CFR

362.203—Appointment and extensions.

(a) Appointment. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, an agency must appoint a Fellow or Senior Fellow using the excepted service appointing authority provided by 5 CFR 213.3102(ii) or (jj), as applicable, of this chapter.

(2) An agency excepted from the competitive service must appoint a Fellow or Senior Fellow under an agency-specific appointing authority.

(3) (i) Fellows are appointed for an initial period of 2 years.

(ii) Upon approval of the agency's ERB, Senior Fellows are appointed for an initial period of up to 2 years, depending on individual qualifications and competencies.

(iii) The OPM Director, or the Director's designee, may approve an extension of a Fellow's or Senior Fellow's appointment for up to 1 additional year upon written request by the chair of the agency's ERB or equivalent; such requests must be received at least 90 days before the end of the initial appointment.

(iv) Agencies may extend, without prior OPM approval, a Fellow's or Senior Fellow's appointment for up to an initial 120 days.

(4) An agency may appoint a Fellow or Senior Fellow any time after the individual has been notified that he/she has been selected as a finalist, but not more than 12 months after the Fellow or Senior Fellow was so selected. However, the OPM Director, or the Director's designee, may approve a written agency request to appoint a Fellow or Senior Fellow after that deadline, so long as the agency request is submitted no later than 30 days prior to the end of the 12-month period.

(5) (i) An agency may not appoint a Fellow or Senior Fellow unless and until he/she has met all graduate degree requirements.

(ii) If a Fellow or Senior Fellow does not complete all degree requirements by August 31 of the year in which the Fellow or Senior Fellow was selected as a finalist, the Fellow's or Senior Fellow's finalist status is terminated.

(b) Citizenship. (1) An agency is authorized to appoint a Fellow or Senior Fellow who is not a U.S. citizen only under the following conditions:

(i) The individual is lawfully admitted to the United States as a permanent resident or is otherwise authorized by the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services to be employed in the U.S.; and

(ii) The agency is authorized to pay the noncitizen under the annual appropriations Act ban or any agency-specific enabling appropriations statute.

(c) Grade. (1) An agency must appoint a Fellow at the grade GS-9 level, or its equivalent, at a minimum. However, if the agency determines that a Fellow meets the requisite qualification requirements, the agency may appoint the Fellow at the grade GS-11 or GS-12 level, or their equivalents.

(2) An agency must appoint a Senior Fellow at the grade GS-13 level, or its equivalent, at a minimum. However, if the agency determines that a Senior Fellow meets the requisite qualification requirements (general leadership, managerial, or specialized experience, academic credentials, professional certifications, etc.), the agency may appoint the Senior Fellow at the grade GS-14 or GS-15 level, or their equivalents.

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