Career and career-conditional employees in the competitive service who are employed in the United States or in a non-foreign area and who accept an assignment in a foreign area or in a non-foreign area different from the one in which they are currently employed shall be granted statutory return rights in accordance with section 1586 of Reference (h) for a period of 5 years if continuously employed in a foreign or non-foreign area. This policy:

1. Applies whether the employee moves to a position with the same DoD Component or with a different DoD Component.
2. Applies to both the initial movement and any subsequent movement within the 5-year period (e.g., the employee initially moves to a position with the same DoD Component, and subsequently moves to another foreign area position with a different DoD Component).

For more information, please review: DOD Instruction 1400.25