If you must travel more than 75 miles from your home or office to attend your hearing in one of our hearing sites, we can pay certain costs. Here are the rules that apply:

• We can pay your transportation expenses such as the cost of a bus ticket or expenses for driving your car.
• In certain circumstances, you may need meals, lodging, or taxicabs. The Administrative Law Judge must approve these special travel costs before the hearing unless the costs were unexpected and unavoidable.
• The Administrative Law Judge may also approve payment of similar travel expenses for your representative and any witnesses he or she determines are needed at the hearing.
• You must submit a written request for payment of travel expenses to the Administrative Law Judge at the time of the hearing or as soon as possible after the hearing. List what you spent and include supporting receipts. If you requested a change in the scheduled location of the hearing to a location farther from your residence, we cannot pay for any additional travel expenses.
• If you need money for travel costs in advance, you should contact the hearing office as soon as possible before the hearing. We can make an advance payment only if you show that without it you would not have the funds to travel to or from the hearing.
• If you receive travel money in advance, you must send an itemized list of your actual travel costs and receipts to the hearing office within 20 days after your hearing.
• If we gave you an advance payment that is more than the amount you are due for travel costs, you must pay back the difference within 20 days after we tell you how much you owe us.