Changing station and transfer orders are a fact of life in the Military. It is possible to receive financial assistance when you have a permanent change of station orders cut. You can often receive advance allowances and pay to help in financing your move. These pay advances can include basic allowance for housing advances, and an advance in basic pay, and is available for up to three months of the base pay at either the new duty station or the old one. It is necessary to get the approval of your Commander before you can expect to apply or receive these funds.
Because it is a type of advance loan, that must be repaid, Military Pay Officials and other finance officers recommend requesting the minimum that you feel you need in such an advance pay request. The housing and pay allowance advance is paid back via a paycheck deduction, and can start the next month after the advance is made. It is also possible to delay repayment for as long as three months after the advance is made. Because of the possibility that rates of money exchange from being in a foreign land may affect your move, before you ask for a pay or allowance advance it is advised that you consider carefully how it will affect you.
There is additionally an allowance available to married Servicemembers, normally paid in advance. It is called a Dislocation Allowance, and it can be approved or authorized with or without a PCS in some cases. As of 2007 the rate for a dislocation allowance was from Seven hundred Fifty Seven Dollars to Three Thousand Seven Hundred Ninety Dollars. Those service members who are separating from the service, or retiring from service are not eligible for advance pay. Those Service Members who are single can in some cases qualify for dislocation allowances, but only if they do not have permanent government quarters available or assigned at their new potential duty station.
In most cases, when moving stateside and staying within the United States the amount that is requested and approved is typically limited to one months base pay and allowances for an advance. It is possible to request and have approved in some cases up to three months, that is the limit, but it is more rare. When moving overseas, payment advances up to three months are more routinely issued.
Service members who drive to their new duty station also qualify for a payment called MALT, or Monetary allowance in lieu of transportation, and is figured using the official mileage between the new and old duty stations. The payment amount varies from 15 cents for a single person to 20 cents a mile for certain family traveling.