Foreign Area Allowances

A Foreign Transfer Allowance (FTA) is a non-taxable allowance that helps employees pay for extraordinary expenses when transferring to a foreign post from the United States. The FTA has two parts: Pre-Departure Subsistence Expense and Miscellaneous Expense. The DSSR, Section 240 reflects current rates. 

Pre-Departure Subsistence Expense FTA

The Pre-Departure Subsistence Expense is a Foreign Transfer Allowance (FTA) for employees who transfer to a foreign post from the United States. The Pre-Departure Subsistence Expense helps with temporary lodging, meals, laundry, and dry cleaning. The allowance may be granted for up to ten (10) days before final departure from the United States, beginning not more than 30 days after the employee has vacated his/her permanent residence quarters. The employee must reside in temporary lodging to claim the expense, but dates do not have to be consecutive. The ten (10) days may be anywhere in the United States if travel has not started through travel orders and final departure is from the United States post of assignment. Receipts for authorized expenses are required for reimbursement. Reimbursement cannot exceed the maximum family per diem rate calculated using the per diem rates set by General Services Administration (GSA).

Miscellaneous Expense FTA (First- Duty Station Travel Orders only)

The Miscellaneous Expense portion is a supplement for expenses such as pet transportation, vehicle registration, driver’s license, utility fees or deposits not offset by an eventual refund, and conversion of appliances when transferring to a foreign post for first duty station orders only.  The allowance is offered as a flat rate or allows for itemized expenses. Limitations and rates are reflected in the DSSR for with and without family maximums.  Miscellaneous Expense FTA requests are processed through DoDEA Allowance Processing System (DAPS).

Employees who are completing other non- first duty station travel may be eligible for a different Miscellaneous Expense Allowance that is requested through the PCS travel voucher and is a taxable allowance.  Current employees submit the PCS travel voucher through the Resource Management Service Desk. Separated or retired employees submit MEA requests via email to hqpcsvouchers@dodea.edu.  Contact your servicing Human Resource Specialist for allowance eligibility.

An Advance of Pay (AP) not to exceed three (3) months’ salary may be requested to assist with the transition to a foreign post. If you are a current DoDEA employee, the AP may be requested up to three (3) weeks prior to arriving at your permanent duty location. For new employees, AP requests may be submitted after your official entrance on duty date. Payback options may not exceed that employee’s scheduled number of annual pay periods. AP requests are limited to within the first two (2) months of arrival at the duty station.

The purpose of TQSA is to assist with temporary lodging, meals, laundry, and dry cleaning in a foreign area when an employee first arrives at a new post, and permanent quarters are not yet available, or when an employee is getting ready to depart the foreign post permanently and must vacate residential quarters. An employee cannot receive Post Allowance when receiving TQSA. An employee may receive TQSA and Living Quarters Allowance at the same time when departing post only with agency permission for unusual circumstances described at DSSR 124.1 and DSSR 132.41a. Please retain all food and laundry receipts as well as your paid lodging receipt reflecting a zero (0) balance. All documents should be uploaded on your TQSA request in the DoDEA Allowance Processing System (DAPS). To receive TQSA, you must be eligible for Living Quarters Allowance. Contact your servicing Human Resource Specialist for allowance eligibility.

For further information on TQSA, refer to DSSR 120.

The Post Allowance (PA) rate is determined by duty station assignment, salary, family size, and the annual rate prescribed in the DSSR, Section 229.1. PA is payable to eligible full-time employees even though they may not be eligible for LQA, post differential or other allowances. PA is nontaxable income. Current full-time employee not receiving PA may submit a completed SF-1190, Foreign Allowances Application, Grant, and Report, through the DoDEA Allowance Processing System (DAPS) to initiate this entitlement. Completion of the SF-1190 provides the necessary information to determine the correct rate based on family members residing with you at post of assignment. Duplication of PA is not authorized. If you are married to a civilian employee who claims you for PA, then your civilian spouse must adjust his/her post allowance authorization to remove you as a family member.

For further information on Post Allowance, refer to DSSR, Section 220.

The Living Quarters Allowance (LQA) is provided to eligible employees for leased or personally owned quarters in lieu of Government provided housing and is intended to cover the average cost of rent, utilities, and other allowable expenses. A maximum LQA is established for each foreign duty location based on the employee’s grade, quarter’s group, and family size. LQA expenses will not exceed the authorized annual cost of rent and utilities, or the maximum rate set by the Department of State, whichever is the lesser amount. LQA is nontaxable.

