Title 22 › CHAPTER 52 — FOREIGN SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER IX — TRAVEL, LEAVE, AND OTHER BENEFITS › § 4083
The Secretary can require a U.S. citizen member (except those employed under section 3951) to take a leave of absence after 12 months of continuous service abroad, and must order that leave as soon as possible after 3 years of continuous service abroad. The leave can be taken in the United States or its territories, including American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and may be taken where the member’s family lives if the member is posted unaccompanied and the family lives at an authorized location outside the United States (even if another rule, section 10305 of title 5, would suggest otherwise). While on this leave, the Secretary may assign the member to work for the Department or elsewhere, but any time spent doing that work does not count as leave.
Full Legal Text
Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
22 U.S.C. § 4083
Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110