What To Do When You Are Stranded In A Foreign Country And You Need Help?
Everyone dreams of travelling to a country abroad for several reasons which include visiting, vacation or touring the country. While you may plan for your trip and your destination, you may or may not be prepared for any problems that may leave you stranded within the foreign country. In such a situation, the consular services will aid you.
Locate your National Embassy.
The first thing the stranded individual must do is locate the national embassy to avoid any further trouble. This can be helped if you have already have located your consulate before you leave for your trip abroad. If you cannot locate your national consulate, you can always ask your relative or friends in your home country to contact them on your behalf. You can also approach the local government official to help you to locate your national consulate.Alternatively a few national consulates have also provided an outsourcing of this consulate service to private institutes which can be contacted.
Inform the Appropriate Officers in the Consulate
Once located, the problem must be put forth and explained thoroughly to the officials in the embassy. These officials will provide the appropriate embassy services or assistance based on the severity of the situation of the distressed individual or family. If the relative or friend of the distressed individual has contacted the consulate, the officials will instruct the concerned individual on the proper procedure to be undertaken to ensure that the stranded individual receives the timely consular services aid wherever possible.
Services provided by the Consulate.
The following embassy services have been provided by the consulate:
• Replacement of travel documents
• Advice and support in the case of accident, illness, crime, death, civil unrest, natural disasters
• Informing and securing visitation rights for next of kin
• Registering birth of citizens abroad
• Facilitating overseas payment of social welfare benefits.
• Supervising the flag vessels in the foreign harbors.
• Collaborating with the local police task force or officials in the case of abduction or missing case.
Advantages of the Consular Assistance
This service is specially designed to assist visitors or travelers of the same nationality who are stranded in a foreign country, which visitors cannot receive on their own. These embassy services are an organized body of the public offers that are maintained by the government in a foreign country and is liable to protect the interests of its nationals. This consular assistance has a certain set of services that they provide in the right circumstances. These services cannot be objected or denied to the citizen of the national country. If the foreign country does not have a national consulate of the country, a private institute whose has been provided with the outsourcing of consular services, can be approached as an alternative.
