Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus Installment Rates (FLPB) (Note 1)

DoD FMR Vol. 7A, Chapter 19

Proficiency in any combination of the R, L, and S modality of the Service’s determination (note 2)

Payment Category A (A-rate) for Immediate and Emerging (note 3) Department of Defense (DoD) Strategic Language List (SLL) Languages or Dialects (note 4)

Payment Category B (B-scale) for Enduring (note 5) Languages or Dialects (note 4)

Payment Category B (B-scale) for Languages and Dialects not on the DoD SLL (note 4)

Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) SKILL LEVELS

MONTHLY PAY

(in $)

MONTHLY PAY

(in $) (note 6)

MONTHLY PAY

(in $) (note 6)

1/1 (note 5)

100.00

0-100.00

0-100.00

1+/1+ (note 5)

150.00

0-150.00

0-150.00

2/2 (note 3)

200.00

0-200.00

0-200.00

2/2+ (note 3)

250.00

0-250.00

0-250.00

2+/2+ or 2/3 (note 3)

300.00

0-300.00

0-300.00

2+/3(note 3)

350.00

0-350.00

0-350.00

3/3 (note 3)

400.00

0-400.00

0-400.00

3/3/3 or 4/4 (note 3)

500.00

0-500.00

0-500.00

 

NOTES:

  1. All possible ILR skill level proficiency combinations are not depicted.  In the case where a member’s certified proficiency falls between two skill levels depicted, the member must be paid at the next lower skill level depicted (if at or above ILR skill level 2/2) where both proficiencies meet or exceed that lowest depicted payment threshold.
  2. The member must be certified as proficient using the proficiency skill levels shown in any combination of two of the three modalities (L, R, and S) of the Service’s determination in order to receive FLPB.
    1. In the case of languages or dialects where there is only a single modality Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Personnel & Readiness (OUSD P&R)-approved test (L or R score), the Secretary concerned may:
      1. Require the member to also take an OUSD P&R-approved Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) to achieve the requirement of two modality scores for FLPB eligibility; or
      2. Use a corresponding modality from a different dialect of the same language to serve as the second modality for FLPB eligibility (i.e., combine the Modern Standard Arabic R DoD Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) modality score with an L score from a different dialect of Arabic).
    2. In the case of foreign languages or dialects where a DLPT or another test approved by OUSD P&R does not exist but an OUSD P&R-approved OPI is available, the Secretary may pay FLPB for the single S modality only.
  3. The Secretary must pay Immediate and Emerging DoD SLL category languages (at ILR skill level 2/2 and above).
  4. The Secretary may pay FLPB at the Category B scale to Service members who test proficient in an additional DoD or Service-approved dialect of a language for which they receive FLPB at the Category A rate.
  5. The Secretary has discretion to pay FLPB at the ILR skill levels 1/1 and 1+/1+.
  6. The Secretary has discretion to pay or not pay FLPB on the scale bounded by zero and the Category A rate and at any 25 dollar increment between those lower and upper FLPB pay limits.
  7. Includes participatory listening proficiency measured by the Two-Skill OPI (TSOPI), passive listening proficiency measured by a standard DLPT, or an inferred listening proficiency awarded from a two-score OPI (2SOPI) in accordance with the November 25, 2019  Deputy Assistance Secretary of Defense Memorandum.
Page updated July 19, 2022