Relocation Assistance

Your Military and Family Support Center provides relocation assistance to help make PCS moves as smooth as possible. Resources include:

• PCS planning: Most relocation assistance programs offer consultations to help you with the moving process. If this your first military move, your first time moving overseas or you have challenging or complex circumstances contact your installation Relocation Assistance Program as soon as possible for support.
• Plan My Move: An online Defense Department relocation tool that provides you with customizable checklists and links to helpful resources for the tasks ahead.
• Military OneSource: A website and call center that offer 24/7 support for moving information and resources. Learn more about PCS basics and download this fact sheet 7 Steps to Make Your Household Goods Move a Smart Move. For comprehensive moving resources and information, including Defense Personal Property log in details, visit Moving Your Personal Property.
• Workshops and briefings: Workshops vary by location. You may find classes on housing options, moving with children, moving with pets and more.
• Predeparture briefings: These sessions provide essential information about your move and may be required for some populations.
• Special needs: If you have a child or family member enrolled in the Exceptional Family Member Program, contact your installation EFMP-Family Support office to assist you.
• Settling-in services: Look for welcome programs or local area tours that may offered. Overseas services may include introductory language classes and cultural awareness activities.
• Foreign-born spouse support: Assistance includes information and referral to resources such as immigration and naturalization.
• Emergency assistance: Sometime emergencies occur while moving. The Military and Family Support Center has the resources to provide emergency financial assistance, as well as information and referrals.
• Authorized housing flexibility options: Eligible service members with PCS orders may be entitled to flexibilities such as extended stays in government housing and early housing eligibility. Contact your military personnel office for more information.
• Spouse licensure reimbursement: Your service branch may reimburse spouses up to $1,000 for relicensure and certification costs resulting from relocations or PCS moves. See this Military OneSource article Transferring Your Professional License for more information and specific service branch policies.

The Dependents Travel to a Designated Place Follow-on Program applies to airmen that will serve a short tour with an approved follow-on assignment to an outside the United States location.

It allows the airman to request to relocate dependents to the approved overseas follow-on location while the airman serves their unaccompanied short tour. Requests are approved only if the airman can show that the dependents are authorized to reside at the foreign OCONUS location without the sponsor. Specific guidance on eligibility and applicable documentation required for a DTDP request is found in the Family Member Travel PSD Guide.

The Royal Air Force Lakenheath Military and Family Readiness Center is ready to help you with all aspects of your move. Making a permanent change of station to RAF Lakenheath can be costly, but planning ahead will help you prepare. 

• Make an appointment with your finance office to discuss changes to entitlements and allowances. You can also visit the Department of Defense's travel website.
• Make an appointment with the Travel Management Office to get current information on overseas weight allowances, restricted items and packing and shipping schedules. They can also discuss the requirements to ship your personally owned vehicle and your pet.
• Once you have orders, contact the RAF Lakenheath Post Office to set up your mailbox. Send out change of address letters to all relevant businesses and organizations and leave a forwarding address with your current Post Office.
• Make lodging reservations as soon as possible and confirm the reservations prior to traveling.
• If you are eligible for base housing, apply as soon as possible as there is a waiting list. For more information or to access DD Form 1746 (advance application for housing), visit the Air Force housing website.
• If you will need child care, apply as soon as possible as there is a waiting list. Military members can place their children on the Child Development Center waitlist prior to their arrival at RAF Lakenheath by logging on to Militarychildcare.com.

Items to carry with you:

• Copies of your orders 
• Identification cards and passports
• Driver’s license
• Social Security cards
• Government travel card
• Birth/adoption certificate
• Medical/dental/immunization records
• School records
• Powers of attorney

Relocation assistance

Contact the Lakenheath M&FRC for relocation assistance. If you are calling from the United States to the United Kingdom, the prefix codes are 011-44 and then the commercial phone number example: To call the M&FRC, dial 011-44-1638-523847. If you are calling from inside the U.K., don't use the 011-44 prefix. Instead, dial Area Code 01638, then 523847 example: RAF Lakenheath M&FRC - A call from the U.S. would be 011-44-1638-523847; a call from within the U.K. would be 01638-523847. A DSN call from any base outside of Europe will be 314-226-3847; in European, dial 226-3847.