Title 22 › CHAPTER 52 — FOREIGN SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER VIII — FOREIGN SERVICE RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY › Part I — Foreign Service Retirement and Disability System › § 4056
Count civilian and military time as credit toward a person’s retirement if the Secretary of State says that time would count under the federal civil service retirement rules. Time worked after December 31, 1976 that those civil service rules would not count is also left out here. People who first joined this retirement plan on or after October 17, 1983 get different military credit depending on whether they already had civilian credit before October 1, 1982: they get credit for military service before January 1, 1957, but military service after December 31, 1956 only counts if they pay a required deposit (with any interest). People who joined before October 17, 1983 generally get credit for military time up to their separation date, but military service after December 31, 1976 is handled under the redetermination rules described below. Unused sick leave days are added to total service when figuring some annuities and survivor benefits, and this ignores the 35-year cap, but those days do not change average pay or eligibility. A participant on approved leave without pay to work full time for an organization made mostly of government employees can choose, within 60 days, to buy full retirement credit by paying both employee and agency shares based on Foreign Service pay; for leaves after November 7, 1976 this election and payment are required to get credit. For leaves before November 7, 1976 a person can pay a special amount to get full credit, or else receive up to six months’ credit per calendar year without payment. If someone took a refund of past retirement money, they must repay it by a special payment to get credit for that earlier service. Time already used to get benefits from another government retirement plan only counts here if the person waives that other benefit and makes the special payment. If a participant leaves to join the military during a declared war or national emergency, they are treated as still employed here unless they take a lump-sum payment; after five years of military service they are treated as separated. People of Japanese ancestry who were interned in World War II and qualify under the civil service rule can ask the Secretary of State to recompute their annuity to give them that credit; recomputation starts for months beginning more than 30 days after the Secretary gets the application, and the Secretary must notify and help eligible people and get needed records from other agencies. While on approved leave without pay to work as a full‑time paid employee of a Member or office of Congress, a participant must keep paying into the Fund on the Foreign Service rate and the Congressional office must match that payment; those paid contributions count only here unless fully transferred. The redetermination rules for military credit from the civil service system apply, but they do not apply to certain groups described above (for example, some people who first joined on or after October 17, 1983 or those who already made required deposits for certain military periods).
Full Legal Text
Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
22 U.S.C. § 4056
Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse
Last Updated
Sep 23, 2026
Release point: 119-110