Help for British Nationals

This page gives advice what help we can provide if you do get into difficulty. We offer help which is appropriate to the individual circumstances of each case, including:

• issuing replacement passports;
• providing information about transferring funds;
• providing appropriate help if you have suffered rape or serious assault, are a victim of other crime, or are in hospital;
• helping people with mental illness;
• providing details of local lawyers, interpreters and doctors and funeral directors;
• doing all we properly can to contact you within 24 hours of being told that you have been detained;
• offering support and help in a range of other cases, such as child abductions, death of relatives overseas, missing people and kidnapping;
• contacting family or friends for you if you want; and
• making special arrangements in cases of terrorism, civil disturbances or natural disasters

UK law says we have to charge for some services. Consulates display the current fees and the standards of service you can expect.

Who we can help

We can provide the support set out in this guide to people outside the UK who are:

• British nationals (whether or not they normally live in the UK)
• British nationals with another nationality (known as ‘dual nationals’), although this will depend on the circumstances
• European Union nationals or, in certain circumstances, Commonwealth nationals whose country does not have a local mission.

We cannot provide this support to other countries’ nationals, even if they may have been legally living in the UK.

What kind of help we can provide

We offer help which is appropriate to the individual circumstances of each case, including: 

• Issuing replacement passports  
• Providing information about transferring funds
• Providing appropriate help if you have suffered rape or serious assault, are a victim of other crime, are ill or in hospital  
• Providing details of local lawyers, interpreters, doctors and funeral directors
• Doing all we properly can to contact you within 24 hours of being told that you have been detained
• Offering support and help in a range of other cases, such as child abductions, death of relatives overseas, missing people and kidnapping Contacting family or friends for you if you want
• Making special arrangements in cases of terrorism, civil unrest or natural disasters.

We cannot:

• Get involved in private disputes over property, employment, commercial or other matters
• Get you out of prison, prevent the local authorities from deporting you after your prison sentence, or interfere in criminal or civil court proceedings Help you enter a country, for example, if you do not have a visa or your passport is not valid, as we cannot interfere in another country’s immigration policy or procedures
• Give you legal advice, investigate crimes or carry out searches for missing people, although we can give you details of people who may be able to help you in these cases, such as English-speaking lawyers
• Get you better treatment in hospital than the treatment that is given to local people
• Get you better treatment in prison than local prisoners, although we may raise concerns with local authorities if treatment falls below internationally recognised standards
• Pay any bills or give you money from public funds
• Make travel arrangements for you, or find you work or accommodation.
• Make business arrangements on your behalf
• Make sure you will be safe in another country – safety and security are matters for the government concerned
• Provide compensation if you are affected by a major catastrophe or terrorist attack