Expanded Consular Fellows Act of 2026

This Act may be cited as the “Expanded Consular Fellows Act of 2026”.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Consular services provided at United States embassies and consulates worldwide, and in the United States, are critical to protecting the safety and security of Americans abroad, safeguarding United States borders, supporting American families pursuing international adoptions, and facilitating legitimate travel to the United States.

(2) Foreign Service posts process millions of visa applications each year, conducting rigorous security vetting of each application to detect fraud, mitigate security risks, prevent unlawful migrations, and protect the homeland.

(3) Travel and tourism is the United States largest single services export, accounting for 22 percent of services exports and 7 percent of total exports in 2023. In 2022, the travel and tourism industry contributed $2,300,000,000,000 to the United States economy—approximately 2.97 percent of gross domestic product—and supported 9,500,000 United States jobs.

(4) Demand for consular services will continue to increase as the United States enters an American decade of sports as the host of major international events between 2024 and 2034—including the Copa America, Club World Cup, FIFA World Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Rugby World Cups—which are expected to draw millions of international visitors and significantly increasing workloads for consular staff while simultaneously requiring enhanced security screening and adjudicative rigor.

(5) Expanding limited non-career appointments for Department of State personnel performing consular functions, including through the Consular Fellows Program, is essential to increasing staffing capacity, reducing recruitment costs and delays, and ensuring the continued efficient delivery of consular services.

Section 309 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3949) is amended—

(1) in subsection (a), by inserting “, or 8 years in duration for personnel performing consular services,” after “may not exceed 5 years in duration”; and

(2) in subsection (b)(6)—

(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking “or”;

(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”; and

(C) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

“(C) a limited noncareer appointment for a period not to exceed 2 years, in the case of personnel performing consular services.”.