3.6. Home Leave

Home leave travel is an entitlement for internationally recruited staff residing and serving outside their home country, or holding permanent residency in a country other than their country of nationality, who are serving in a duty station outside of the country of permanent residency, for the purpose of spending a reasonable amount of annual leave in the home country. This entitlement covers travel expenses (i.e., one round trip from duty station to the place of home leave as well as excess baggage, unaccompanied shipment of personal effects, terminal expenses, and travel time) for the staff member and eligible family member.

Time taken as home leave is charged to annual leave. In line with the Staff Rules travel time not chargeable to annual leave may be given to the staff member.

This chapter will cover the steps needed to submit a leave request for home leave only. This is the first step in the request for home leave. After the leave request is approved, the staff member must submit a travel request for the travel entitlement. Time Administrators/Time Senior Administrators do not have access to submit travel requests on behalf of staff members, so this second stage of the process is out of scope for this job aid.

The regulations, rules, policies, and standard operating procedures (SOP) governing home leave have developed over time. The official documents are easily accessible within the UN intranet.

1. Staff Rules and Staff Regulations of the United Nations – ST/SGB/2018/1/Rev.2
   Article V – Annual and special leave – Regulation 5.3
   Rule 5.2 – Home leave
   Rule 5.3 – Special leave

2. Home Leave – ST/AI/2015/2/Rev.1

• Section 1 – Home leave
  • Definitions
• Section 2 – General provisions
  • Section 2.1 – Purpose
  • Sections 2.2 – 2.3 – Eligibility
  • Section 2.4 – Frequency of home leave cycle
  • Sections 2.5 – 2.6 – Elements
• Section 3 – Conditions for exercising the home leave entitlement
  • Sections 3.2 – 3.7 – Accrual of service credits towards home leave
  • Section 3.8 – Utilization of service credit points towards home leave travel
  • Sections 3.9 – 3.11 – Advance and delayed home leave
  • Section 3.12 – Maximum service credit points
  • Sections 3.13 – 3.15 – Intervals between home leave travel and other types of travel
  • Section 3.16 – Loss of entitlement to return travel expenses
  • Section 3.17 – 3.18 – Loss of entitlement to home leave travel
• Section 4 – Travel of eligible family members
  • Sections 4.5 – 4.8 – Special conditions applicable when both spouses are staff members of the United Nations common system
  • Sections 4.9 – 4.10 – Travel of a newborn or adopted child
  • Sections 4.11 – 4.12 – Service in non-family duty stations
• Section 5 – Length of stay in the country of home leave
• Section 6 – Change of country of home leave
• Section 7 – Place of home leave within the country of home leave
  • Sections 7.1 – 7.3 – Determination of the place of home leave within the country of home leave
  • Sections 7.4 – 7.5 – Change of the place of home leave within the country of home leave
• Section 8 – Travel to a country other than the recognized country of home leave
• Section 9 – Travel arrangements
• Section 10 – Home leave travel request
• Section 11 – Transitional measures for establishing the points system in duty stations with a 24-month home leave cycle
• Section 12 – Final provisions

3. Official Travel – ST/AI/2013/3, ST/AI/2013/3/Amend.3, ST/AI/2013/3/Amend.4, ST/IC/2019/16

• Section 6 – Travel time on home leave or family visit (ST/AI/2013/3 & ST/AI/2013/3/Amend.3)
• Section 12 – Lump-sum option for travel on home leave or family visit or education grant travel (ST/AI/2013/3 & ST/AI/2013/3/Amend.3)
• Section 13 – Travel claims (ST/AI/2013/3 & ST/AI/2013/3/Amend.3)
• Sections 13.1 – 13.4 – General (ST/AI/2013/3 & ST/AI/2013/3/Amend.3)

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