PCS MOVES & FAMILY TIMING: HOW ADVANCED, DELAYED, AND EARLY DEPENDENT TRAVEL WORKS

You just received your assignment notification.

You feel excited about the new assignment. You also feel stressed about everything that needs to happen. Passports need updating. Visas require processing. School records need transferring. Medical screenings await completion.

Then you realize something: your family can't move when your orders say you need to report.

Your spouse starts a new job next month. Your daughter graduates from high school in May. Your son needs specialized medical care that takes time to arrange. Your report date doesn't work for your family's timeline.

What do you do?

You have three options: advanced dependent travel, delayed dependent travel, and early return of dependents. Each one solves different timing problems. Each branch handles these situations slightly differently. And for financial implications, each one has a different process and list of criteria.

Let me break down what you need to know.

Advanced Dependent Travel: When Your Family Moves First

Your family needs to get to the new duty station before you do.

Maybe school starts in August, and your orders don't have you reporting until September. Maybe you have a TDY-en route, and your spouse wants to get the house set up. Maybe you're retiring, and your family wants to settle into your retirement location early.

This is advanced travel.

Who Qualifies

You must have published PCS, separation, or retirement orders. Your dependents travel to your next duty station or retirement location ahead of your own travel date. The movement is based on your existing orders, not separate authorization.

Your dependents use your orders to execute their travel.

Common Eligible Situations

Your family can request advance travel for these reasons:

• K-12 school enrollment and settlement before the academic year starts
• TDY-en-route assignments, where you need to complete temporary duty before arriving at your permanent duty station
• Retirement transitions where your family establishes your retirement household early

Establishing the household while you complete your current tour.

What Doesn't Qualify

Not every situation that impacts your family is eligible:

• Advance travel doesn't apply to buying or selling a home
• Your spouse's employment preferences don't qualify as a standalone justification
• Waiting lists for government housing don't count

Financial burden alone doesn't qualify for approval.

Service-Specific Differences

Let’s talk through the different terms and guidelines for advanced dependent travel between the Army, Air Force, and Navy.

Army: Calls this Advance Return of Dependents (ARD). The Army authorizes up to 180 days of advance travel. You submit requests through your unit S1 and O5 Commander to the Military Personnel Division. The USAG Commander approves moves to CONUS and US territories.

Air Force: Requires a Secretarial Housing Allowance Waiver for financial entitlement adjustments different from your PCS orders. You route requests through myPers to AFPC/DP1T for O6 approval. Typically, waivers are approved for up to 90 days without higher-level authorization. Periods beyond 90 days require SAF/MRM approval.

Navy: Authorizes advanced dependent travel (ADT) for up to 180 days for OCONUS PCS moves. ADT requires dependents to relocate to the Continental U.S., Alaska, or Hawaii. You request through COMNAVPERS PERS-451. Dependents must be employed spouses, students, EFMP enrollees, or caregivers for chronically ill family members.

Delayed Dependent Travel: When You Move First

You need to report to your new duty station next month. Your family can't come yet. Your spouse's job runs through the end of the school year. Your daughter's senior year ends in June. Your son's passport application is still processing. The movers can't pick up your household goods until next week.

This is delayed travel.

Who Qualifies

You have PCS orders directing you to a new duty station. Your dependents remain at your current location or move to a designated place while you report alone. The delay must meet specific criteria based on education, employment, medical needs, or logistical challenges.

You and your family reside separately during the transition period.

Common Eligible Situations

There are many situations where you can request delayed travel for your family:

• K-12 education completion qualifies most frequently. Your dependent completing their senior year of high school receives special consideration. Students in other grades may qualify if you received orders after school started or within 60 days before the school year begins.
• Passport and visa processing delays count when applications were submitted properly, and documents haven't arrived by your report date.
• EFMP requirements qualify when required medical care isn't available at your new duty station. You need documentation from a military physician and a commanding officer endorsement.
• TDY-en-route situations apply when you must complete temporary duty before reaching your permanent duty station.
• Immediate deployment orders received upon arrival at your new duty station allow your family to remain at the current location until you return.
• Circumstances beyond your control qualify, like third-party shippers failing to pick up household goods on the scheduled date.

