I The rule that isn’t
Ask around and you will be told your agency has to release you within two weeks. Ask for the citation and none arrives, because there is no government-wide regulation setting a release date for a voluntary move between federal agencies.
The figure circulates because some employers do have such a rule — the District of Columbia government sets two weeks, extendable by one pay period — and because many federal agencies adopt a similar expectation in internal policy. Internal policy is real and worth citing to your own HR office. It is not federal law, and it does not bind the agency you are leaving if that agency has a different one.
Which is why one colleague is released in ten days and another waits six weeks for the same kind of move. They were not treated inconsistently under a rule. There was no rule.
II Who actually decides
The effective date is established by agreement between the two agencies. Your gaining agency proposes an entry-on-duty date; your losing agency accepts it, resists it, or counters.
What the conversation is really about
So the lever that works is not asserting a rule. It is making your release easy — a written handover, a named person for each open item, and notice early enough that the timing is a plan rather than a surprise.
You are the subject of that negotiation, not a party to it. The people who get the date they want are usually the ones who made the case to their own supervisor before the gaining agency ever called.
III Return rights
An ordinary transfer between agencies carries no right to return. This surprises people, because the federal system does have a reemployment-rights framework — it just does not cover this.
| Situation | Right to return? |
|---|---|
| Transfer to an international organization | Yes — 5 U.S.C. 3582, 5 CFR part 352 |
| Uniformed service | Yes — statutory reemployment right |
| Ordinary agency-to-agency transfer | No |
Your former agency may rehire you, and career tenure makes that administratively simple — but it is a fresh selection decision. Nobody is holding your position, and nobody owes you one.
IV What carries over
More than people expect, provided there is no break in service.
| What | Governed by |
|---|---|
| Grade and step | 5 CFR 531.213 — set from the step held before the move |
| Annual and sick leave | Transfers rather than being paid out |
| The WGI clock | Continues; a lateral move does not reset it |
What does change on a move to a different duty station is locality pay, applied through geographic conversion. The full pay-setting mechanics are in lateral transfers and reassignments.
Leave transfers between positions covered by OPM’s leave authorities. If you are moving somewhere those authorities do not reach, the rules of the system you are entering decide whether your balance is accepted. Confirm that before assuming a large annual leave balance is safe.
V What you can lose
If you negotiated credit for prior non-federal work at hire — the service-credit provision that moved your leave accrual from four hours a pay period to six or eight — it is conditional for a year.
5 CFR 630.205
Two exceptions: separation for uniformed service with a later return through a reemployment right, and separation from an on-the-job injury followed by recovery and return.
So a move at eleven months quietly undoes something you negotiated hard for at hire. If you are inside that window and the new job can wait a few weeks, the arithmetic is worth doing. Your leave SCD is what moves.
Probation is the other thing to check. Tacking under 5 CFR 315.802 requires the same agency, the same line of work and no break over 30 days — so a move to a different agency ordinarily starts a fresh probationary period, and with it a period without appeal rights.
VI The order of operations
The single most damaging mistake is resigning against a tentative offer.
| Stage | Safe to act? |
|---|---|
| Tentative offer (TJO) | No — conditional, and can be withdrawn |
| Security and suitability | No — this is where months disappear |
| Final offer (FJO) | Yes — now agree the date |
Get the grade, step, entry-on-duty date and whether a probationary period applies — in writing, before you submit anything resembling a resignation. A verbal assurance from a hiring manager is not an offer, and the manager is frequently not the person who controls the timeline.
What moves with you
Assuming no break in service.
Before you move
- Ask your own HR office for the agency’s internal release policy, in writing.
- Tell your supervisor early and bring a handover plan, not just a date.
- Understand you have no right to return — decide accordingly.
- Check whether you are within a year of appointment and negotiated leave credit.
- Confirm grade and step on the offer, and that the WGI clock carries.
- Work out the locality change if the duty station moves.
- Establish whether a new probationary period applies.
- Resign only after the final offer, never after the tentative one.
Questions
No. There is no government-wide regulation setting a release date for a voluntary move between federal agencies. The effective date is established by agreement between the losing and the gaining agency, and individual agencies set their own internal expectations on top of that. The two-week figure people repeat is custom and agency practice rather than federal law, which is why one colleague is released in ten days and another waits six weeks for the same kind of move.
The two HR offices, negotiating with each other. Your gaining agency proposes an entry-on-duty date and your losing agency agrees to it, resists it or proposes another. Your own supervisor is usually consulted, because a release that leaves critical work uncovered is the most common reason a date slips. You are the subject of that negotiation rather than a party to it, which is why the practical lever is persuading your supervisor and HR office early rather than asserting a rule that does not exist.
Not as a right. Statutory reemployment rights under 5 U.S.C. 3582 and 5 CFR part 352 attach to specific defined categories, the main one being transfer to an international organization designated by the Department of State. An ordinary voluntary transfer from one agency to another carries no right of return. Your former agency may rehire you, and your reinstatement eligibility as a career employee makes that administratively straightforward, but it is a new selection decision and nobody is holding your position.
Both transfer with you when you move between positions covered by OPM's leave authorities without a break in service. Your balances follow you rather than being paid out, which is different from what happens when you separate from federal service entirely. If you are moving to a position not covered by those authorities, the rules of the system you are entering govern whether the leave is accepted, so confirm that before you assume a large annual leave balance is safe.
Yes, if you negotiated credit for prior non-federal work at hire. Under 5 CFR 630.205, where an employee separates or transfers to another agency before completing one full year of continuous service with the appointing agency, that credit must be subtracted and a new leave service computation date established. Two exceptions exist, for separation to perform uniformed service with a later return through a reemployment right and for separation due to an on-the-job injury followed by recovery and return.
Generally not. Under 5 CFR 531.213 the gaining agency sets your payable rate using the new position of record, the new official worksite and the step you held before the move, so the grade and step carry over. What changes, if the duty station changes, is the locality pay applied to that grade and step through geographic conversion. Your within-grade increase waiting period also continues rather than resetting.
A partially completed probationary period can sometimes be credited toward the new one under the tacking provisions of 5 CFR 315.802, where the service is in the same agency, the same line of work and there is no break in service of more than 30 days. Moving to a different agency ordinarily starts a fresh probationary period. Since probation determines whether you have appeal rights if things go wrong, establish in writing which applies before you accept.
The firm offer itself, the grade and step, the entry-on-duty date agreed between the two agencies, and whether any probationary period applies. The order matters: a tentative offer is not a final offer, and the security and suitability steps behind a final offer can add months. Do not submit anything resembling a resignation until the gaining agency has issued the final offer and both HR offices have agreed the date.