User role deep-dive: Guest

Overview

Available on Ramp Plus. See Ramp Plus overview for plan details.

The Guest user is a role with limited access to Ramp. This role is great for temporary employees or candidates who need to access spend on Ramp or request reimbursements but shouldn't have full access to the platform.

How to enable the Guest role

The Guest role requires Ramp Plus. If you do not see Guest as an option when inviting users, your business may not have this feature enabled.

Inviting a Guest

Like an Employee, a Guest can be invited to Ramp by Admins, IT admins, and Managers as a new user. To change a Guest's role, follow the instructions in Editing a user's role.

For details on upgrading a Guest to an Employee, see Upgrading a Guest to Employee below.

What Guest users can do

• Guest users can sign in with any email domain. Even when SSO is enforced for your business, Guests retain password-based sign-in — SSO cannot be made the exclusive sign-in method for Guest users.
• Guests can request reimbursement for out-of-pocket spend.
• Guests can use virtual cards or Spend Programs if issued by a manager or admin.
• Other users (admins, managers, or all employees depending on your business settings) can book travel on behalf of a Guest, but Guests cannot book travel themselves.
• Guests can add accounting codes to transactions if admins have it as a part of the expense policy.
• Guests can use the Ramp mobile application on both iOS and Android platforms.

What the Guest user cannot do

• Guest users cannot request virtual cards or Spend Programs, and cannot receive a physical card.
• Guest users cannot be automatically issued funds or a physical card from a Spend Program.
• Guest users cannot view global rules, approval structures, or other employees.
• Guest users cannot book travel for themselves (other users can book on their behalf).
• Guest users cannot be a co-owner on a shared spend allocation.
• Guest users cannot be a bill owner.

Guest vs. View-Only Admin vs. Employee

These three roles are commonly confused. Use the table below to compare their capabilities.

For more details on all roles and how role stacking works, see Roles and permissions overview.

Upgrading a Guest to employee

To upgrade a Guest to an Employee:

1. Go to Company > People .
2. Find the Guest user and click Edit Profile .
3. Change their role to Employee.

Keep the following in mind when upgrading:

• On Ramp Plus or Enterprise plans, a warning will appear that the user will become a billable seat.
• The user keeps their existing transaction history after the upgrade.
• The user's email domain does not need to match your company domain, but we recommend updating it.
• Automatic email changes are not supported. To change the user's email, the user or an admin must update it manually after the role change. Alternatively, you can deactivate the Guest and re-invite them as an Employee with the correct email.
• Downgrading from Employee (or most other roles) to Guest is not supported. The only exception is View-Only Admin, which can be downgraded to Guest.

Use cases

• A company hires a temporary worker who needs to submit reimbursement requests for travel expenses. The temporary worker is assigned the Guest user role, enabling them to request reimbursements but not access broader company financial data.
• A candidate for a short-term project needs a virtual card for project-related expenses. To confer necessary access without exposing sensitive information, the candidate is given a guest role.

Best practices and tips

• Use the Guest role for individuals who require temporary and restricted access to Ramp.
• Clearly communicate the limitations of the Guest role to ensure users understand their access level.
• Regularly review and update the list of Guest users to ensure only necessary individuals have access.
• Use the Guest user role alongside other security measures to maintain control over sensitive financial data.

Automatically deactivate Guest users

To maintain security and compliance, you can schedule guest users to be automatically deactivated. When inviting a guest through the Ramp UI or the Developer API, the deactivation date defaults to 6 months from the invite date. For bulk CSV imports and the Dashboard API, the deactivation date is not pre-filled — see CSV Import Experience for Guests below for CSV details.

Setting a deactivation date is optional, but recommended for organizations that regularly grant short-term access to contractors, agencies, auditors, or other temporary collaborators.

Adding a deactivation date

A guest deactivation date defines when a guest user's access will automatically expire. Once the date is reached:

• The guest loses access to Ramp.
• They are deactivated, but not terminated automatically.

If no deactivation date is provided, the guest remains active until manually deactivated.

CSV import experience for Guests

When importing guest users via CSV, you can include a deactivation_date column to schedule when access should end.

• Warnings (yellow icon): Optional issues. You can still proceed with the import.
• Errors (red icon): Must be fixed before continuing.

If any error exists in the file, the Import button will be disabled.

Deactivation date warnings in CSV

Leaving the deactivation_date field blank triggers a warning, not an error.
This means:

• You can still click Import even if the deactivation date is empty.
• Guest users will be invited normally.
• If you cannot click Import, the cause is a different field error, not the deactivation date.

Ensure all red error indicators are corrected before retrying the import.

Frequently asked questions

Why can't I see Guest as a role option?

The Guest role requires Ramp Plus. See How to enable the Guest role above.

How can I issue virtual cards to a Guest user?

An admin within Ramp can issue virtual cards or Spend Programs to Guest users. Managers can request spend for Guest users on their team, but the request goes through the standard approval workflow.

What can't a Guest user do?

Guests have several restrictions, including the inability to request cards, book their own travel, or view other employees' data. See What the Guest user cannot do for the full list.

Can I change a Guest's email when upgrading them to Employee?

Automatic email changes are not supported. You can either deactivate the Guest and re-invite them as an Employee with the correct email, or upgrade their role first and then have an admin (or the user) update the email manually. See Upgrading a Guest to Employee for details.

Can Guests make approvals?

No, Guests cannot make any approvals.