Personally Owned Quarters 

When occupying quarters owned by an employee, spouse, or both, an amount of up to ten (10) percent of the original purchase price of such quarters shall be considered the annual rate of the employee’s estimated expenses for rent. For personally owned quarters, the LQA amount is converted to US dollars using the exchange rate in effect on the date of purchase. Therefore, the biweekly amounts for the rental portion will not normally fluctuate unless there is a change to the maximum rate authorized. Only expenses for heat, light, fuel, (including gas and electricity), water, garbage, and trash disposal and in rare cases land rent, may be added to determine the employee’s quarters allowance up to the maximum authorized. The amount of the rental portion of the allowance (up to ten (10) percent of the original purchase price) is limited to a period not to exceed ten years at which time the employee will be entitled only to utility expenses, garbage, and trash disposal, plus land rent, if applicable. Once the purchase of a home begins, you are authorized receipt of LQA for up to ten (10) years, regardless of if you choose to sell or remain in the home for the remainder of your career within the commuting area. Once LQA stops, you will receive the utility portion only.

Payment of LQA

LQA payment is reflected bi-weekly on your Leave and Earnings Statement as nontaxable income. LQA is computed by dividing the authorized annual expenses by 365 days (366 in a leap year) to obtain a daily rate. The daily rate is multiplied by 14 (days) to obtain the bi-weekly rate. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) makes payments to employees in US dollars, using the authorized foreign currency expenses and converting the amount to US dollars using a DFAS exchange rate. DFAS automatically adjusts LQA payments each pay period for Department of State maximum rates or foreign currency conversion rate changes. 

Reporting Adjustments to your Foreign Allowances

Employees are responsible for reporting any changes impacting any foreign allowance authorization. Below are some examples that must be reported by submitting an SF-1190 through DoDEA Allowance Processing System (DAPS) as soon as possible after the event occurs to avoid any under/overpayments. Contact your servicing Human Resource Specialist for eligibility questions.

1. Change in marital status (i.e. marriage/divorce/separation/death of spouse)
2. Change in the number of family members residing at post
3. Birth or death of a child
4. Legal adoption or obtaining legal custody/guardianship of a child
5. Child reaches age 21
6. Change in residence quarters
7. Letting or subletting of quarters
8. Sharing of LQA expenses
9. Reaching 10-year eligibility for rental portion for homeowners

For further information on living quarters allowance, refer to DSSR, Section 130.

For more information on allowance rates, refer to the DSSR allowance webpage.

The Department of State Standardized Regulations requires employees to submit LQA reconciliations within 45 days of completion of the first year of occupancy in their living quarters. Employees must keep all utility bills, and/or receipts for all utilities used and paid for from the time of move in. Once the initial mandatory reconciliation is complete, the DoDEA requires all LQA recipients to reconcile every other year (bi-annually after the first year is complete). The agency reserves the right to request a reconciliation at any point, and the employee may request a voluntary reconciliation if utility usage/costs have changed substantially. The reconciliation process adjusts the estimates made at move in, to actual costs after the twelve months of usage. Reconciled utility amounts are applied to the beginning date of the reconciliation timeframe and continue through the most current payroll week at the time of processing. The reconciled actual usage then becomes the utility payments until the next reconciliation is completed. If an employee's actual expenses exceed the amount paid, the employee will be paid the difference up to the maximum allowed. If the employee's actual expenses are calculated less than the amount paid, the employee will be indebted for that overpayment. Realistic estimate calculations should be considered to prevent overpayments resulting in a debt.

Separate Maintenance Allowance (SMA) is designed to help an employee who is compelled by reasons of dangerous, notably unhealthy, excessively adverse living conditions at the foreign post of assignment, convenience of the Government, or because of family considerations, to defray the additional expense of maintaining family members at another location.

Consult your servicing Human Resource Specialist for eligibility. 

For more information on Separate Maintenance Allowance refer to DSSR, Section 260.

Educational Travel may be authorized for the dependents of employees who are eligible for a living quarters allowance. This allowance permits one round trip airfare ticket annually between a school attended in the U.S. and the foreign post of assignment for dependents of employees who are under age 23 and attending college or a university on a full-time basis. This benefit is intended to reunite a full-time student attending undergraduate college, technical or vocational school with the employee/parent serving the U.S. government in the foreign area. Requests for educational travel are submitted through the Travel Order Processing System. 

More information can be found on the Resource Management webpage.

For more information on the education travel allowance, refer to DSSR, Section 280.

Employees must submit all requests for Temporary Quarters Subsistence Allowance (TQSA), Living Quarters Allowance (LQA), Foreign Transfer Allowance, Post Allowance, Post Differential and Advance Pay through the DoDEA Allowance Processing System (DAPS). 

For technical support for DAPS, use DAPS Help/Support or submit an RM Helpdesk Service Request. If you are not able to access DAPS due to separation, consult your servicing Human Resources Specialist.

Refer to the State Department's allowance webpage for most up to date allowance rates.