Frequently Asked Questions

For the purpose of payment of salary and allowances, General Service staff members who are assigned to a non-family duty station are temporarily converted to the Field Service level for the duration of their assignment. The staff member’s pensionable remuneration, however, will remain at the General Service level. Upon return to the parent duty station, the staff will revert to their General Service level.

Installment involves a change of duty station with payment of salary and allowances applicable to the duty station. A staff member assigned to a mission duty station for one year will be installed 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, staff members serving in non-family duty stations will be paid an additional hardship allowance.

Yes. If you are assigned to a field mission for one year or longer, you are eligible for assignment grant as well as 1,000 kgs shipment of personal effects (or relocation grant in lieu of shipment of personal effects). Upon return from mission assignment, you would again be eligible for payment of assignment grant, and 1,000 kgs shipment of personal effects (or relocation grant in lieu of shipment). Please see the UN Salaries, Allowances and Benefits website for more information on assignment grant and relocation grant.

Family members of staff members assigned to non-family duty station are normally expected to remain at the parent duty station during a staff member’s mission assignment. However, where the entitlement exists, staff members would be given the option to travel their family members to the place of home leave under the home leave travel or advance home leave travel entitlement. When the staff member returns to the parent duty station, eligible family members may travel back against the return leg of home leave travel or advance home leave travel.

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.

Administrative instruction ST/AI/2011/7 on “Rest and recuperation” details the rules on R&R.

It is possible that a family duty stations could be designated for rest and recuperation purposes. However, only the staff member would be entitled to rest and recuperation travel. There is no entitlement for R&R travel for family members.

While travel will be provided to the R & R destination, staff members may choose to travel to any other location, however any additional costs of the deviation would be at the staff member’s expense. Where UN transportation is provided to the designated R & R location, any travel to another location would be entirely at the staff member’s own expense.

The harmonized rest and recuperation scheme for international staff as well as international UN Volunteers includes:

Paid travel by the least expensive and most direct route to a designated R & R location. Where UN transportation is available, it will be provided to staff free of charge and no payment for travel costs will apply.

Five consecutive calendar days not charged to annual leave and an appropriate number of calendar days for travel time to the designated R & R location.

R & R cycles and designations are harmonized within the UN common system.

As provided in section 5 of the Administrative Instruction on the Mobility and hardship scheme (ST/AI/2011/6), the additional non-family hardship allowance shall be payable to eligible staff members who are assigned to duty stations designated as non-family from the beginning of their assignment and for the duration of their assignment to those locations.