Immigration Information

US consulates are US government offices located in countries other than the US. The US maintains US consulates and embassies in most countries around the world and these offices are like little pieces of US on foreign soil. US consulates and embassies are protected by the US and are often run by US rules. These offices are staffed with US government employees and are designed to help provide assistance to US citizens aboard as well as to immigrant applicants hoping to enter the US. If you lose your passport or want to apply to immigrate to the US, the US consulate can help you in many ways:

• It can provide you with visa applications and instructions. A US consulate generally has USCIS forms available or can help you find those forms online if you are having trouble with the USCIS website. The US-Immigration.com site has a handy guide to US consulates that can help.

• It can assist you if you have lost your US passport. If you are a US citizen traveling abroad and have lost your passport, a local US embassy or consulate can help you retrieve your authorization to reenter the US. If you have lost your passport at home, the U.S. Passport Lost-Stolen Application kit from US-Immigration.com can help. If you are traveling outside of the US, consider having a photocopy of your US passport somewhere safe so that you can show this to consulate authorities.

• It can provide assistance in case of emergencies. If you are a US citizen traveling abroad and a natural disaster or conflict breaks out, you can visit the local; US embassy or consulate for assistance. In most cases, the US consulate or embassy is the safest place to be during any man-made or natural disaster abroad; this is where you will get the most recent updates and where most evacuation procedures will take place from. You can register with the embassy or consulate to be alerted of an emergency evacuation procedures for US citizens. The US-Immigration.com site has a handy guide for finding a consulate when you are in trouble.

• It can help you with your immigration application and be the site of any required immigration interviews. If you apply for a US visa or other immigration petition requiring biometrics or an interview, you will generally need to visit a US consulate in your home country for these processes. All the relevant immigration form kits from US-Immigration.com have the information you need to prepare for such interviews.