Overall Operating Rules of a Consulate

A consulate can:

• Provide needed information upon your arrival in the country you are visiting: interpreters, lawyers, translators, hospitals, doctors, schools.
• Provide you with an emergency travel document in case of loss of passport, should you must return to Cape Verde urgently.
• Assist Cape Verdeans who are detained, by helping them contact their relatives, employer, insurance company or bank in Cape Verde to obtain needed resources.

A consulate CANNOT:

• Act as a travel agency
• Endorse or lend money
• Get a job abroad
• Guarantee better treatment in the hospital or prison than that granted to nationals of the country
• Provide you with personnel to be your interpreter, guide or social worker while visiting a country.

Before leaving your country it is very important to find out what the Consulate office can do for you.