entire business relationship.

Enter your executive's information in the contact fields that follow. As in the trip-specific registration process in a higher place, apply the "Add together Additional Email" and "Add Additional Phone" links to include contact data for key stakeholders surrounding your executive.

Every bit earlier, you will have the pick to add together details to the "Emergency Contact Data" section. Use the fields provided to enter your contact information, every bit well as the email addresses and phone numbers of other necessary stakeholders.

Clicking "Side by side" here volition cause your business relationship to be created. A confirmation screen will brandish, which will review the data entered.

Clicking "Cease" allows you to view the newly-created account and/or add a trip:

Clicking on the "Add together a Trip/Residence Abroad" push button leads yous to a more simplified version of the unmarried trip reservation process described earlier. You tin also utilise the links on this screen to change your executive's business relationship password or to edit profile information—which can exist especially useful if y'all need to add a new emergency contact or update the info associated with existing contacts.

As a note, if yous manage the travel of multiple executives or family members, STEP offers an "Organization/Group Business relationship" choice that can be managed online.

Register for Country-Specific Alerts

Finally, if y'all don't demand to register a trip or traveler, just would like to access U.S. Section of State travel advisories, click the red-highlighted image that reads "Staying at Home? Get Travel Advisories."

On the simplified screen that appears, all you need to do to enroll is to enter your proper noun, e-mail address and the countries for which you'd like advisories (or your executive'due south information, if y'all're subscribing them to relevant alerts). You tin can as well use this screen to unsubscribe from alerts for which you've enrolled yourself or your executives in the by.

Though enrolling for these alerts won't grant you access to all of the notification features associated with registering a trip through STEP, they're a peachy way to stay on acme of local weather in specific areas. If, for example, your country has branches in multiple countries, the State Section'south alerts can notify you of bug in the area, whether or non you plan to travel in that location.

Registering for Step

Enrolling in Footstep is easy—and, even better, it'south gratis. Make registering upcoming trips a part of your regular pre-trip planning process. At all-time, your executive will never need to take advantage of the full breadth of services provided by the program. Just should an emergency occur while they're traveling abroad, they'll exist in good hands with the full support of the U.S. Department of State.

Are yous using STEP? Why or why not? Leave us a note below sharing your experiences.