Article 38 of the Saudi Enlisted Personnel Service Law

This article regulates lending the member to work with a body outside his own body, in three paragraphs:

(a) Permissibility of the loan and its duration:

• It takes place after the Prime Minister's approval.
• The bodies lent to: a government, an international body, or public or private institutions.
• It does not exceed two consecutive years, and may be renewed with the Prime Minister's approval, provided the whole period does not exceed four consecutive years.
• The loan decision may be canceled before its period ends.

(b) Financial effect: the member's salary and all allowances and increments are suspended from the date of his loan until he returns to work, and the borrowing body bears the costs of transporting him and his family members and everything he is entitled to in salaries, allowances and increments.

(c) The exception: after the Prime Minister's approval, the lending body may bear all or some of the member's salaries, allowances and increments and the costs of transporting him and his family, and he may be treated like members working in the offices of military attachés if the loan is to a body outside the Kingdom.

The difference between a loan and a secondment is that a loan may be to non-government bodies or outside the Kingdom, and requires the Prime Minister's approval. Anyone offered a loan may consult a lawyer specialized in administrative matters and military service affairs.