U.S. Code
»
Title 22
» Chapter CHAPTER 52— FOREIGN SERVICE › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— MANAGEMENT OF SERVICE
22 U.S.C. § 3927
Chief of mission
(a) DutiesUnder the direction of the President, the chief of mission to a foreign country—(1) shall have full responsibility for the direction, coordination, and supervision of all Government executive branch employees in that country (except for Voice of America correspondents on official assignment and employees under the command of a United States area military commander); and(2) shall keep fully and currently informed with respect to all activities and operations of the Government within that country, and shall insure that all Government executive branch employees in that country (except for Voice of America correspondents on official assignment and employees under the command of a United States area military commander) comply fully with all applicable directives of the chief of mission.(b) Duties of agencies with employees in foreign countriesAny executive branch agency having employees in a foreign country shall keep the chief of mission to that country fully and currently informed with respect to all activities and operations of its employees in that country, and shall insure that all of its employees in that country (except for Voice of America correspondents on official assignment and employees under the command of a United States area military commander) comply fully with all applicable directives of the chief of mission.
(c) Promotion of United States goods and servicesEach chief of mission to a foreign country shall have as a principal duty the promotion of United States goods and services for export to such country.
(d) Promotion of United States economic interestsEach chief of mission to a foreign country shall have as a principal duty the promotion of United States economic and commercial interests in such country.
(Pub. L. 96–465, title I, § 207, Oct. 17, 1980, 94 Stat. 2079; Pub. L. 97–241, title I, § 123, Aug. 24, 1982, 96 Stat. 281; Pub. L. 100–204, title I, § 136, Dec. 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 1345; Pub. L. 107–228, div. A, title V, § 505(b), Sept. 30, 2002, 116 Stat. 1393; Pub. L. 116–94, div. J, title VII, § 704, Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 3070.)Editorial NotesAmendments2019—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 116–94 added subsec. (d).
2002—Subsecs. (a)(1), (2), (b). Pub. L. 107–228 inserted “Voice of America correspondents on official assignment and” after “except for”.
1987—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100–204, § 136(1), (2), inserted “executive branch” after “Government” in par. (1) and after second reference to “Government” in par. (2).
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 100–204, § 136(3), inserted “executive branch” after “Any”.
1982—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 97–241 added subsec. (c).
Notes of Decisions
Mohamed Al-Saffy v. Thomas Vilsack, 827 F.3d 85 (D.C. Cir. 2016).
“See 22 U.S.C. § 3927 (a)(1) (“[T]he chief of mission to a foreign country * * * shall have full responsibility for the direction, coordination, and supervision of all Government *98 executive branch employees in that country (except for Voice of America correspondents on…”
Sam Gray Enter., Inc. v. United States, 43 Fed. Cl. 596 (Fed. Cl. 1999).
“Although not cited by plaintiff, 22 U.S.C. § 3927 (a) provides that the "chief of mission” to a foreign country shall “have full responsibility for the direction, coordination, and supervision *603 of all Government executive branch employees in that country (except for…”
Yaghoubnezhad v. Stufft (D.D.C. 2024).
· cites it 2× “; 22 U.S.C. § 3927 . 11 is a “consular officer,” as defined under the INA and its regulations.”
Prince v. Blinken (N.D. Ind. 2023).
“” 22 U.S.C. §3927 (a)(1). The Princes cannot dispute that “[t]he Secretary is responsible for over 230 U.”
Ali v. United States Dep't of State (E.D.N.C. 2023).
“See 22 U.S.C. § 3927 . Furthermore, visa “[iJnterviews are scheduled based on, among other things, the capacity of the consular offices and embassies.”
Bokhari v. Bitter (D.N.J. 2024).
“22 U.S.C. § 3927 . The Secretary of State has discretionary authority on the form and manner for making a visa application.”
United States Inst. of Peace v. Jackson (D.D.C. 2025).
“20-8 (describing how USIP is outside of the Chief of Mission authority which controls governmental travel, 22 U.S.C. § 3927 (b)); Worden Decl. ¶ 4 (“For my overseas travel, I did not have to receive any Embassy clearance or notification.”
Kachooee v. Allen (D.D.C. 2025).
“See 22 U.S.C. § 3927 (“[T]he chief of mission to a foreign country .”
Dorobati (E.D. Ark. 2026).
“47 Although the individual adjudication actions in this case are not conducted by the Deputy Chief himself, the Deputy Chief maintains “full responsibility for the direction, coordination, and supervision of all Government executive branch employees in that country,” 22 U.S.C. §…”
Tasneem (D. Mass. 2026).
“(citing 22 U.S.C. § 3927 ). Therefore, if a consular office or embassy does not have the capacity to interview someone, “it cannot do so.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.