Diplomatic missions

A diplomatic mission is a representative office of a national government located in another nation's territory. There are two main types:

An embassy is usually in the capital city at the destination country; its main function is to deal with government-to-government issues. If there are trade negotiations to be done, or if one government wants to complain about some action by the other, the embassy handles that. If an official delegation from one country plans to visit the other, the embassies will make the arrangements.

A consulate can be located in any (usually major) city and provides consular services for individuals or businesses. They can usually provide visas for foreigners planning to visit their country. For their own citizens, they provide passport services as well as birth registrations, marriage registrations, and various other sorts of advice or assistance. If you are doing business and need advice about local regulations in a foreign country, its consulate is a good source.

Many embassies also provide consular services; that is, they can also do everything a consulate can. There are some exceptions in countries where the capital city is not a major city; for example, the U.S. embassy in Canberra, Australia, does not provide consular services, but there are consulates in the larger cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. In other places, some embassies maintain a separate "consular section" location to provide consular services in the capital city of the host country.

Sometimes the services are split up somewhat differently; for example, the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi provides most consular services but there is a separate office for Indians wanting a visa. In some cases, one country's mission may process visa applications on behalf of another. For instance, in Singapore, the Danish embassy processes visa applications for Norway, Finland and Iceland even though the former two operate their own embassies in Singapore. Similarly, British embassies often provide consular services on behalf of Commonwealth countries that do not have diplomatic representation in the host country.

Visitor registration services

Most nations have a system that lets a citizen who is abroad long-term register so that their home government has a record of their presence. For many countries, you can do this online but for some you may need to actually visit a consular office. Registration is generally not needed for tourists except in high-risk areas, but it is recommended for anyone working abroad, studying abroad or retiring abroad.

Registering will usually get you on a mailing list that brings email notifications from your government; these are often rather boring, but some are useful or interesting. This can be very important in some circumstances; for example, if a war or epidemic breaks out, your country's mission may be a good source of information and aid.

Registering can also be useful if you need services from your home country, for example being able to vote in an election back home, collect a state pension, or ensure that your health insurance there remains valid.

Help from consulates and embassies

The missions may provide a variety of services, which usually include:

If you lose your passport or it is near expiry, they can arrange a replacement. For most countries, processing time is several weeks.
If you lose your passport and have time constraints, they can arrange for a temporary replacement in order for you to be able to head home. Even this usually takes a few days.
If you need a visa for the country they represent, they can issue that. They may even be able to advise who and what items may not be admitted and process the application of any waiver of inadmissibility or permit to import restrictive items.
If there is an election back home, they may be able to help you vote remotely. If not, they can at least provide advice on the procedure.
If you need services from your government back home, like pension payments or a new ID card, they may be able to organize this.
If legal challenges or matters demanding your attention occur at home, to which you need to respond with a specific document (a letter of attorney for example, so that someone could represent you until you return), a consulate or embassy of your home country can enable you to fulfill certain formalities (notary services—acknowledgement of signature, generally).
If you have a child abroad, they can register their citizenship and issue a passport.
If you want to adopt a child abroad, they may advise on the procedure and possibly register the adoption.
The missions provide most of the information that their home governments base travel advisories on. Talking directly to a mission may get information that is more detailed or more up-to-date than the advisories.
If you want to do business in a foreign country, they can provide you with information on the local regulations and culture of the country they represent.
In the event of unexpected war or other disasters, embassies may arrange evacuation flights for their own citizens and sometimes others, though the cost of evacuation will have to be borne by you. But don't count on this – you can't predict what will happen in an unexpected situation, and you should always have your own emergency plan.

There are also services which become relevant if you want to marry abroad, but be careful that same-sex marriage is not always allowed or recognized:

There may be special procedures to get a visa for your spouse.
If you are engaged, some countries, such as the USA, have a special fiancée visa; others, such as Canada, do not.
If you want to marry abroad then some countries, such as China or the Philippines, require a document from your country's mission certifying that you are single. The mission may require that you produce documents such as a divorce decree or the death certificate for a former spouse before they will issue their document; it is not uncommon for these requirements to delay a wedding, and in some cases the foreign partner may need a trip home to get the documents.
You can sometimes get married in an embassy, which is useful where a local wedding would be expensive or difficult, or when neither partner is from the host country, or for a same-sex couple if the host country does not recognize such unions but one of the home countries does.

Details vary a lot from country to country. All missions will charge a fee for most or all these services.

Travellers should not expect too much from their country's missions abroad, though this does vary both with where you are from and where you are visiting. Most missions do not have staff or funding for various things you might think they should do.

If you are broke and stranded, they generally will not fly you home, though most will contact family or friends for you and provide a channel for them to send money. Some may consider allowing a repatriation loan if everything else fails, but repay the loan as fast as possible, as owing it might block future departure from home country since your passport is usually taken away as collateral.
If you have a serious accident or illness, they should help to ensure you can receive suitable medical attention or repatriation. If you die, they can contact your family and may help with arrangements. They will not pay the costs of these services or request better treatment than local people.
If you are arrested or jailed, they may visit, provide a list of reputable lawyers and/or translators that can speak your own language, and can inform your family if you wish, but they will generally not provide a lawyer or translator, pay for one, or post bail.
- Diplomatic missions generally do not interfere in the judicial process of the host country, even when their citizens are accused of serious crimes that are not particularly serious (or even a crime) back home. Generally speaking, they will support you in identifying legal representation and raising objections if the local due process is flouted (for example, confessions extracted by torture). Even if they do ask the host government to release you or show leniency, the host government is under no obligation to do so. Some countries, such as Canada and New Zealand, will lodge clemency petitions when their citizens are facing charges that could result in the death penalty in the host country, but these requests are more often than not denied by the host governments.
People with dual nationality (see Passport) are often considered by host governments to be local citizens and therefore not eligible for consular support from another country. The diplomatic mission can still try to help, but what they can do will be limited, or even entirely impossible if the host country does not recognize dual nationality.

If someone takes your passport for any reason except visa processing (for example an employer who wants it "for safekeeping" or a rent-a-whatever place that requires it "as security") this is not allowed under international law and, at least in theory, your consulate can ask the host government to lean on local law enforcement to ensure its prompt return. If this fails, the consulate is best-placed to add the document to lists of stolen passports and issue a replacement.

Embassy or consulate events

In addition to providing those services, the missions give fine parties and may invite any citizens who are about. Diplomats tend to live rather well, with good stocks of booze (even in countries where alcohol is illegal except for diplomats), excellent cooks and good supplies of imported foods. In particular, they often have the specialties of the home country; for example, a Russian mission will usually be well provided with caviar and vodka.

Of course, most of their parties are only for other diplomats, local government officials and other important people; the average traveller will not be invited, though a visiting business person or journalist might be. However, they also host celebrations on their national day or other important holidays — for example, Christmas or Thanksgiving for Americans — and almost anyone with the right passport can be invited to those. If you are abroad at such a time, it is certainly worth asking. An oddity about this is that the more out-of-the-way the place is, the better your chances are. An embassy in a major capital may already have its guest list filled, but one in Back-of-beyond-istan is very likely to welcome visitors.

Missions may also sponsor or assist with cultural events to promote their country. For example, the Thai Embassy in Ottawa works with a local Thai immigrants' association to run an annual Thai Festival. Many governments also have organisations to teach their language abroad.

Complications and variations

There are a number of complications and variations, which will only occasionally matter to travellers.

Some of the smaller or poorer nations have few missions abroad. To get a visa for Tajikistan, for example, you may have to go to a major center like Moscow or London. New York is also good for this since almost every country has a mission to the United Nations. The bright side is that in these cases it is often possible to apply by mail, although this means letting go of your passport for several weeks. Some countries also allow applying for their visas online.

The reverse can apply as well. If you are in an out-of-the-way place and need consular assistance, your country may not have an embassy there so you might need to contact another mission; for example, most visitors to Bhutan would need to contact their embassy in Delhi. Alternately, your government may have an arrangement with some friendly country by which that country's mission will also provide consular service for citizens of your nation; this is most common for pairs of countries in some international group such as the British Commonwealth, the ex-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States or the European Union. This is one more thing to check when planning a trip that goes far off the beaten path; your own government's foreign affairs department is the best source of information on such arrangements.

Some countries' missions have a system of dividing the destination country up into zones and requesting or even requiring that people use the consulate for their zone. In China, for example, Canada will tell someone in Wuhan to use the Beijing embassy and someone in Fuzhou to use the Guangzhou consulate, even though the Shanghai consulate might be more convenient for both. Typically, this does not apply to tourists, only to people living in the country, but it does apply to both locals and expatriates.

Many smaller countries host a limited number of diplomatic missions, meaning that you will need to travel to another country to obtain visas. This can often be in a neighbouring country, but in some cases may be in a country much farther away. For instance, some diplomatic missions accredited to Singapore may actually be located in Beijing or Tokyo. The cities that have the most diplomatic missions are Brussels, Washington, D.C., Beijing and London.

An honorary consul can be located anywhere and provides very limited consular services. Often the position is granted by a foreign government to a person with business interests in that location; they may not even be a citizen of the country they represent. For the traveller this may be of use for notary services, and if you are in jail or hospital they might visit and contact the consulate for you. However, they are usually not authorized to grant visas or issue passports, though some of them may collect your visa application to forward to the nearest full diplomatic mission.

In addition to embassies and consulates, there are diplomatic missions that use other names for various reasons:

A mission from one Commonwealth country to another is a High Commission.
A mission from any country to an international body such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization or European Union is a Permanent Mission.
A mission from the Vatican City to any country is called an Apostolic Nunciature.
A mission representing a non-sovereign entity (such as a province, federated state or dependent territory) is a delegation; its activities are classed as paradiplomacy. For instance, the governments of Quebec and Scotland operate several offices in foreign countries. These do not provide consular services, which are instead provided by the diplomatic missions of the respective sovereign countries they are part of.
- Hong Kong and Macau have established a number of economic and trade offices to promote their respective territories and assist residents abroad. Except for the Hong Kong mission in Shanghai, these don't deal with visa and passport applications, which are instead handled by Chinese diplomatic missions. However, they are useful if you want to make enquiries about local regulations and culture for doing business in the respective regions they represent.
- Diplomatic missions of the EU (as a whole, not those of individual EU countries) are also known as "delegations". These do not provide consular services, which are instead provided by the missions of individual EU countries.
Countries that lack worldwide formal diplomatic recognition may still deploy embassies under another name. Taiwan has "Taipei Representative Offices" or "Taipei Economic and Trade Offices" in many countries, and other countries' de facto embassies in Taiwan also have similarly ambiguous names (eg. American Institute in Taiwan, British Office Taipei, etc.). Iraqi Kurdistan also runs its own diplomatic missions separate from Iraqi embassies and consulates knowns as representations.
Countries which have been split into multiple entities (such as the former East Germany and West Germany, or current-day mainland China and Taiwan) may use non-standard terminology to avoid recognising the "other side" as a truly foreign country. For instance, Cold War Europe had "permanent missions" headed by "permanent representatives" representing one Germany to the other in the 1970s, while the Chinese now speak obliquely of "cross-strait relations".
Countries with rival claimant governments can have different embassies run by different governments. For instance, since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, some Afghan embassies have been run by the Taliban, while others, including all Afghan embassies in Western countries, are run by remnants of the previous U.S.-backed government. The result of this is that if you want to travel to Afghanistan, only visas issued by the Taliban-run embassies will be accepted for travel.
Where direct diplomatic relations have been terminated, an interests section in a third country's embassy may be the only formal representation. Direct US-Iranian diplomatic relations ended abruptly in 1979; now the Pakistani embassy in Washington has an Iranian interests section, and the Swiss embassy in Tehran has an American interests section.

In at least 90% of cases, all a traveller has to know is how to find the nearest embassy or consulate — the one for the destination in their home country to get a visa and the one for their home at the destination for help while abroad.

If your country does not have a diplomatic mission in the country you are visiting, your country's foreign ministry (the State Department in the case of the U.S.) should have an emergency hotline that you can call for assistance, with the obvious caveat that international call rates apply.

Special Arrangements

Some countries have special arrangements which allow their citizens to receive consular assistance from a third country when they have no diplomatic presence in a particular country.

Australia and Canada have an agreement in which Australian citizens are eligible to receive consular assistance from Canadian diplomatic missions in countries without an Australian diplomatic mission and likewise, Canadian citizens are eligible to receive consular assistance from Australian diplomatic missions in countries without a Canadian diplomatic mission.
Citizens of most Commonwealth countries are eligible to receive limited consular assistance from a British diplomatic mission when in a country where their home country lacks diplomatic representation. This is typically limited to emergencies.
Citizens of the European Union are eligible to receive consular assistance from the diplomatic missions of any EU member state when they are in a country where their own country lacks diplomatic representation.
As the Chinese government considers Taiwanese citizens to be Chinese citizens, Taiwanese citizens are eligible to receive consular assistance from a Chinese diplomatic mission.

Diplomatic immunity

Unless you are travelling with a special diplomatic passport (issued only to diplomats, high-ranking government officials or their family members), then diplomatic immunity does not apply to you. If you do have official diplomatic status, then it becomes a more complex legal question and your employer should be able to provide expert advice.

Diplomatic missions have special status under international law.

An embassy is considered entirely under the control of the sending nation, and local laws do not apply inside it. Police from the host country may not enter the embassy compound without permission from the sending nation. A consulate does not enjoy this privilege, and local laws do still apply.
A few relatively senior diplomats are immune to arrest or prosecution by the host country regardless of the crime, whether for spying or more mundane offenses, and the only option is for the host to expel them. The assassination of Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia is one of the more infamous examples. Some mission staff may have only a weaker "consular immunity"; they cannot be prosecuted for anything done on the job, but can be for other things. Honorary consuls are not entitled to any diplomatic or consular immunity. While the sending nation can waive immunity, it is not required to do so.
Diplomats' luggage or things shipped in a "diplomatic bag" are immune from customs inspection, although there have been instances where customs officials simply ignored this restriction.

Some cars have diplomatic license plates, usually a conspicuously different colour than other plates and/or with a specific alphanumeric sequence. For example in Ottawa, these plates are white-on-red and have "CD" (from French corps diplomatique) as the first two letters. They cannot be stopped for traffic violations and in some places some of them flagrantly ignore "no parking" signs. This is particularly noteworthy with United Nations diplomats in New York City.
Diplomats are usually exempt from taxes imposed by the host country; some missions to London insist that city's "congestion charge" is a tax, which they refuse to pay.
People travelling on diplomatic or official passports typically have different visa requirements from those travelling on ordinary passports.
Children born to diplomats abroad do not obtain the citizenship of the host country as a birthright, even where jus soli is otherwise offered unconditionally.
Reciprocity is often required as a baseline for respect, and a good deal of diplomacy is basically tit for tat. If members of a representative country's diplomatic staff refuse to pay parking tickets then the host country will likely instruct their staff in their corresponding mission to do likewise. Expulsion by the host nation of another nation's diplomatic staff may well result in their staff being correspondingly expelled. This can extend to visa policy for standard travelers, with fees and requirements often demanding the same treatment between two countries.

There are a set of rather complex rules covering how far these protections extend. Not all embassy staff have diplomatic privileges but some staff outside the embassy — for example, at a trade mission or an aid agency — may. Diplomatic immunity typically only applies in the country that you are accredited to, and would usually cease to apply if you travel to another country outside your official capacity.

Stay safe

The grounds outside embassies can be a place for protests against the country, in some case even riots.