UN relocation, home leave, education grant and repatriation benefits

An internationally recruited appointment can involve several travel and family benefits. They are governed separately. Eligibility for appointment travel does not establish eligibility for education grant, and a shipment entitlement does not promise home leave.

The following framework describes the UN Secretariat. Other common-system organizations administer their own staff rules and may use different procedures or limits.

Appointment travel and shipment

The Secretariat travel and relocation rules authorize travel in defined cases for internationally recruited staff and, when conditions are met, eligible family members. The route, standard of travel and place of recruitment or home leave are set under the rules.

Shipment entitlements depend on appointment type and expected service. Temporary staff and staff assigned for less than a year generally have limited unaccompanied-shipment provisions. Eligible fixed-term and continuing staff moving for longer service may receive a relocation shipment under the applicable limits.

The organization normally requires authorization before costs are incurred. Booking a preferred route or shipping household goods first can leave expenses outside the entitlement.

Settling-in grant

The settling-in grant helps eligible internationally recruited staff meet initial costs at a new duty station. ICSC describes a structure combining a daily-subsistence element with a lump-sum element under the current common-system framework.

Actual eligibility depends on assignment length, recruitment status and whether the move qualifies under the organization’s rules. A home-based appointment or local recruitment does not create the same relocation need.

Candidates should ask whether temporary accommodation, terminal expenses or family members are covered through the grant or another provision. The label “relocation package” can hide several separate calculations.

Home leave

Home leave is periodic authorized travel to the staff member’s recognized home country. Under the Secretariat leave rules, eligible internationally recruited staff holding fixed-term or continuing appointments accrue qualifying service for themselves and eligible family members.

Temporary appointees have much narrower eligibility, connected with service at certain D or E duty stations outside the R&R framework. Staff serving in their home country or residing there while in service are not eligible under the ordinary rule.

The recognized place of home leave is an administrative determination. It is not freely changed to the most convenient holiday destination. The required period of service after return and rules on combining travel also matter.

Education grant

The Secretariat salary and allowance rules provide an education grant for eligible internationally recruited staff holding fixed-term or continuing appointments, serving outside their home country, whose dependent child attends qualifying full-time education.

The grant reimburses admissible expenses under a sliding scale and maximum. It is not an unrestricted school-fee payment. Tuition and certain enrolment expenses may qualify, while other costs can be excluded.

Boarding assistance and education-grant travel have additional conditions, especially for primary and secondary education away from field duty stations. A special education grant exists for a child with a disability under its own rules.

Before choosing a school, staff should verify recognition, admissible costs, age and study limits, currency rules and claim deadlines. A school’s invoice format can affect the documents needed.

Family visit and travel for dependants

Family visit is different from home leave. It can provide travel for an eligible internationally recruited staff member, or in certain cases the spouse, when the applicable conditions are met. Timing and interaction with other travel entitlements are regulated.

Travel for a spouse or child also depends on the legal definition of an eligible family member and the family status recorded by the organization. Paying privately for a relative to move to the duty station does not add that person to the staff member’s official entitlements.

At a non-family duty station, eligible dependants are restricted for security reasons. Ordinary family relocation and shipment provisions therefore do not apply in the same manner.

Repatriation at separation

Eligible internationally recruited staff may receive return travel and, in defined circumstances, relocation shipment on separation. The destination and maximum reimbursable cost follow the rules.

The repatriation grant is a separate payment tied to qualifying expatriate service and evidence of relocation outside the country of the last duty station. Length of service, appointment status and reason for separation can affect it.

Deadlines matter. The rules can limit how long after separation travel or shipment may begin. Resignation soon after home leave or before completing a minimum period can also affect an entitlement.

Building a reliable offer comparison

Ask the organization to list each element by name: appointment travel, family travel, shipment, settling-in grant, home leave, family visit, education grant, separation travel and repatriation grant. Confirm who qualifies, what must be pre-authorized and which receipts are required.

Use the recognized home country, duty station, appointment type, expected duration and family information in the calculation. A colleague’s package may differ because one of those facts is different.

The appointment letter creates the employment relationship, while current rules and administrative decisions establish individual travel and family claims. Written confirmation before committing to housing, school fees or shipping is the safest basis for planning.