Canadian Consular Services
Providing Assistance to Canadians Abroad

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Consular officials provide assistance to Canadians who are travelling, working or living abroad. They are committed to providing you with a variety of services * when you are in another country. Being informed about the services they provide — and do not provide — will help you in making your stay a pleasant one.

Before leaving Canada, you may wish to visit the Consular Affairs Web site at www.voyage.gc.ca to obtain safe travel advice and information on your country of destination. Our Country Travel Reports contain up-to-date information on current conditions in over 200 foreign destinations, including security and health issues, as well as visa requirements.

If you expect to stay in a country for more than three months, you may register with the local Canadian government office so that we can reach you in case of an emergency, such as civil unrest or a natural disaster. You can register on-line.

In addition, we recommend that you visit the Web site of the Canadian government office in your destination country to note their location and hours of operation.† We have over 270 consular points of service in more than 180 countries.

Consular officials are also available in Ottawa to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you require urgent assistance while abroad, you may call the local Canadian government office or make a collect call (where available) to the Consular Affairs Bureau of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada in Ottawa at (613) 996-8885. To find out if there is a toll-free number to reach our emergency services from your location, consult our Country Travel Reports.

Consular Officials Provide the Following Services:
(Services are free unless otherwise indicated.)

In emergencies

• Assist in arranging evacuation in the event of war, civil unrest or a natural disaster.
• Arrange help in a medical emergency by providing you with a list of local doctors and hospitals.
• Arrange for your medical evacuation should a required treatment not be available locally (fees apply).
• Comfort and assist victims of robbery or other violence.
• Help find missing persons and abducted children.

• Provide you with a list of local lawyers.
• Provide you with sources of information about local laws and regulations.
• Seek to ensure that you are treated fairly under the country’s laws if you are arrested or detained (see our publication A Guide for Canadians Imprisoned Abroad).
• Provide assistance if your child has been abducted and taken to another country (see our publication International Child Abductions: A Manual for Parents).
• Notarize documents (fees apply).

• Replace a lost, stolen, damaged or expired passport (fees apply).
• Extend the period of validity in a limited-validity passport (fees apply).
• Add a married or conjugal name to a passport (fees apply).
• Issue certificates in lieu of a birth certificate, record of civil status or record of family civil status (fees apply).
• Issue a statement in lieu of a certificate of non-impediment to marriage abroad (fees apply).
• Provide an emergency loan (fees apply, and this service is offered only as a last resort and is subject to strict rules).
• Transfer funds (fees apply).
• Provide translation services (fees apply).
• Contact relatives or friends and ask them to send you money or airline tickets.
• Contact your next of kin, with your authorization, if you’ve had an accident or are detained by police.
• Accept citizenship applications.
• Provide advice about burying a Canadian abroad or repatriating the remains to Canada.
• Contact your next of kin in case of death.
• Request that local authorities investigate suspicious circumstances in the event of an alleged or apparent crime or death.

When legal issues arise

• Intervene in private legal matters.
• Provide legal advice.
• Obtain a criminal record check on your behalf.
• Post bail, pay fines or legal fees.
• Get you out of prison.
• Take possession of an abducted child.
• Enforce a Canadian custody agreement overseas or compel a country to decide a custody case.
• Investigate a crime or death.
• Ask local authorities to give preferential treatment to Canadians.

• Make travel arrangements.
• Compensate or reimburse you for delayed or cancelled travel.
• Pay your hotel, medical, travel or other expenses.
• Store personal effects or search for lost items.
• Acquire local permits or licences on your behalf, including foreign visas or work permits.
• Assist with job hunting.
• Help you find accommodation.
• Accept mail on your behalf.
• Issue pension or social security benefits.
• Perform marriage ceremonies.
• Pay the burial, cremation or repatriation costs of a deceased Canadian.

The Consular Affairs Bureau publishes, in both official languages, a series of safe travel brochures. You can access them at www.voyage.gc.ca/main/pubs_menu-en.asp or order them by calling
1 800 267-8376 (in Canada) or (613) 944-4000.

How to Find Us

If you need assistance while abroad, contact a Canadian consular point of service. Addresses and telephone numbers are listed at www.voyage.gc.ca/alt/canoffices.asp or check the local telephone directory.

E-mail: voyage@international.gc.ca

* The list of consular services is not exhaustive and is subject to change.
Not all offices provide every service.

† Australian consular officials provide assistance to Canadians in some locations, such as the State of Hawaii and on the island of Bali in Indonesia.

Consular Services

Canadian government offices abroad
www.voyage.gc.ca/alt/canoffices.asp

• Users exercise due diligence in ensuring the accuracy of the materials reproduced;
• Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada be identified as the source department; and
• the reproduction not be represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor as having been made in affiliation with or with the endorsement of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

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