The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2023

AFSA NEWS 70 JULY-AUGUST 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Traveling with pets. In March 2023, the State Department announced new allowances to cover pet travel. These include $4,000 for pet transport costs (including immunizations and blood tests) under the Foreign Transfer Allowance (FTA) or Home Service Transfer Allowance (HSTA), $1,000 for Authorized/Ordered Depar- ture (AD/OD) evacuation pet transport, and $550 for quarantine expenses for FTA, HSTA, or evacuation travel. AFSA understands that the other foreign affairs agencies have adopted the same reimbursement policy related to pet travel. AFSA is currently advo- cating for the removal of Fly America Act requirements for government employees on official orders when an Amer- ican airline cannot or will not ship a pet. We are pursuing these efforts through the National Defense Authoriza- tion Act, as it would apply to government employees beyond the Foreign Service. EFM employment on a DETO agreement. Last year, AFSA advocated for its priori- ties in the State Department Authorization Act that was included in the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act. One of those priorities was providing locality pay to members of the Civil Service on DETO agree- ments, as many are spouses of FS members. Previously, they received no locality pay, resulting in significant pay cuts only due to their spouses’ employment. AFSA’s advocacy resulted in members of the Civil Service on DETO agreements receiving locality pay or overseas comparability pay (whichever is less). Overseas comparability pay is equivalent to what FS members receive on DETO agreements. International road safety and ASIRT country reports. AFSA recently concluded a member survey on over- seas road safety. The survey asked members to recount overseas auto and auto/ pedestrian crashes in which they were involved, what the specific circumstances of the crashes were, and which improvements in road safety or driver behavior could have prevented these crashes. In the final survey sec- tion, members were asked whether they are comfort- able with the level of road safety information they received either pre-move or when they arrived at post. The survey results can be found at https://bit.ly/ OverseasRdSafety. AFSA also negotiated a discounted price on road safety country reports from the Association for Interna- tional Road Safety (ASIRT). The country reports are usually $50 each but are offered to AFSA members at $40. To purchase a report, visit https://bit.ly/ASIRT- report. n