Initial assignments to field missions are normally for a period of one year. Extensions of assignments to field missions may be made, subject to the mission’s needs, the staff member’s performance and the agreement of the releasing office.
An internationally-recruited staff member assigned to a mission for one year will be installed at the mission duty station and be eligible for payment of assignment grant, shipment of personal effects, post adjustment, rental subsidy, and mobility and hardship allowance at rates applicable to the mission duty station. Effective 1 July 2011, an additional hardship allowance will also be paid for service in non-family duty stations.
Internationally recruited Professional staff members and General Service staff members at an HQ duty station or a regional commission who go on assignment to a field mission may retain a lien on their post at the parent duty station for up to two continuous years counting from the effective date of their initial appointment.
Staff members in the Professional category who wish to remain at the mission beyond a continuous period of service of two years will be required to relinquish their lien on their post at the parent duty station and will be transferred to the mission post, provided they were competitively selected through the established procedures. For transfers to the same position for which they were initially selected for mission assignment, they will not be required to apply again provided they were previously reviewed by a central review body.
General Service staff members who wish to remain at the mission beyond a continuous period of two years are required to relinquish their lien on their post at the parent duty station and compete as an external candidate for an appointment to a mission. They are required to apply and be selected through the established selection processes.
Effective 22 April 2010, staff members with no appointment limitation who are on assignment to field mission positions one level higher than their current grade at the headquarters location or regional commission, and who maintain a lien on their post at the parent duty station, are temporarily promoted for the duration of the assignment. This means that while being temporarily promoted, such staff members may apply to positions one level higher than their temporary grade as long as they have been on that assignment for more than one year. At the end of their posting, the staff member will however revert to their original level at the former duty station and may then only apply to job openings one level above their original level.
If a staff member from an HQ duty station goes on assignment to a field mission for three months or less, he or she it will be on travel status basis (i.e. in receipt of daily subsistence allowance).