What a Consulate can do for you

1. Issue an emergency travel document if lost or stolen passport, after confirming your nationality and filing of a complaint with the police;
2. Put in touch with family and friends, or someone who helps you, by sending cash or a valid transport ticket;
3. Promote repatriation to Portugal, in exceptional circumstances, after exhausting other means, and after signature of a commitment to repay to the Portuguese Republic the amount expended;
4. Help to contact local lawyers, interpreters, doctors, depending on the needs;
5. Ensure that the next of kin are informed in case of accident or other, advising them on procedures to be adopted;
6. Assist in case of arrest and inform, only at their request, their families;
7. Provide necessary and possible help to Portuguese individuals and entities abroad, under national and international laws in force and in accordance with the international law.

Recommendations:

– In case of theft, if left with no money or any other object, first report to the local Police and request to obtain a police report of the occurrence;
– In case of death of one of the participants in the trip, it is the duty of relatives and friends to seek immediate contact with the nearest Consulate to the place of occurrence;
– If arrested and / or charged with a serious offense, insist with the American authorities to inform the Embassy or nearest Consulate of Portugal. You will be contacted as soon as possible by a consular officer who will strive to guarantee you the same treatment given to US national inmates, and to inform you about legal procedures to observe and access to legal counsel.

What a Consulate cannot do for you

1. Release from prison or intervene in judicial proceedings;
2. Investigate a crime;
3. Pay a lawyer or a doctor;
4. Pay the hotel, medical, legal or any other bills;
5. Pay, even partially, funerals and / or body removals;
6. Pay for travel documents, except in very special and limited circumstances;
7. Engage in any actions usually done by travel agencies, airlines or banks;
8. Get accommodation, work or a work permit;
9. Formally assist citizens with dual nationality (in this specific case, Portuguese and American) when the citizen’s staying in the United States of America.