Washington: No grace period. And in the eyes of many critics, no grace either.US President-elect Donald Trump is ordering President Obama 's political-appointee ambassadors across the world to quit the their posts by Inauguration Day, January 20, with no exceptions or caveats, convulsing the lives of many envoys.While it is standard procedure for particularly political appointees sent by the previous administration to submit in their resignation when a new administration takes over, the process is usually marked by cordiality and accommodation.Ambassadors who have children in school and/or are facing other extenuating circumstances are allowed a grace period to sort out sticky situations, since in any case it takes weeks, and even months, for the new administration to nominate successors, who then have to go through an elaborate confirmation process.But the Trump transition team is said to have insisted on the Obama appointees winding down by January 20, forcing the State Department to send out pack-up instructions ''without exception'' in a December 23 missive to its more than 180 missions worldwide. Ambassadors who are career foreign service officers have been informally asked to stay on.About a third of U.S mission abroad are headed by political appointees, including Richard Rahul Verma, who Obama sent to New Delhi as ambassador in late 2014 just weeks ahead of his visit to India.The Vermas have three school-going children, eight-year old twins Lucy and Dylan, and Zoe, 11, and they have to figure out now whether to stay on in New Delhi in a private capacity and allow the kids to finish their school year, or return to U.S and fit them back into school system mid-year.Even staying on in a private capacity will involve finding new digs, changing visa status and other logistical hassles.In a similar situation, the U.S ambassador to Costa Rica, Stafford Fitzgerald Haney is already said to be hunting for a house or an apartment for his four school-age children and his wife, who has been battling breast cancer.Many such diplomats were said to be exchanging notes of their predicament at a farewell reception for political appointees earlier this week by President Obama. The Obamas themselves are staying on in Washington DC to allow their daughters to complete school, but staying in a foreign country is a different deal altogether.The Trump diktat has dismayed many of them even as the President-elect's Transition team has maintained that no ill-will should be read into the move. ''So, Barron Trump gets to stay in NY so not to disrupt his school year but children of all US ambassadors dont get the same kindness?'' one critic tweeted.According to the American Foreign Service Association, a union representing diplomats, there are 188 US ambassadorships world-wide. From the time he took office in 2009, President Obama, in his two terms, has nominated 311 career diplomats and 135 political/civil service personnel to ambassadorial posts, a roughly 70:30 ratio that has been the norm over many administrations.Many of the key ambassadorships, including to China, India, Israel, France, Japan, Germany, and United Kingdom, go to political appointees. While big campaign donors are rewarded with swish sinecures, party grandees and trusted supporters are sent to key world capitals, tasked with handling sensitive, strategic relations.High-profile political envoys who snagged sinecures in the Obama years included Jane Hartley, a Democratic fundraiser who served as ambassador to France, and JFK's daughter Caroline Kennedy, to Japan. Obama also sent out Daniel Shapiro, a former Democratic congressional aide and adviser as ambassador to Israel, a highly sensitive post for Washington.Trump has already named a controversial choice to succeed Shapiro -- New York bankruptcy lawyer and adviser David Friedman, the nomination suggesting a drastic resetting of ties with Israel.He has also named Indian-American governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley to head the U.S mission at the United Nations , and picked as ambassador to Beijing Terry Branstad, the long-serving Republican governor of Iowa who has been a personal friend of China's President Xi JinPing for many years.No word yet about a nominee for New Delhi, although there was much scuttlebutt about Shalli Kumar, the prominent Indian-American Trump supporter, at a reception last evening simply on account of the Rich Verma precedent of appointing an Indian-American for the post.Typically, when an embassy does not have an ambassador, the Deputy Chief of Mission, usually a career diplomat, steps up to become charge d'affaires, heading the mission till a new appointee arrives. In case of New Delhi, MaryKay Loss Carlson, a member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Counselor, arrived as DCM in August 2016.