We ask that you
– Take personal responsibility for your travel choices, your safety, finances and behaviour overseas, including obeying the laws of the country you’re visiting.
– Take out appropriate travel and medical insurance and understand what is and isn’t covered by the insurance you purchase.
– Protect your passport and report promptly if it is lost or stolen.
– Treat consular staff with respect and be honest in providing us with all relevant information when seeking our assistance.
Give us feedback to help us to improve our services.
may be limited in some circumstances You don’t have a legal right to consular assistance and you shouldn’t assume assistance will be provided. For example, we may limit assistance where: your actions were illegal, you’ve deliberately or repeatedly acted recklessly or negligently, you put yourself or others at risk, you’ve demonstrated a repeated pattern of behaviour requiring multiple instances of consular assistance previously.
Each case is unique and our assistance will depend on the circumstances and availability of consular resources. We may be able to:
issue replacement passports and travel documents for a fee, provide details of local doctors and hospitals, including mental health support if available in your location, provide advice and support if you’re the victim of a serious assault, or other crime, or you’re arrested, including details of local lawyers and interpreters, visit or contact you to check on your welfare if you’re arrested or detained, and do what we can, to ensure you’re treated the same as others detained under the laws of the country in which you’re arrested, provide advice and support in a range of other cases including the death of relatives overseas, missing persons and kidnappings, if you agree, contact friends or family on your behalf. In some circumstances we may need to contact your friends or family where we’ve been unable to get your consent, make special arrangements in cases of international terrorism, civil disturbances and natural disasters (fees may apply), provide some notarial services, including witnessing and authenticating documents and administering oaths and affirmations (fees apply).
Some tasks are outside the consular role. For example, we can’t: guarantee your safety and security in another country or make your travel arrangements give you legal advice, interpret or translate documents intervene in another country’s court proceedings or legal matters including employment disputes, commercial disputes, criminal cases, and family law matters or child custody disputes, investigate crimes or deaths overseas, or carry out searches for missing people, which are the responsibility of local authorities, get you out of prison or prevent you from being deported, get you better treatment in prison than local prisoners, post bail or pay your fines or legal expenses or compel a country to decide a custody case, pay for medical or psychiatric services or medications, pay your pension or social security benefits arrange visas, licences, work or residency permits for other countries intervene in immigration, customs or quarantine matters in other countries, store luggage or other personal items, receive or send postal items on your behalf
Be informed
– Check the latest travel advice
– Check the expiry date of your passport before you travel. Some countries won’t let you enter unless your passport is valid for six months from when you plan to leave that country.
– Check with health professionals about recommended vaccinations and other health precautions. Vaccinations can be an entry requirement for some countries.
– Make sure you have the right visas for the countries you are visiting or transiting and check other entry or exit requirements.
– If you’re carrying pharmaceutical products or medicines, make sure they arev permitted in the country you’re visiting.
– Check if you’re regarded as a national of the country you plan to visit, and whether dual nationality has implications for your travel plans.
– Take out comprehensive travel and medical insurance. Ensure it covers you for the places you’ll visit, things you‘ll do and any pre-existing conditions or current medical treatments.
– Consider your physical and mental health before traveling and ensure your vaccinations are up to date.
– If you or someone you’re traveling with needs mental health support while overseas, read our advice about travel and mental health ahead of departing
– Ensure you have sufficient funds for your specific destination and can access those funds while traveling.
– Make copies of your passport, visas and insurance policy and leave a copy with someone at home.
– Personal information is protected by law. Many countries have their own Patient Privacy Act as well as International Data Protection regarding the collection, disclosure and storage of it.
– Consular clients should be aware that there may be limited circumstances when we’ll confirm to the media that we are providing you with consular assistance or correct and/or clarify information about the nature of that assistance.