What Doesn't Qualify

Not every situation where you want to delay dependent travel meets the requirements:

• College or certificate program completion doesn't meet the criteria
• Continued medical treatment at your current duty station doesn't qualify unless your dependent is enrolled in EFMP
• Family court cases involving custody or child support don't count
• Projected retirement without actual orders doesn't qualify

Your preference for your family to stay behind isn't sufficient justification alone.

Service-Specific Differences

You should know these differences in delayed dependent travel between the services.

Army: Calls this Delayed Dependent Travel (DDT). The default period is 180 days before and 180 days after your PCS date. Commands can adjust this period through the secretarial process. You submit requests through your unit S1 and O5 Commander to the Military Personnel Division.

Air Force: Senior year completion receives approval for the full academic year (7 calendar days after the last official school year end date). Other delays typically cap at 180 days. You submit through myPers with course information, school calendars, or supporting medical documentation.

Navy: Requires spouses to be gainfully employed (earning compensation for full-time work) or enrolled in degree/certificate programs. DDT won't be approved if your spouse starts a new job within six months of your PCS date. Exception: if you received orders less than six months before your move, and your spouse was already employed when orders arrived. Authorizes delays up to 180 days.

Early Return of Dependents: The Emergency Option

Early return of dependents differs completely from the other two options.

You don't have PCS orders yet. Your family needs to leave your OCONUS location now. Something happened that requires immediate dependent movement before you're eligible to return.

Early Return of Dependents vs Advance Travel

Let me make this clear.

Advance travel happens after you receive PCS orders. Your family moves to your next duty station or retirement location ahead of your own travel date. This is planned transition scheduling.

Early return of dependents happens before you receive PCS orders. Your family must leave your current OCONUS location due to compelling circumstances. This is an emergency family relocation.

You use specialized ERD orders, not your future PCS orders.

Who Qualifies

You must be stationed OCONUS with command-sponsored dependents. Your dependents face situations requiring immediate return to a designated place (usually CONUS or a foreign-born spouse's native country).

ERD is not based on your PCS timeline.

Common Eligible Situations

Command-directed returns happen when incidents embarrass the U.S. government, threaten command morale, or create safety concerns due to adverse public feeling.

National interest situations receive determination from the Secretary of State or senior officials.

Personal situations include:

• Death or illness of a family caregiver requiring your spouse to return home
• Inadequate OCONUS housing that can't accommodate your family
• Lack of appropriate education facilities for your children
• Marital difficulties requiring family separation

Disciplinary actions trigger early return when you face court-martial, confinement, or administrative discharge proceedings.

Personal safety situations involving dependent abuse offenses require immediate action.

Medical situations where your dependent needs specialized care not available at your OCONUS location or in the local area.

What Doesn't Qualify

General preference to leave the OCONUS location doesn't qualify. Your desire to send your family home while you finish your tour alone doesn't meet the criteria. Financial challenges from living OCONUS don't count unless they're tied to inadequate housing or education.

ERD isn't a convenient option for ending an OCONUS tour early.

Service-Specific Differences

Each service has a different approval process.

Army: Requires O5 Commander approval for moves to CONUS and US territories. USAG Commander has approval authority for continental moves. The Assistant Secretary of the Army (M&RA) approves moves to other OCONUS locations. You submit requests through your unit to the Military Personnel Division.

Air Force: Processes requests through AFPC with tiered approval based on destination and circumstances. Requires comprehensive documentation of the qualifying situation. The timeline for approval varies based on urgency.

Navy: Routes requests through COMNAVPERS PERS-451. Commands must document the specific circumstances requiring immediate family return. Approval authority depends on the destination and situation severity.

Understanding the Financial Impact

Your dependent travel has been approved. Now, it’s time to figure out how that impacts your paycheck.

