This position is located in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Passport Services, Kansas City, MO Passport Agency (CA/PPT/KC). The official title is Passport Specialist. The incumbent provides expert technical advice, develops guidance, and implements programs to detect and prevent passport fraud, identify fraud vulnerabilities and trends, and train acceptance agents and passport adjudicators to identify attempts at passport fraud. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CONSULAR AFFAIRS, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
Duties- Exercise judgment in determining whether an application warrants further investigation.
- Analyze and evaluate suspected fraudulent passport applications as referred by acceptance agents.
- Weigh the information collected and independently determine whether a passport should be issued or the application should be referred to investigative agencies for further review and action.
- Provide both administrative and technical oversight, ensuring conformance with objectives; establish work schedules, deadlines, and standards for acceptable work.
- Instruct or provide training advice and materials for Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and Customs Officers on document fraud used in illicitly procuring passports.
- $90,968 - $140,627/year
- U.S. Citizenship is required.
- Incumbent will be subject to random drug testing.
- Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance.
Applicants must meet all the required qualification requirements described below by the closing date of this announcement.
NOTE: Applicants must meet time-in-grade and time after competitive appointment requirements, by the closing date of this announcement.
Time-In-Grade Requirements: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions, per 5CFR 300, Subpart F.
GS-12: Applicants applying to the GS-12 must have 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position. Qualifying specialized experience may have been gained in work such as developing, examining, investigating, adjudicating, or authorizing claims arising under the immigration and/or nationality laws of the United States.
Specialized experience must demonstrate the following:
- Experience developing, examining, investigating, adjudicating, or authorizing claims arising under the immigration and/or nationality laws of the United States;
- Experience applying laws, regulations, precedents, court decisions and polices of the Department and the Directorate of Passport Services pertaining to passport adjudication and issuance; and
- Experience conducting in-depth interviews diplomatically to gain information needed to make judgements for possible passport.
GS-13: Applicants applying to the GS-13 must have 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position. Qualifying specialized experience may have been gained in work such as developing, examining, investigating, adjudicating, or authorizing claims arising under the immigration and/or nationality laws of the United States.
Specialized experience must demonstrate the following:
- Experience applying laws, regulations, precedents, court decisions and policies of the Department and the Directorate of Passport Services pertaining to passport adjudication and issuance;
- Experience examining legal documentation relating to birth, adoption, naturalization, and similar evidence reflecting eligibility for U.S. passports and identifying those that are spurious or warrant further scrutiny;
- Experience conducting in-depth interviews diplomatically to gain information needed to make judgments for possible passport fraud while not offending those with legitimate U.S. passport entitlement; and
- Experience with various subterfuges and schemes commonly used to fraudulently obtain passports and visas; and to instruct passport acceptance agents and adjudicators to recognize them.
In addition, applicant's experience must also demonstrate that the candidate possesses the following qualities:
- Ability to assign, review, and supervise the work of others;
- Objectivity and fairness in judging people on their ability, and situations on the facts and circumstances;
- Ability to adjust to change, work pressures, or difficult situations without undue stress;
- Willingness to consider new ideas or divergent points of view; and
- Capacity to "see the job through".
All required documents listed below, that are applicable to you, must be submitted to our automated system by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date of this announcement.
1. Resume limited to 2 pages showing relevant work/volunteer experience, education and training. Include the start and end dates (from month/year to month/year) and the number of hours per week worked/volunteered. Your resume serves as the basis for qualification determinations and must support your answers to the completed online assessment questions. Resumes longer than 2 pages will be deemed ineligible and will not be considered further.
2. Other Qualification Documentation (e.g., transcripts, certificates, certifications, etc.), if applicable.
3. Performance appraisal, strongly encouraged for current eligible DOS employees. Submit a copy of your most recent (i.e., usually within the last 18 months) final (i.e., not a mid-year review) official (i.e., signed by the rating official and in original format) annual performance appraisal for the hiring manager’s consideration.
Note: You may be requested to provide an appraisal to the hiring official if one was not provided with your application. To receive a promotion, the current Federal employee’s most recent performance rating must be “fully successful” or an equivalent level or higher. Employees who are tentatively selected to receive a promotion will be required to provide performance documentation within 2 business days of request. Servicing HR Offices may be contacted to verify performance ratings.
4. Most recent SF-50s (Notification of Personnel Actions), if you are a current Federal employee (including those applying under a non-competitive, special hiring authority, or ICTAP/CTAP eligibles). The SF-50s must show: effective date, position title, series, grade, salary, tenure, position occupied, full promotion potential, and name of agency. Multiple SF-50s may be needed to show all required information (e.g., promotion, within-grade increase, and separation SF-50s). Award SF-50s often do not show the required information.
5. Veteran Documentation, if applicable.
- Veterans who are preference eligible OR who have been separated from the Armed Forces under honorable conditions (honorable or general discharge) after 3 or more years of continuous active service may apply under the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA). You must submit a DD-214 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (Member Copy 4 preferred) showing the dates you served as well as your type of discharge and qualifying service campaign medals OR if you are still on active duty, you MUST submit a certification on letterhead from your military branch which contains your military service dates, expected date of discharge or release, and the character of service to show that your military service was performed under honorable conditions. The expected date of discharge or release must be no later than 120 days after the certification is submitted for consideration for this job announcement. Current Federal employees applying under the VEOA must submit a qualifying SF-50 to show time-in-grade requirements.
- If you are applying as a preference eligible with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more, you must submit the documentation required by the SF-15 (Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference) to support your claim (e.g., DD-214, official statement from the Department of Veterans Affairs). For applicants claiming 10-point derived veterans’ preference (i.e., spouses, widows/widowers or mothers of veterans), a completed SF-15 must be submitted with the application with all required supporting documents listed on the form.
- For more veterans’ preference information, visit the USAJOBS Help Center.
6. Non-competitive or special hiring authority eligibility documentation, if applicable. (e.g., Schedule A individuals with disabilities, RPCV or AmeriCorp VISTA volunteer, Fulbright/Gilman/CLS alumni, etc.)
7. ICTAP/CTAP documentation, if applicable (e.g., reduction-in-force (RIF) separation notice, RIF separation SF-50 personnel action (ICTAP only, if available), most recent SF-50 (CTAP/ICTAP), certification of expected separation, etc.) In addition, submit a copy of your current or last performance rating of record which must be at least fully successful or equivalent and submit all required documents listed above that apply to you.
How to ApplyPrepare your application in USAJOBS
To start your application, click Apply and we’ll walk you through the process to attach a resume and any required documents.
During the application process you can review, edit, delete, and update your information. We’ll automatically save your progress as you go, so you won’t lose any changes. You have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement to complete the application process.
STEP 1: Select the "Apply" button and follow the instructions to register or sign into USAJOBS.
STEP 2: Submit your resume. Please see the Required Documents section for specific information that should be outlined in your resume.
STEP 3: Complete the online assessment questions.
STEP 4: Submit all required documentation applicable to you, as listed in the Required Documents section.
To learn how to view the status of your submitted supporting documentation and application, visit the Application Instructions section of our agency’s Civil Service selection process site.
Technical assistance with your on-line application is available through the Help Desk at mgshelp@monster.com or by calling (866) 656-6830 between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. ET
Alternate Application Procedures
If applying online poses an extreme hardship, you may request alternate application procedures to submit your application package. Contact the Human Resources office listed on the announcement between the business hours of 8:15 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET at least 2 working days prior to the closing date of this announcement. The application package for alternate application procedures must be submitted and received in the Human Resources office no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on the closing date of this announcement. Paper applications and information sent by mail will not be accepted.