Language Maintenance Incentive

1. The office responsible for the Language Maintenance Incentive is the Office of the Foreign Service Human Resources (OFSHR).


2. The purposes of the incentive are to maintain a cadre of language proficient Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) who have the desired LDP level or better; to decrease the amount of time FSOs will need to be in language training prior to assignment; and to provide incentives to individual FSOs who independently retain their language proficiency level.


3. Eligibility is for Foreign Service Officers who maintain LDP level scores or better in eligible Category A languages. Officers will be eligible for monetary recognition depending on the results of an FSI language proficiency test.


4. To qualify for monetary recognition under this incentive, an FSO must receive a language proficiency test score administered and certified by FSI no earlier than within one year of the five year anniversary date of the original certified proficiency score.


5. Eligible Category A languages are: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, Korean, Malay, Polish, Russian, Turkish, and Vietnamese.


6. In addition to the language criteria category, the following criteria must also be met.
   
   The FSO must be serving in an assignment where the eligible Category A language that the FSO wishes to test in is not spoken.
   
   The FSO has not received funding for training in that language within the last four years.
   
   The FSO must schedule the proficiency test at FSI through OFSHR.
   
   The FSO is responsible for notifying OFSHR of the completion of the proficiency test and ensuring that OFSHR receives the written results.


7. An FSO is eligible to receive a language maintenance incentive once in a four-year cycle per language.


8. The established dollar amounts as of the date of this agreement for language maintenance Incentives for language proficiency are as follows. Should budgetary concerns arise which have the potential to adversely effect Incentive amounts, the CS will give AFSA notice and an opportunity to negotiate the impact and implementation of changes to Maintenance of Language Incentive.
   
   2/2 and above - $3,000
   
   3/3 and above - $4,000
   
   4/4 and above - $5,000 *

* Since 5/5 scores are valid indefinitely, once an individual has achieved a 5/5, he/she is no longer eligible for a language maintenance incentive.