An apparatus comprising a home agent (HA) configured to initiate a flow binding operation for a mobile node (MN) by sending a first message to the MN and receiving a second message from the MN, wherein the first message indicates the flow binding operation to the MN, and wherein the MN returns the second message to the HA in response to the first message. Also disclosed is a network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising receiving a first message from a HA to initiate a flow binding operation for a flow, and sending a second message to the HA. Included is a method comprising transmitting to a MN a flow binding message to perform a flow binding action for the MN.