S. 4680 — Expanded Consular Fellows Act of 2026

This section states findings on the importance of consular services at United States embassies and consulates for protecting Americans abroad and processing millions of visa applications annually, the economic role of travel and tourism as the largest United States services export that contributed $2.3 trillion to GDP and supported 9.5 million jobs in 2022, and the need to expand limited non-career appointments including through the Consular Fellows Program to handle increased workloads from hosting major international sporting events between 2024 and 2034.

This section extends the maximum duration of limited Foreign Service appointments for personnel performing consular services to 8 years (from 5 years). It also authorizes the Secretary to extend limited noncareer consular appointments for up to 2 years when needed to meet Service requirements.