How to contact on the telephone, via your mobile device or on the Internet with your diplomatic Mission on Crete – whether to get help in an emergency or information on a routine matter? LivinginCrete.GR suggests that If you cannot find your country listed here, then try to connect directly with your Embassy in Athens. Simply make a keyword search in any search engine (e.g. british embassy athens).
Diplomatic Representatives to be found in Crete
The following countries have diplomatic missions in Crete: Austria, Belgium, Britain, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine.
Each country’s diplomatic mission in Crete will be either of the status of a full consulate with the consul and staff appointed by the home country, or an “Honorary” Consulate where the “consul” is a paid private citizen or a company appointed to carry on consular duties on behalf of the home country. Britain uniquely has a “Vice Consulate”.
Whether a full consulate or an honorary consulate, the role and function is to help citizens of the country represented. In the case of holiday visitors this is in case of an emergency, where someone has died or been injured, or needs help to be repatriated to their home country. A full consulate may offer with emergency passports to replace lost or stolen passports. An honorary consulate has usually lesser powers to issue documents and generally only provides a visa issuing facility. In many cases, consulates can notarize documents for a fee to facilitate trade and business with, in this case, local entities in Greece. Consulates also can liaise with local government departments and agencies, especially in an emergency. Consulates do not provide financial support however to anyone in trouble. Such a disclaimer is placed on websites of Foreign Ministries of most countries.
Often diplomatic missions of one country also handle the citizens of neighbouring friendly countries. Britain for example handles visa issuing facilities for entry to a number of the independent countries in the British Commonwealth who do not have their own diplomatic mission in Greece (for example: Bahamas). Britain on the grounds of security and centralization now no longer issues replacement passports (except in an emergency) at local diplomatic missions, but in regional centres. In the case of Greece – the regional processing centre is in Spain, not Athens (effective May 2010). British Passport applications can still be submitted to the British Embassy in Athens.
English and French are the two most common languages used in the world of diplomacy.
