What We Can and Can't Do

If you have a problem when you are abroad, you can contact the nearest Canadian office. Consular staff in our foreign offices and in Ottawa are there to help you.

Although these offices provide a wide variety of services to travelling Canadians, demand is such that we restrict some services, especially those for which there are adequate alternatives available locally.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada has more than 270 offices worldwide, where consular officials are ready to assist Canadians travelling, working or living abroad.

Before you leave Canada, it is important to be informed about the services we do and do not provide.

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 a 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.

When legal issues arise

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).

When other issues arise

Replace a lost, stolen, damaged or expired passport (fees apply).
Extend the period of validity of a limited-validity passport (fees apply).
Add a married or conjugal name to a passport (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 limited translation services (fees apply).
Contact relatives or friends and ask them to send you money or airline tickets.
Contact next of kin, with your authorization, if you have 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.

Consular Officials DO NOT Provide the Following Services

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.

When other issues arise

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.

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