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LIVING QUARTERS ALLOWANCE (LQA) ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION LOCALLY HIRED EMPLOYEES

LQA is an allowance intended to serve as a recruitment incentive for U.S. citizen civilian employees living in the United States to accept Federal employment in a foreign area. LQA is an allowance authorized specifically for this purpose, not an entitlement for anyone who happens to be working for the US government in a foreign country. Therefore an individual analysis is required to be made when employees are hired locally.

REGULATION: Department of State Standardized Regulations (DSSR), Section 030:
http://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=145&menu_id=81  

CRITERIA: Individual eligibility determination for locally hired employees is based on two factors:

1. The Position: The position must be eligible for LQA. This is determined by the staffing specialist responsible for filling the position at the time of the announcement based on the type of position and the recruitment efforts needed to find suitable candidates. If the position is not eligible for LQA, there will be no determination made on personal eligibility (see next paragraph).
2. The Person selected: LQA eligibility of the selectee must be determined prior to the selectee accepting the position offer and is based on the conditions set forth in DSSR 031.12. Individuals who accepted an offer without LQA will not be re-considered.

REQUIREMENTS: To be eligible for LQA, the selectee must meet the following conditions IAW DSSR 031.2:

1. The selectee must have been originally recruited from the CONUS, its properties or territories by:

a. the US government (to include its Armed Forces);
b. a US firm, organization, or interest;
c. an international organization in which the US participates; or
d. a foreign government

2. IN ADDITION the selectee must have had substantially continuous employment by such an employer under conditions which provided for his/her return transportation to the US.


PROCESS: In order to facilitate a personal eligibility determination, the servicing CPF will require the attached questionnaire to be filled out and submitted with all required supporting documentation. Lack of supporting documentation will automatically cause denial of LQA. Especially important are the following:

1. A complete audit trail of employment contracts showing "substantially continuous employment" from the time of entering the overseas area until the present (to include DD Form 214 for previous military members)
2. A copy of the orders/documents that brought the selectee to the overseas area from CONUS and all subsequent orders
3. A copy of the current transportation agreement

If you have been offered a government job as a local hire, please click here to view and download the questionnaire for LQA determination, complete it and forward it with all supporting documentation Ramstein Civilian Personnel Office for further processing. 

(Current as of Aug. 7, 2009)