Podcast Transcript

18 January 2006
Transcript of Consular Services for American Citizens

American Citizen Services Chief André Goodfriend

For many, the reason to visit an Embassy is to seek the services of the consular section. Non-Americans planning to travel or immigrate to the U.S. see us to apply for visas, and American citizens see us to apply for passports, have a document notarized for use in the U.S., or any one of the range of routine and emergency services we offer.

There are, on average, a half a million American citizens in the UK at any one time. 4 million Americans visit each year, and another 250,000 reside here long-term.

We issue almost 35,000 passports a year in London, most of them by mail.  Adults who can send in their old passport, can have it renewed by mail.  However, people applying for their first passport after turning 16, or people replacing lost/stolen passport must apply in person.  And, all children under 14 years old must apply in person, accompanied by both parents.   This is to try to prevent child abduction and trafficking.

A passport is more than an identity document.  It is proof that you are an American citizen, and entitled to the services we provide.  Each decision to issue a passport, whether it is the first passport, a renewal, or a replacement for a lost passport, is a decision about citizenship, and one that, if you’re overseas, can only be made by a consul.

To manage this volume, we ask passport applicants who need to come to the embassy to go to our website and schedule their appointments in advance.  Usually the appointment can be scheduled within two weeks.

Many of our first time passport applicants are children born overseas.  For children under 18, we also register their births abroad and provide them with Consular birth certificate, showing that the child was a U.S. citizen at birth.  We also ask that people make appointments online for reports of birth.  We are currently scheduling appointments two months in advance; however, emergencies can be handled earlier.

Of course, we understand that emergencies occur, and we handle the emergencies quickly, issuing a limited-validity, emergency passport usually within an hour on workdays. However, we cannot issue passports on weekends or holidays.

Sometimes where the emergencies occur is at the airport itself, particularly if an American citizen has a second nationality, and is attempting to travel to the U.S. using the non-U.S. passport. We can’t stress enough that American citizens must use their American passport to travel to the U.S. Please check well before you travel to make sure it hasn’t expired.

While our Passport and Citizenship Unit handles the issues of citizenship itself, our Special Consular Services Unit handles the services that we provide to people who are U.S. citizens, ranging from notarial services, assisting Americans in distress, visiting Americans in jail or helping Americans during a crisis.

One of our primary roles is safeguarding the welfare of American citizens, and this is particularly true during a crisis.  During a crisis we attempt to ensure that Americans understand what is happening and know what to do to keep safe. Coping during a crisis, however, is difficult if you’re not prepared.

Within a couple days of the July tube and bus attacks, we and the Consular Affairs call center had fielded well over 1000 calls from family and friends of people who they thought might have been injured or killed.  We visited the hospitals and were in hourly contact with the police, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to try to ensure that if any Americans had been victims, we could assist them and help get word to their families.  In this era of terrorism, we try to be prepared for whatever might happen.

This is one of the reasons for our warden network, and for strengthening our contacts with you.  Whatever the next crisis might be, whether it is a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, an industrial accident or a pandemic, having a working network in place helps us stay prepared.

To help us keep in touch with you, we have been sending out a monthly consular newsletter to our wardens and to others who would like to subscribe.  Even more than subscribing to the newsletter, we encourage you, and those Americans that you work with or represent, to register with us.  It is now an easy online process.

As we get deeper into the flu season, there will be increasing concern about Avian flu, and the possibility that it will mutate into a pandemic.  Both the U.S. and the UK governments have made contingency plans for possibility of that happening.  And we at the Embassy have also had to consider the possibility of a pandemic.  We want to be sure that the private American citizen community, and their employers, organizations and educational institutions are making contingency plans for the possibility of a pandemic.  In the event of a pandemic, the Embassy would not be able to provide medication for the private American community. We want to be sure that Americans are aware of the risks now, and know what they would do if there were to be a pandemic.  Both the US and UK governments have made information available on official websites.

The Internet is a valuable medium for much of the information about our services. Our website, and that of the Department of State and other U.S. Government agencies contain a wealth of information that can help American citizens both in times of a crisis, and in carrying out the routine aspects of living abroad. We encourage people to use it, and let us know how it could be made even more useful. The American community in the UK is large, and the Internet, online registration, newsletters and other outreach efforts like this one are important tools to better help us help you.

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