International Travel Handbook

LEGAL MATTERS

THE LAWS OF THE HOST COUNTRY APPLY TO YOU
When you are overseas, the laws of your home country do not protect you. This applies to everything from drug possession and alcohol laws to currency exchanges, dress codes, and drunk driving. It is not unusual to receive a prison sentence for crimes, or to be held in a prison for several years while you await a trial.

If you are arrested, it is unlikely that the Embassy, your family, or Harvard University will be able to arrange for your release. Your Embassy can notify your family and help arrange for legal representation, within the laws of the host country. The U.S. State Department has a web page on assistance to U.S. Citizens Abroad.

Alcohol
Cultures and countries have different norms and laws about alcohol and drug use and public intoxication. Some students find that they are of legal drinking age in their host country, or that enforcement of laws regarding alcohol consumption are relaxed, enabling them to consume alcohol more frequently and easily. Patterns of abuse might develop if your consumption of alcohol increases greatly while abroad. Take the same precautions you would at home: use the buddy system, don’t walk home alone at night, and don’t leave with strangers. As in the United States, never leave your drink unattended. Because alcohol lowers your inhibitions and your ability to think clearly, use of alcohol increases your risk of accident and injury.

Drugs
There are some countries where the use of drugs by local citizens is either ignored or treated very lightly, but when visitors to the country are apprehended in possession of drugs, they are dealt with harshly. Do not buy, carry, sell or use an illegal drug while abroad. For a realistic description of what may happen to foreigners who find themselves in foreign jails as a result of being arrested for drug use or possession, watch the videos: Doing Time, Doing Vipassana (interviews with an Australian indefinitely imprisoned at India’s Tihar prison while awaiting trial); Midnight Express (an American who is sentenced to 30 years in a Turkish prison); Return to Paradise (an American is sentenced to death in Malaysia for possession of Hashish).

Driving
The OIP strongly urges students not to rent or operate any motor vehicles while abroad.

Taxes
Make arrangement to files your Income Tax return if you will be abroad on April 15th. Either file for an extension, have a parent or guardian file on your behalf or file before you go.

Power of Attorney
You may wish to give your legal power of attorney to a parent or guardian for the period you will be abroad so that he or she can make legal transactions on your behalf, such as signing loan checks and filing your taxes. Obtain a power of attorney form and have it notarized by a notary public. You may wish to give your legal Power of Attorney to a parent or guardian -- by obtaining a Power of Attorney form -- for the period you will be abroad so that he or she can make legal transactions on your behalf, such as signing loan checks and filing your taxes.

Next Section: Safety Abroad and World Events

Table of Contents

You should be aware that Harvard has a policy regarding sponsored undergraduate activities in any country for which there is a current State Department travel warning.