Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus (FLPB)

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The Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus (FLPB) pays you for a foreign language you prove on a test. Each skill you test (listening, reading, speaking) earns its own amount, from $50 to $400 a month. The total stops at $12,000 a year.

Three things to know first.

• You qualify through one of five categories. Your job, your duty station, a mission, an oral fluency skill, or a once-a-year bonus open to every Marine.
• The rules locked in on the day you tested stay with you. Test again early, and the new rules take over.
• Active and Reserve Marines both qualify.

The rules on this page come from MARADMIN 480/26MARADMIN 480/26, effective 1 October 2026, and MCO 7220.52GMCO 7220.52G, the Marine Corps FLPB order. DoDI 1340.27DoDI 1340.27 and Title 37 U.S.C. section 353Title 37 U.S.C. section 353 set the limits the Marine Corps works inside.

Prove Your Language

You prove proficiency on one or both of these tests.

• Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT). Listening and reading.
• Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI). Speaking.

Scores use the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale, from 0 (none) to 5 (native). A plus sign, as in 2+, means stronger than the base level.

No DLPT for your language or dialect? Take the OPI. It gives you both a listening and a speaking score.

Wait 180 days between attempts at the same skill. You get no more than two tries at the same test in 12 months.

The Five Ways to Qualify

Category 1. Your Job Requires the Language

Your MOS requires a language. Per the message, you hold the required primary MOS (PMOS) and EMOS, or an additional MOS (AMOS), and keep current scores at the minimum level the MOS sets. You get paid monthly.

The MOS list sits in a controlled (CUI) addendum on the HQMC Intelligence SharePoint. You need a CAC to open it. Ask your S-1 or intelligence section.

Special Operations Officers (0370) and Critical Skills Operators (0372). Your minimum stays ILR 1.

Category 2. You Speak the Host Nation Language

You serve overseas, in an approved command, and score ILR 2 or higher in the host nation language. You get paid monthly. Your command checks the approved command list in the same CUI addendum.

Category 3. You Used the Language on a Mission

You used a language while deployed, supporting a contingency operation, supporting a MAGTF or a combatant command, attending foreign professional military education, or working with partner nation military or government personnel. Any language counts at ILR 2 or higher. You get one lump sum after the mission ends. Work outside MAGTF or partner nation missions gets reviewed case by case, and some of it does not pay.

Your request goes up through your chain. Section "Getting Paid for a Mission" below covers the steps.

Category 4. You Speak a Strategic Language Fluently

You score ILR 3 or higher in speaking, in a language on the Marine Corps Enduring Strategic Language List. Only speaking pays in this category. Listening and reading scores, scores under 3, and languages off the list do not count. You get paid monthly.

Category 5. Once-a-Year Bonus for Every Marine

Not paid under any other category? Certify your language once a year and collect a lump sum. You get one month's pay for each skill scored ILR 2 or higher, under the same $12,000 cap.

• Spanish does not qualify for Category 5.
• The Marine Corps reserves the right to drop any language from Category 5 at any time, based on how much of it the force already holds.

Example. You score listening 3, reading 2+, and speaking 2 in Bulgarian. Your Category 5 bonus is $300 plus $200 plus $100, or $600 once a year. A year later, test again and apply for the next one.

What You Get Paid

Each skill pays on its own line. Listening 3 and reading 2+ pay $300 plus $200, or $500 a month.

Limits.

• $12,000 a year, all categories combined.
• $1,000 a month for Categories 1, 2, and 4.
• A partial month pays by the day, on a 30-day month, for Categories 1 through 4. Category 5 pays a fixed amount with no partial months.

The Rules Lock When You Test

Your eligibility follows the fiscal year you certified. Tested in FY26? FY26 rules keep paying until those scores expire, even after FY27 begins on 1 October 2026.

Thinking about testing early to raise a score? Know this first. The moment you recertify, your old payments stop, and the rules in effect on the new test date take over. Check the current rules with your S-1 before you sit the test.

