I The rule in one line
Under 5 CFR 315.401, an agency may appoint by reinstatement to a competitive service position a person who previously served under a career or career-conditional appointment.
| Who you are | Your window |
|---|---|
| Preference eligible | No time limit |
| Completed career tenure | No time limit |
| Everyone else | 3 years from separation |
That table is the whole article. Two groups hold a permanent option to return to federal service. Everyone else holds a three-year one.
Leaving at two years and eleven months gives you a three-year window that then closes forever. Leaving at three years and one day gives you an option you keep for life. Nothing else in federal service turns on a single day quite so sharply — and almost nobody is told about it on the way out.
Career tenure is what converts a career-conditional appointment into a career one. A person reinstated becomes a career employee when they complete that requirement or are excepted from it. The other service milestones matter too, but this is the one that follows you after you leave.
II When the clock starts
Not from your last day of federal work. From the date of separation from the last position in which you served under:
- a career appointment
- a career-conditional appointment
- an indefinite appointment in lieu of reinstatement
- an appointment under which you acquired competitive status
So if you moved from a career-conditional position into a term appointment and then left, the clock started at the first separation, not the second. People routinely miscount this in the wrong direction and assume they have longer than they do.
III Four ways to extend it
Intervening service of four kinds extends the three-year limit:
| Intervening service |
|---|
| Federal competitive service under temporary, term, indefinite or other nonpermanent appointment |
| Federal excepted, nonappropriated fund, or SES positions in the executive branch |
| The federal judicial branch, or the executive or judicial branches of the insular possessions |
| The federal legislative branch |
This is the provision people miss most often. Someone who left a career-conditional job, then spent four years on a term appointment or at a NAF instrumentality, frequently assumes their window closed long ago. It did not.
IV Eligibility Checker
Can I Still Be Reinstated?
V What reinstatement is actually worth
It is not a job. The regulation says an agency may reinstate, and that authority is discretionary and subject to merit promotion rules.
What it gives you is status — eligibility to be considered for vacancies open to status candidates. On USAJOBS that is a very different pool from the one open to the general public, and it is usually the larger and less contested one.
What that looks like in practice
Two people apply for the same GS-13 announcement.
Same job. Different door. See USAJOBS strategy for how to tell the two announcements apart.
One more thing carries over: someone who was serving probation when separated, and is then reinstated, acquires competitive status automatically on completion of probation. How much prior probationary service counts is worth confirming with the servicing HR office at appointment — it affects both your status and your appeal rights.
VI The playbook
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Thinking of leaving before 3 years | Know exactly what the third year buys before you go. |
| Already left, unsure of the date | Count from the last career or career-conditional separation, not your last federal day. |
| You are a veteran | No time limit. Your eligibility does not expire. |
| Completed 3 years | No time limit. You can return whenever you want. |
| Window looks closed | Check for intervening term, excepted, NAF, SES, judicial or legislative service. |
| Applying now | Look for the status announcement, not the public one. |
| Was on probation when you left | Ask HR what carries over at the point of appointment. |
| Collecting a federal annuity | Different rules entirely — you are a reemployed annuitant. |
Before you apply
- Find your last career or career-conditional separation date on your SF-50.
- Work out whether you completed the service requirement for career tenure.
- If you are a preference eligible, stop worrying about the clock.
- List any intervening federal-side service that could extend your window.
- Pull your last SF-50 and keep a copy — you will be asked for it.
- Search for status-eligible announcements rather than public ones.
- State your reinstatement eligibility clearly in the application.
- Confirm what prior probationary service carries over before you accept.
Questions
It depends entirely on two things. Under 5 CFR 315.401 there is no time limit on the reinstatement eligibility of a preference eligible, or of a person who completed the service requirement for career tenure. If you are in either group, your eligibility to be reinstated does not expire. For a nonpreference eligible who has not completed the service requirement for career tenure, an agency may reinstate only within three years following the date of separation.
Completing the service requirement converts a career-conditional appointment into a career appointment, and it is the single most valuable thing about staying past your third year. A person who is reinstated becomes a career employee when they complete the service requirement for career tenure or are excepted from it. The practical consequence is that three years of creditable service buys you a permanent option to return to federal service, whereas leaving at two years and eleven months gives you a three-year window and then nothing.
From the date of separation from the last position in which you served under a career appointment, a career-conditional appointment, an indefinite appointment in lieu of reinstatement, or an appointment under which you acquired competitive status. Note what that means: it runs from the last qualifying appointment, not necessarily from the last day you worked for the federal government, so intervening work in a different kind of position does not automatically restart it.
Yes, by four categories of intervening service. Employment in federal competitive service positions under temporary, term, indefinite or other nonpermanent appointment. Employment in federal excepted, nonappropriated fund, or Senior Executive Service positions in the executive branch. Employment in the federal judicial branch or in the executive or judicial branches of the insular possessions of the United States. And employment in the federal legislative branch. People frequently assume their window has closed when intervening service has in fact extended it.
No. The regulation says an agency may appoint by reinstatement a person who previously was employed under career or career-conditional appointment, and that authority is discretionary and subject to merit promotion requirements. What reinstatement gives you is eligibility to be considered for positions open to status candidates, which is a much larger pool of vacancies than the ones open to the general public. It removes a barrier rather than creating an entitlement.
A person who was serving probation when separated, and who is then reinstated, acquires competitive status automatically on completion of probation. So prior probationary service is not simply discarded, though how much credit applies depends on the circumstances of your separation and return. This is worth confirming with the servicing human resources office at the point of appointment rather than assuming, because it affects both your status and your appeal rights.
Yes, and it is substantial. A preference eligible has no time limit on reinstatement eligibility at all, regardless of whether they completed career tenure. That is a permanent option to return, held for life. If you are a veteran who left federal service after a short period, you have something that a nonveteran colleague who left at the same time no longer has, and it is worth knowing you hold it.
They are different situations with different rules. Reinstatement covers someone who left federal service without retiring and wants to return. Someone who retired and draws an annuity is a reemployed annuitant, and their pay is generally offset by the amount of their annuity, with separate rules on whether additional service produces a supplemental or redetermined annuity. If you are collecting a federal annuity, the reemployment rules rather than the reinstatement rules govern your situation.