Get the employing agency’s instructions
OPM describes voluntary transfers of annual leave for a covered employee’s personal or family medical emergency. The recipient applies in writing to the employing agency. OPM 630 is an optional form; the agency may have additional requirements and may request medical certification.
Ask the leave contact for the correct application, recipient and submission method. Identify whether the request concerns your own condition or a family member. If a leave bank is also available, ask which program the instructions address so you do not combine two applications or assume one decision covers both.
Prepare the work and leave facts
OPM 630 asks for employment details, annual and sick leave balances at the end of the last pay period, and leave without pay used for the emergency. Its medical documentation section is separate from those factual entries.
Use your current leave statement and mark its pay-period ending date. List the absence dates and note which amounts you want payroll to verify. Ask HR how it determines available paid leave and the applicable unpaid-absence threshold. Do not total different leave categories as though they all count the same way under the program.
Sources: OPM 630: Application to become a leave recipient; OPM: Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
Send the actual certification request to the practice
The OPM fact sheet leaves the agency to identify any required medical certification. Get that request before asking a treating office for a statement. Ask the practice whether the clinician can address it, what supporting information is needed and how the office will communicate completion.
Prepare a factual timeline and the agency’s question without writing the clinician’s assessment. Keep any due date supplied by the agency with the request. If the document will arrive separately, agree on who will send it and how the leave contact will identify it as part of your application.
Sources: OPM: Voluntary Leave Transfer Program; OPM 630: Application to become a leave recipient
Review donation-description choices and the agency decision
OPM 630 separately asks about a description for donation purposes and offers choices concerning distribution of that description and use of the applicant’s name. These choices concern that part of the process; they are not a promise that every application record stays within one office.
Read the options with the leave contact before selecting them, and distinguish the donor-facing description from medical evidence needed for review. Keep the submitted version and request confirmation of the decision. If approved, ask payroll how donated leave will be recorded and what changes you must report. An application is not a confirmed donation balance.
Sources: OPM 630: Application to become a leave recipient; OPM: Voluntary Leave Transfer Program
Your next-step checklist
- Get the agency’s current recipient application and delivery instructions.
- Identify whether the emergency concerns you or a family member.
- Use leave balances tied to a specific pay period.
- Route the actual certification request to the treating office.
- Review donation-description choices and obtain the agency decision.
Keep personal, insurance and medical information in the appropriate organization’s approved secure channel.
Common questions
Must every federal employee use OPM 630?
OPM identifies it as an optional application form. Ask your employing agency which form and supporting information it requires.
Is approval of my leave request the same as receiving donated hours?
Track the agency’s recipient decision and the donated leave balance separately. Ask the leave or payroll contact what hours are available and how they may be used for the approved emergency.
Sources and verification
The sources below support the administrative information in this guide. Follow the responsible organization’s current instructions when requirements, forms or contact routes change.
- OPM: Voluntary Leave Transfer Program — checked .
- OPM 630: Application to become a leave recipient — checked .