Sign Your Page 11

Before FLPB starts, you sign a Page 11 entry in your service record. It states the amount, the period it pays, and the test certification behind it. Your command records it. No signed entry, no pay.

Waivers

Retest Early

The 180-day wait between attempts gives way to an early retest waiver when you finished a significant language training event, have a deployment coming, are enrolled in a Service school, or need the score for advancement. Request it through the HQMC Foreign Language Program.

Keep Your Scores Past Expiration

Request a score extension before your scores expire. Late requests get turned down. You qualify when one of these applies.

• A temporary assignment puts you more than 50 miles from a DLPT site.
• You are deployed in support of operations.
• You are enrolled in a Service school.
• Your scores expire during a significant language training event.

Plan to retest within 90 days after the event ends, the deployment ends, or you return to home station.

DoD 7000.14-R Volume 7ADoD 7000.14-R Volume 7A Chapter 19 gives a 180-day grace period after a contingency operation. The Marine Corps message expects 90 days. Plan on 90 and ask your S-1 before you count on more.

Getting Paid for a Mission

For Category 3, your request needs these.

1. Your test dates, scores, and location codes as they appear in the Marine Corps Total Force System (MCTFS). Check them with your S-1 first.
2. The Marine Corps Task List item your language work supported.
3. A finished mission. Requests sent before the mission ends get turned down.

The first O-5 in your chain approves it, or anyone with By Direction signature authority. Your unit submits it on the HQMC Foreign Language Program SharePoint, CAC required. Your admin section is allowed to submit it for you.

Reserve Marines

Reserve Marines qualify under MARADMIN 480/26. DoD 7000.14-R Volume 7A Chapter 19 adds one condition. Earn at least 50 retirement points in each anniversary year. A short year cuts FLPB by 2 percent for each point under 50.

Paying It Back

Break the Page 11 agreement, by losing your certification or your eligibility, and you owe back the unearned part. The Pay Problems and Fixes page covers how recoupment works.

Check Your LES

1. Pull your LES from myPay each payday.
2. Find FLPB under Entitlements.
3. Match the amount to your Page 11 entry and the pay table above.
4. Lump sums show once, not monthly.
5. Wrong or missing? Bring your Page 11 entry and score record to your S-1.

Common Questions

I scored listening 2 and reading 1+. Do I get FLPB?

Depends on the category. Category 1 follows your MOS minimum, ILR 1 for 0370 and 0372. Categories 2, 3, and 5 pay only the listening 2 here. Reading 1+ falls under their ILR 2 minimum.

I speak Spanish. Do I get the once-a-year bonus?

No. Spanish is excluded from Category 5. Categories 1 through 4 still apply if you meet them.

I hold two languages. Do both pay?

Yes, inside the caps. Everything combined stops at $12,000 a year and $1,000 a month for monthly categories.

I tested in FY26. Do the FY27 rules change my pay?

No. FY26 rules pay until those scores expire. Recertify early and FY27 rules take over on the new test date.

Where to Go for Help

• Eligibility, waivers, and Category 3 requests. HQMC Foreign Language Program, FOREIGNLANGUAGEPROGRAM@USMC.MIL.
• Page 11 entry and LES corrections. Your S-1.
• Test scheduling. Your unit language test control officer.
• DFAS Marine Corps Pay. 1-888-332-7411, DSN 312-571-9450 from overseas.

Where to Go Next on This Site

• Pay and Entitlements lists all pay topics.
• Special Duty Assignment Pay covers SDAP, which some language billets draw on top of FLPB.
• Pay Problems and Fixes covers recoupment.

Related Roles

• Leaders spot Marines with language skills, push them to test, and track score expiration.
• Admin at the S-1 records the Page 11 entry, checks MCTFS data, and routes Category 3 requests.
• Commanders approve Category 3 requests at the first O-5 level.