Title 22, Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-102

§3949 Limited Appointments

Title 22 › CHAPTER 52 — FOREIGN SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER III — APPOINTMENTS › § 3949

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Limited appointments in the Service cannot last more than 5 years and, unless one of the exceptions below applies, they cannot be renewed. Appointments that are one year or shorter are called temporary. Extensions are allowed for a few specific situations: serving as a consular agent, under the rule in section 3951(a), as a career candidate to fix a grievance or if the appointment ends while the person is on uniformed service, when a career employee is detailed from another agency to a Foreign Service job, for foreign national employees, or in rare cases the Secretary can extend a noncareer limited appointment for up to 1 year or extend a career candidate’s appointment only for the short time needed to settle a grievance, claim, investigation, or complaint. Noncareer employees who have served 5 years in a row on limited appointments can only be hired again into another noncareer limited appointment after at least a 1-year break in service. The Secretary can waive that 1-year break if there is a special need.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §3949

Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)A limited appointment in the Service, including an appointment of an individual who is an employee of an agency, may not exceed 5 years in duration and, except as provided in subsections (b) and (c), may not be extended or renewed. A limited appointment in the Service which is limited by its terms to a period of one year or less is a temporary appointment.
(b)A limited appointment may be extended for continued service—
(1)as a consular agent;
(2)in accordance with section 3951(a) of this title;
(3)as a career candidate, if—
(A)continued service is determined appropriate to remedy a matter that would be cognizable as a grievance under subchapter XI; or
(B)the individual is serving in the uniformed services (as defined in section 4303 of title 38) and the limited appointment expires in the course of such service;
(4)as a career employee in another Federal personnel system serving in a Foreign Service position on detail from another agency;
(5)as a foreign national employee;
(6)in exceptional circumstances if the Secretary determines the needs of the Service require the extension of—
(A)a limited noncareer appointment for a period not to exceed 1 year; or
(B)a limited appointment of a career candidate for the minimum time needed to resolve a grievance, claim, investigation, or complaint not otherwise provided for in this section.
(c)(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2) noncareer employees who have served for 5 consecutive years under a limited appointment under this section may be reappointed to a subsequent noncareer limited appointment if there is at least a 1-year break in service before such new appointment.
(2)The Secretary may waive the 1-year break requirement under paragraph (1) in cases of special need.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2016—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 114–323, § 409(1), substituted “subsections (b) and (c)” for “subsection (b)”. Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 114–323, § 409(2)(A), substituted “if—” for “if”, inserted subpar. (A) designation before “continued service” and “or” after semicolon at end, and added subpar. (B). Subsec. (b)(6). Pub. L. 114–323, § 409(2)(B)–(D), added par. (6). Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 114–323, § 409(3), added subsec. (c). 1994—Subsec. (b)(5). Pub. L. 103–236, as amended by Pub. L. 103–415, added par. (5). 1987—Pub. L. 100–204 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), substituted “subsection (b)” for “section 3951(a) of this title”, and added subsec. (b).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 3949

Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102