Title 22 — Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73
§3952 Diplomatic and consular missions
Title 22 › Chapter CHAPTER 52— - FOREIGN SERVICE › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - APPOINTMENTS › § 3952
Summary
The Secretary of State can recommend, and the President with Senate approval can appoint, a U.S. citizen member of the Service as a diplomatic or consular officer, including vice consuls. Those officers must act under that commission, may carry out any diplomatic or consular duties their commission allows (but may not be chief of mission), and the Secretary must set consular district boundaries.
Full Legal Text
Title 22, §3952
Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)The Secretary of State may recommend to the President that a member of the Service who is a citizen of the United States be commissioned as a diplomatic or consular officer or both. The President may, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, commission such member of the Service as a diplomatic or consular officer or both. The Secretary of State may commission as a vice consul a member of the Service who is a citizen of the United States. All official functions performed by a diplomatic or consular officer, including a vice consul, shall be performed under such a commission.
(b)Members of the Service commissioned under this section may, in accordance with their commissions, perform any function which any category of diplomatic officer (other than a chief of mission) or consular officer is authorized by law to perform.
(c)The Secretary of State shall define the limits of consular districts.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
22 U.S.C. § 3952
Title 22 — Foreign Relations and Intercourse
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73