Major airlines have suspended flights in and out of Israel as the Israel-Hamas war rages on.
As some Americans remained stranded in Israel, the U.S. State Department announced on Oct. 12 that it would charter flights to evacuate them.
Some viral posts on social media claim President Joe Biden’s administration is telling evacuated Americans they’ll have to repay the government for their travel costs. One of the posts says these evacuated citizens are required to “sign promissory notes, agreeing to reimburse the government all travel expenses.”
The posts suggest the repayment requirement is a new one under the Biden administration. But another post made in response claims this has actually been U.S. policy “for at least 79 years.”
THE QUESTION
Are Americans evacuated from other countries legally required to pay back the government?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
Yes, Americans evacuated from other countries are legally required to pay back the government. But this is not a new policy under the Biden administration.
WHAT WE FOUND
If the federal government evacuates Americans from another country, the evacuees are required by law to repay the transportation costs. But this isn’t a new requirement under President Biden’s administration and it has been waived in certain circumstances before.
Federal law requires U.S. government-coordinated evacuations of “private U.S. citizens or third country nationals” to be provided “on a reimbursable basis to the maximum extent practicable,” a State Department spokesperson told VERIFY.
This repayment requirement for people who are evacuated during times of “war, civil unrest or natural disaster” has been in place for more than 60 years, when it was included under the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956.
But the requirement was U.S. government policy even before it was signed into law.
More than 79 years ago, in August 1944, then-U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull sent a telegram to the American Legion in Stockholm, Sweden, about evacuated Americans.
The message said American adults “should be required to sign a promissory note” for transportation costs from Stockholm to Helsinki, Finland, according to a paraphrase of the telegram on the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum’s website. Children under the age of 10 were to pay a “half fare,” the telegram said.
Today, people who are evacuated on U.S.-government coordinated transport, including charter flights, are generally required to sign an Evacuee Manifest and Promissory Note before they leave, according to the State Department’s website.
When a U.S. citizen signs the Promissory Note form, they agree to repay the government for their evacuation costs within 30 days of receiving a bill. They may also pay their bill in installments if the State Department approves a repayment plan.
The amount that evacuees will pay “is based on the cost of a full fare economy flight, or comparable alternate transportation, to the designated destination(s) that would have been charged immediately prior to the events giving rise to evacuation,” the State Department’s website says.
Though federal law requires people to repay their evacuation costs, the U.S. government has made exceptions before.
For example, in 2021, the State Department told VERIFY it would not charge people evacuating from Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the capital city of Kabul.
It’s unclear whether the U.S. government will waive evacuation costs for Americans leaving Israel.
The U.S. Embassy in Israel said in a security alert on Oct. 13 that evacuated Americans “will be asked to sign an agreement to repay the U.S. government prior to departure.”
In an Oct. 12 press release about evacuation assistance, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) also said “departure assistance is provided via a loan from the U.S. government, which requires travelers to sign a promissory note (an agreement to repay) prior to departure.”
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »