Improve this question. Mark Mayo Mark Mayo k 95 95 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. Also on quora. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. From the perspective of a traveler, there is almost zero difference. Improve this answer. Doc Doc k 10 10 gold badges silver badges bronze badges.
I would just add that as a traveler even if you are at an embassy, you will go to the consular section of that embassy, because they deal with passports and visa. There is often a separate entrance for the consular section used by the public, while the main entrance is for official guests.
On the other hand they offer a closer service so you don't need to go across your country to get a visa. For example, in Canada, Ottawa has a lot of embassies while Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are larger cities. Consulates frequently will offer fewer services, but generally these will be services not relevant to travelers.
I've never come across any travel services that couldn't be handled at a consulate but could by an Embassy. And yes, Embassy's will normally be in the capital city due to it being the more logical place for the Ambassador to be based.
There are embassies without Ambassadors. In china, if you want a Russian visum and are not a Chinese resident, you need to be at the Russian Embassy as I was kindly informed by the Russian Consulate. Show 4 more comments. On a legal level , let me try to straighten out the terminology a bit.
An ambassador is a direct representative of a head of state to another country, which is why each country only has one. A consul is a representative of a government to another, and there can be many of these per country. An embassy is a permanent diplomatic mission read: a delegation of diplomats led by an ambassador. The term is often also used for the physical building they occupy, but that's more correctly termed a chancery. A consulate is a government delegation led by a consul. Likewise, the word is often used to describe the building itself.
Consular services is the umbrella term for services provided to individuals: visas, passports, etc. A honorary consul is a local eminent person, often a citizen of the host country with business ties to the other, who has been granted very limited powers to provide consular services in a place that wouldn't otherwise have any.
An honorary consulate is wherever said eminent person chooses to hang his or her fancy plaque on the wall. These are usually useless for day-to-day travel, since they generally have no regular opening hours or powers to issue visas, but they can be handy in an emergency arrested, passport lost, etc.
This is a valuable description of the legal framework but the actual answer to the question at hand is not entirely correct. There are embassies without consular section admittedly few of them but I have met them! I did say " virtually all embassies handle consular services", but exceptions to this are really quite rare. The only case I'm presently aware of is a couple of embassies in Canberra that delegate all their visa handling to their consulates in other far larger and more convenient Australian cities like Sydney.
I mentioned two other cases below but the simple and fully correct answer is that as a traveler, you need consular services and your country can let you know where to go to obtain them. It's as simple as that. Also, how would you know if embassies provide a better service apart, perhaps, from those of your own country? A consulate and the consular section of an embassy are practically interchangeable from a traveller's point of view.
And the rule of thumb is that the consular section attached to the embassy usually -- not always, but usually -- has better opening hours, more staff, more powers and faster turnaround than a stand-alone consulate. The embassy also should arrange official visits, especially those involving their head of state. The embassy also prepares treaties to be signed by the two countries. The embassy is also required to promote the culture of its country by organizing famous cultural festivals.
An ambassador is the spokesperson of the home country and is obliged to report to the home president. Since diplomats run embassies, many countries exempt harsh law consequences for minor crimes committed in the host country. In many cases, diplomats are not arrested or jailed under the laws of the receiving state.
Many countries do this to protect the very crucial information that diplomats in embassies handle. A consulate can, therefore, represent its country to the general population or to the business community. A consul general heads all the services that a consulate offers. Since it is allowed to have more than one consulate representing one country in another country, the roles played by each consulate can be independent and unique from the other.
Consulates are obliged to report personal issues affecting their citizens, including births, marriages and deaths. Embassy is in Mexico City —quite the trek from Tijuana. And the only thing even close to you is a U. Can they help? Or are you going to have to hop a plane to the capital? Thankfully, no flights to Mexico City are necessary. If you do find yourself in a situation where internal or international conflict breaks out, you should immediately contact your embassy to find out what steps to take.
This could be offering contacts of local lawyers and doctors, advise you on how to transfer funds and help broker contact to your family at home. If you are arrested overseas, you will need to contact your embassy. They cannot intervene in court cases, prevent deportation, pay any costs, secure your release from jail or forward correspondence from your friends or family. However, they can communicate what has happened to your loved ones, aim to contact you within 24 hours of your arrest and pay you a visit as soon as possible.
They aim to be non-judgemental and sensitive regardless of the accusations made against you. Registering births, deaths and marriages abroad will all require you to talk to your embassy. You won't always need to visit an embassy, though. It lasts for 90 days. If you need to go to an embassy in the UK, make sure to research your trip well in advance, as visits can often be time-consuming. Make sure that you have duplicates and originals of all the documents and information you need to provide.
To make an insurance claim that is the result of a crime for instance a theft , you will need a police report. Your embassy will be able to advise you on whether you require their assistance with crimes abroad, so if you consider the crime to be serious then contact them.
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