U.S. Citizens Fluent in Mandarin or Portuguese

[dnoblett]

U.S. Citizens Fluent in Mandarin or Portuguese

 

Thank you for your interest in the Foreign Service Consular Adjudicator limited non-career appointment (LNA) opportunity. Your interest in this opportunity and your fluency in Mandarin or Portuguese have taken you to this next step.

 

While your role will be similar to that of a Foreign Service Consular Officer, it's important for you to understand this opportunity is for a limited time - 13 months to begin - with a renewable contract for up to five years, depending on your satisfactory performance and the needs of the Foreign Service.

 

This role is critical to America's national security; you will serve on the front lines of the U.S. Embassy or Consulate, conducting one-on-one interviews and reviewing supporting documentation to determine if a foreign national meets the requirements for entry into the United States. This requires sound judgment and the ability to maintain your composure under stressful circumstances.

 

You will be required to submit an online application, that will be reviewed to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications, as well as supporting documentation that includes:

 

• supplementary questionnaire
• narrative biography
• college transcripts
• If available, a government-issued language score for Mandarin or Portuguese.

Your complete application package will move into a review panel where assessors will determine whether or not you will be invited to an oral assessment.

 

 

 

 

http://careers.state.gov/CALNA

[honeybun]

The word "fluent" has always been confusing to me.

 

On this webpage, the questions at the bottom seem to suggest that the basic Mandarin language requirement is only a "2/1", which the fine print explains as:

 

* The first number represents verbal ability and the second number represents written proficiency. 1 is defined as limited Elementary proficiency. The person is able to satisfy routine travel needs and minimum courtesy requirements. 2 equates to Limited working proficiency. The person is able to satisfy routine social demands and limited work requirements. 3 represents Professional proficiency. The person can speak the language with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical, social, and professional topics.

 

So at least the basic requirement seems pretty rudimentary if anyone here is interested.

[Beachey]

Why this is interesting is these are obviously the VO's who are doing the interviews. There have been many indications that the consulate does some form of pre-sort which may determine what officer you get. For many of the interviews with straightforward documentation, the ability to " satisfy routine social demands and limited work requirements." in Mandarin would be be sufficient. What this further confirms is the harder cases likely go to actual Foreign Service Officers which may be why some VO's 'approve everybody' and others give out many denials.

Edited September 15, 2011 by Beachey (see edit history)

[warpedbored]

I was thinking this would be a great job for my wife since she is now a US citizen then I realized she would just pass them all and probably get fired.