The Professional Adjudication Specialist (PAS) Program

Seeking to address ever-increasing workloads and expand Family Member Appointment (FMA) employment opportunities, the Bureau of Consular Affairs has developed a new FMA opportunity: the Professional Adjudication Specialist (PAS) Program. The PAS program will allow qualified Eligible Family Members (EFMs) to receive visa and passport adjudication training and authority and provide adjudication services in consular sections overseas. CA is prepared to implement a tightly constructed program with clearly defined standards, objective hiring criteria, a monitoring process, and an overriding focus on security to ensure that PAS adjudicators are able to provide the same high level decision-making currently employed by entry level officers staffing the front lines of our consular sections overseas.

CA will begin implementation of the PAS program through a six month pilot at designated consular sections overseas. If, after the six-month pilot, it is clear that our selected Professional Adjudication Specialists are meeting this high standard, we will move to further expand the program to those posts with a need for the additional support that a PAS can provide.

Identified Pilot Posts

Beginning in May 2008, CA will work with the following posts and Regional Bureau FMA coordinators to establish, advertise, and staff a select number of PAS positions:

AF: Nairobi
EAP: Beijing, Guangzhou, Manila, Seoul
EUR: London, Moscow
WHA: All Mexico posts (except Merida); Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Kingston, Managua, Santo Domingo
NEA: Baghdad, Amman
SCA: All India posts (except Kolkata)

Position Structure and Required Qualifications

Just as with the Consular Associate program (which will remain unchanged), PAS positions will not be subject to CAJE evaluation. Instead, PAS positions will be uniformly graded worldwide at the FP-05 level. In order to qualify, candidates must meet the definition of Appointment Eligible Family Members (which requires U.S. citizenship) and have:

• Completed high school and attended an accredited college or university for at least one semester, earning at least 11 credit hours as part of a degree program;
• Completed PC 530, the Basic Consular Course, within the past five years or served as a designated consular associate for at least 18 months within the last five years;
• Demonstrated host-country language competence at the level required for consular ELOs at post; and Demonstrated excellent oral and written English language skills.
• In addition, a final or interim secret clearance is required for appointment to the position, but not to apply. (Successful applicants lacking the required security clearance will be appointed to the position only after this requirement has been met.)

As with the Consular Associate program, CA will not pay any of the associated travel and per diem costs for EFMs to obtain any consular or language training required to meet these qualifications. However, FSI will work with FLO to provide the same support for tuition waivers currently available to EFMs interested in the PC 530 course. For more information on how to request a tuition waiver, please email: FLOaskemployment@state.gov

Recruitment and Selection Process

The recruitment process starts at post with the position being advertised both locally and, via FLO channels, to EFMs at other State locations who might be soon transferring to post. Post HROs will be responsible for receiving all applications, which they will then forward to CA/EX (with a cc to the post consular section chief). CA/EX will review all applications, consult with post consular management, and create a rank-ordered list of candidates based on their individual qualifications. PAS recruitment is Washington-based, and is not subject to the guidance in HR/OE's Local Employment Recruitment Policy.

Once CA/EX has selected a candidate, that candidate will be required to:

1) Take the FSI language test and receive a score at the required level in the host-country language if she or he has not already done so. (Requests for tests sent to FSI/SLS/CTT must indicate that the test is for EFM employment purposes.)

2) Demonstrate "Advanced Written Communications Skills" in English via a proctored writing sample. For candidates residing overseas, the writing sample must be proctored by a direct-hire Foreign Service employee at post, who will send it directly to CA/EX for review. For candidates residing in the United States, FLO will administer the proctored writing sample for subsequent transmission to CA/EX for review. CA/EX will work with BEX-trained staff to determine whether the candidate's demonstrated writing skills are sufficient for employment as a Professional Adjudication Specialist.

These requirements for selected candidates will be clearly set forth in the Vacancy Announcement.

Certification requirement

For the purposes of this pilot, CA will require that the PAS consular supervisor certify at the end of a 90 day period that the employee is performing at a satisfactory level. Any PAS personnel hired through this pilot who receives this requisite certification will continue to be employed for the duration of their FMA appointment at post regardless of CA's final decision to expand the pilot further at the end of the six-month trial (assuming continued satisfactory performance).

Review of Pilot and Possible Global Deployment

CA believes that the qualifications established for this program will ensure that EFMs selected will be able to perform with the required degree of insight and deliberation necessary to make appropriate adjudication decisions. However, in order to validate all aspects of the program, a complete review of the the pilot program will be undertaken approximately six months after the first PAS employees begin performing adjudications. CA will then make a decision on further expanding the PAS program beyond the initial pilot posts.

Pilot Timeline

CA/EX will be reaching out to regional FMA coordinators and pilot post HROs within the next two weeks to facilitate the establishment of new pilot FMA PAS positions. It is CA/EX's goal to work with regional FMA coordinators and HROs in order to have selected candidates for the PAS program in place by fall 2008. Assuming the pilot is a success, other posts will be invited to request PAS positions at the FY 2009 mid-year data call for MRV funding requests. No prior requests from non-pilot posts will be considered in advance of that date