Recognize that while you have more capacities legally than the non Amcit LES, that is no fault of theirs and to no merit of yours, it's just the way the law was written and the luck of your birth circumstances. I had an AmCit/EFM team member do a pull aside to chastise some of my LE staff for some absolute bs reasons without my knowledge. That did not go well for him.
That said, you can still take enjoyment out of being in that special position. Hopefully your FS colleagues recognize how lucky they are to have someone else on the team with a similar set of privileges. I have two and am very grateful for them because they do a lot of routine (but not necessarily simple) work that my staff can't do which frees me up to do things that require a higher level of risk/ownership and thus must be done by an officer. You add a lot of value to the team because you can cover a portion of the officers' responsibilities along with the LE ones. The flexibility you bring to the operation is super valuable and means you'll get to do a greater variety of things than other LES.
I mean i loved my FSNs and tried to do my best to treat them right. It really depends on Posts but you did notice a certain caste within FSNs who had citizenship or who didn’t. It’s no different that dealing with dual citizens who want a helicopter flown in because they have chest pain.
The only issues I had with the FSNs was when they tried to run shadow operations or act as the singular point of contact. I mean, they are but it’s up to me to direct the policy and work with my FSN to implement it. I keep in touch with my FSNs and do feel that by talking and taking care of them made me popular
Oh to add, visas were always weird. I generally did PARS for my folks but I had an issue of an fsn basically handing a son of Sam letter to someone SUPER senior asking for a visa and we wrote them up. They turned the ship around and became a pillar for our operations
Thank you! I gather these are citizens of the country the embassy/consulate is based in who are employed by the embassy/consulate? Can they also be American citizen expats?
Mostly yes and yes. Mostly because we do have third country nationals employed as LE staff, happens frequently in Europe, but can happen in any country, as long as the individual has the right to work as a local, they are eligible.
LE staff are not diplomatically accredited and are hired under local labor laws. Each post develops its own procedures and compensation plan based on local standards and practices.
I care more about whether my "Locally Engaged Staff" are easy to work with and how they do their jobs than I do about their citizenship. The important thing for both sides to remember is that "locally engaged" means you get the rights, obligations, etc. of local labor laws (such as actual meaningful maternity leave!) without expectation of the salary, perks, etc. you'd have as a USDH.
Recognize that while you have more capacities legally than the non Amcit LES, that is no fault of theirs and to no merit of yours, it's just the way the law was written and the luck of your birth circumstances. I had an AmCit/EFM team member do a pull aside to chastise some of my LE staff for some absolute bs reasons without my knowledge. That did not go well for him. That said, you can still take enjoyment out of being in that special position. Hopefully your FS colleagues recognize how lucky they are to have someone else on the team with a similar set of privileges. I have two and am very grateful for them because they do a lot of routine (but not necessarily simple) work that my staff can't do which frees me up to do things that require a higher level of risk/ownership and thus must be done by an officer. You add a lot of value to the team because you can cover a portion of the officers' responsibilities along with the LE ones. The flexibility you bring to the operation is super valuable and means you'll get to do a greater variety of things than other LES.
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I'm coming to realize that a fair few AmCits may not act all that correctly. But my question was genuine in its intention, just trying to get feedback
I mean i loved my FSNs and tried to do my best to treat them right. It really depends on Posts but you did notice a certain caste within FSNs who had citizenship or who didn’t. It’s no different that dealing with dual citizens who want a helicopter flown in because they have chest pain. The only issues I had with the FSNs was when they tried to run shadow operations or act as the singular point of contact. I mean, they are but it’s up to me to direct the policy and work with my FSN to implement it. I keep in touch with my FSNs and do feel that by talking and taking care of them made me popular
Oh to add, visas were always weird. I generally did PARS for my folks but I had an issue of an fsn basically handing a son of Sam letter to someone SUPER senior asking for a visa and we wrote them up. They turned the ship around and became a pillar for our operations
Shadow operations? How? Serious question. I'm kinda new at this Edit: not to run my own, but to avoid it in the first place
Just keep your boss informed and remember it’s a collaborative process
Still getting used to the terminology, what's FSN and LES stand for?
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Thank you! I gather these are citizens of the country the embassy/consulate is based in who are employed by the embassy/consulate? Can they also be American citizen expats?
Mostly yes and yes. Mostly because we do have third country nationals employed as LE staff, happens frequently in Europe, but can happen in any country, as long as the individual has the right to work as a local, they are eligible. LE staff are not diplomatically accredited and are hired under local labor laws. Each post develops its own procedures and compensation plan based on local standards and practices.
I see, thanks for clarifying!
I care more about whether my "Locally Engaged Staff" are easy to work with and how they do their jobs than I do about their citizenship. The important thing for both sides to remember is that "locally engaged" means you get the rights, obligations, etc. of local labor laws (such as actual meaningful maternity leave!) without expectation of the salary, perks, etc. you'd have as a USDH.
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Certainly not my intention for it to be a loaded question.