Not every non-current dependent travel approval comes with automatic financial adjustments.

Let me break down what happens automatically and what requires special approval.

Automatic Financial Changes

Per Diem Rates Adjust Based on Travel Configuration

When your family travels with you, dependents age 12 or older receive 75% of your per diem rate. Dependents under 12 receive 50%.

When one dependent travels separately, they receive 100% of your authorized per diem rate. This accounts for the full cost of a hotel room and meals without sharing expenses with you.

When multiple dependents travel together without you, the first dependent age 12 or older gets 100%, additional dependents age 12 or older get 75%, and dependents under 12 get 50%.

You must submit a separate DD Form 1351-2 for dependent travel. Include all lodging receipts regardless of amount. Include receipts for any reimbursable expense exceeding $75.

Unaccompanied Tour Housing Adjustments

If you're serving an unaccompanied OCONUS tour with command-sponsored dependents in the U.S., you automatically receive BAH at the with-dependents rate based on your family's U.S. residence ZIP code.

You also receive OHA at the without-dependents rate for your overseas location if government housing isn't provided.

This happens without requesting a waiver.

Waiver-Required Financial Changes

Secretarial Housing Allowance Waivers

Your housing allowance normally changes when you PCS to your new duty station ZIP code. Non-concurrent travel complicates this when you and your family live in different locations.

You need a Secretarial Housing Allowance Waiver to receive housing allowances based on your old duty station or your dependents' designated location instead of your new assignment location.

The waiver doesn't create dual housing allowances. It adjusts which location determines your housing rate.

When You Need a Waiver

Advanced dependent travel to your new duty station while you remain at your old duty station requires a waiver to receive housing allowances based on the new location.

Delayed dependent travel, where your family stays at your old duty station or a designated location while you report to your new duty station, requires a waiver to maintain the higher rate if applicable.

Low/no cost PCS moves where you don't relocate your household and continue commuting from your current residence to a new nearby duty station.

Training assignments lasting up to one year, where your family remains at your old duty station.

How Long Waivers Last

Approval periods vary by situation. Low/no cost moves, training assignments lasting up to one year, and K-12 senior year completion can extend the full duration. Most other circumstances cap at 90-180 days, depending on your service.

What Voids Your Waiver

Approved waivers are void immediately if you execute PCS entitlements during the waiver period. Shipping household goods to your new duty station ends your waiver. Relocating your dependents before the approved waiver period expires terminates the special housing rate.

Your housing allowance immediately reverts to your new duty station rate.

COLA Inclusion

If your approved waiver location carries entitlement to CONUS Cost of Living Allowance, you receive the applicable COLA without needing a separate request. The waiver approval includes COLA automatically.

Early Return of Dependents Financial Entitlements

ERD uses specialized orders that authorize specific financial entitlements. You receive BAH/OHA for the authorized designated location where your dependents moved. Your family receives standard PCS travel and transportation rates to the designated place.

You don't request a separate housing waiver for ERD. The ERD orders establish your housing entitlements.

Your Next Steps

You now understand the three types of non-concurrent dependent travel. You know when each applies. You understand the financial implications.

• Contact your local finance office first. They'll explain your specific entitlements and walk you through the required documentation.
• Visit your travel management office (TMO). They'll help you understand travel authorizations and arrange dependent movement.
• Talk to your command's personnel section. They'll guide you through service-specific request processes and approval authorities.

Early return of dependents, advance travel, and delayed travel exist because the military recognizes families face real challenges during PCS moves. Your family's timeline matters. These programs provide flexibility when standard PCS timelines don't work. Don't wait until the last minute to explore your options. Start the conversation with your finance office today.

Suggested reads:

• Orders Season Is Here: What Today's Assignments Say About 2026 Deployments
• Why PCS Season Strains Military Family Finances, Even With BAH and Reimbursements
• 2026 PCS Money Guide: Your BAH, 21 Days of TLE, and How to Fight a Shortfall