A Brief Summary about Honorary Consul

Nowadays, people have often come across the term ‘honorary consul’ and ‘ambassador’. Honorary consul is actually an official representative of one country in another country. However, it is different from ambassador as the latter is representative of a state in another country. An ambassador, however, heads an embassy in the capital of his/her country.

Honorary consul is chosen according to experience, age, integrity, business and political connections, charisma and political views. To get honorary consul, elections are not required. To become an honorary consult, one should have work experience with diplomatic consultant. Also, he/she should handle any type of emergency with intelligence and understanding.

Job of Honorary Consul

The main job of an honorary consul is to strengthen ties with neighbouring countries. Also, he/she try to facilitate more trade and investment in inter-country matters. He/she cannot ever involve himself/herself in illegal activities. If one gets associated with such illegal activities, then, the title of honorary consul is snatched from him/her. Also, they are not provided with any other benefits. Some of them even serve imprisonment depending upon the activities.

It is a very prestigious post. So, an honorary consul is always treated with great honor. An honorary consul is provided with diplomacy immunity and several other benefits. Diplomatic immunity is an international law which makes foreign governmental officials free from the jurisdiction of local authorities and courts.

Some of the additional benefits provided to the honorary consul or diplomatic passport, not paying VAT, sales tax, property tax, etc. Diplomatic passports are used by consuls and diplomats when they visit overseas. It is quite different than official passport as the former can be issued other government officials based on the situation. A diplomatic passport provides more opportunities and privilege to people. They are never sold, rather, are selected for individuals. If any organization tries to sale diplomatic passport, then, it is fraudulent.

Importance of Diplomatic Passport

Diplomatic passport provides numerous benefits to people like baggage inviolability, standing in special line at custom, ease passage across borders. Some of the other additional benefits provided are no tax on airport departure, travel upgrades on hotels and airlines, instant door opener in business and political world, etc.

By using diplomatic passports, one can get 20 to 40% discount on BMW and Volvo diplomatic cars. It also increases one‘s prestige internationally. One even do not need to pay taxes on several sources of income. The passport is issued along with other supporting documents by State Department or foreign ministry of a country.

One needs to follow a simple process to issue the diplomatic passport. At first, initial consultation is needed with officials so that they can know one’s needs. The, one should find possible appointments and opportunities. The officials then compile personal and professional data, CVs and other related documents which will be required for making the passport. The appointment is negotiated with prominent government officials. At last, the appointment along with other documents is collected from the office. This process takes a time of 4 to 25 weeks and can vary from country to country. Also, this can vary according to political climate.