How we can help
Falling sick, being a victim of crime or facing an emergency are traumatic events under any circumstances. When these problems happen abroad they can be even more difficult. This page summarises some of the main ways in which you can help yourself to stay safe abroad, and make sure that you are covered in case things go wrong. There is a lot that you can do. However, if you do get into difficulty, it is important to know what help we, the British High commission in Maputo, can provide and how you can get it.
WHAT KIND OF HELP CAN WE PROVIDE
We can:
WHAT KIND OF HELP CAN WE PROVIDE
We can:
- issue replacement passports;
- provide information about transferring funds;
- provide appropriate help if you have suffered rape or serious assault, are a victim of other crime, or are in hospital;
- help people with mental illness;
- provide details of local lawyers, interpreters, doctors and funeral directors (Neither the Government nor the British High Commission can make any guarantee in relation to the professional ability or character of any person or company on the list, nor can they be held responsible in any way for you relying on any advice you are given.);
- do all we properly can to contact you within 24 hours of being told that you have been detained;
- offer support and help in a range of other cases, such as child abductions, death of relatives overseas, missing people and kidnapping;
- contact friends and family for you, if you want; and
- make special arrangements in cases of terrorism, civil disturbances or natural disasters.
We cannot:
- get you out of prison, prevent the local authorities from deporting you after your prison sentence, or interfere in criminal or civil court proceedings;
- help you enter a country, for example, if you do not have a visa or your passport is not valid, as we cannot interfere in another country's immigration policy or procedures;
- give you legal advice, investigate crimes or carry out searches for missing people, although we can give you details of people who may be able to help you in these cases, such as English-speaking lawyers;
- get you better treatment in hospital or prison than is given to local people;
- pay any bills or give you money (in very exceptional circumstances we may lend you some money, from public funds, which you will have to pay back);
- make travel arrangements for you, or find you work or accommodation; or
- make business arrangements on your behalf.
MAJOR CATASTROPHES
Some major catastrophes involving British nationals abroad may need exceptional levels of response beyond what we have described before. It is not easy to define every possible circumstance, but these events may be the result of natural disasters or large-scale accidents, or of terrorism or conflict. No one set of responses will meet all circumstances. If the Foreign Secretary considers an event to be a major catastrophe affecting significant numbers of people we can help, we will:
Some major catastrophes involving British nationals abroad may need exceptional levels of response beyond what we have described before. It is not easy to define every possible circumstance, but these events may be the result of natural disasters or large-scale accidents, or of terrorism or conflict. No one set of responses will meet all circumstances. If the Foreign Secretary considers an event to be a major catastrophe affecting significant numbers of people we can help, we will:
- consider very early on whether exceptional help should be provided from public funds;
- set up public helplines;
- provide information if we have it, and if we believe it to be reliable, to people who have been affected and their family members who we are in contact with; and
- consider sending appropriate extra staff to the country involved.
WHO WE CAN HELP
We can provide support to people outside the UK who are:
We can provide support to people outside the UK who are:
- British nationals (whether or not they normally live in the UK);
- in certain limited circumstances, British nationals with another nationality ('dual nationals'); and
- European Union or Commonwealth nationals whose country does not have a local diplomatic or consular office, in circumstances where we have agreed to help their nationals.
We cannot provide this support to other countries' nationals, even if they may have been lawfully living in the UK.
WHEN OFFERING YOU SUPPORT, WE WILL:
WHEN OFFERING YOU SUPPORT, WE WILL:
- be polite and professional;
- treat your information in line with the Data Protection Act 1998 (see note 2 below);
- answer enquiries and requests for help in person, on the phone or in writing as soon as possible;
- explain clearly, from the start, how we can help you;
- provide appropriate cover so that someone can deal with genuine emergencies outside of normal office hours; and
- make sure our help is accessible and equal to everyone no matter what their sex, race, age, colour, sexuality, disability or religion.
YOU SHOULD:
- treat our staff with respect (if you are physically or verbally abusive, we may refuse to continue to help you);
- have full travel insurance, or healthcare and any other appropriate cover if you live abroad;
- have made preparations before travelling, for example, packing medicine, having any necessary vaccinations, and leaving details of your itinerary with family or friends;
- have researched your destination, including checking our travel website;
- follow local laws;
- take local advice about what is safe or unsafe and follow this advice;
- avoid unnecessary risks and take care of your travel documents and money; and
- be prepared to pay for some types of consular support, for example issuing an emergency passport (we do not make a profit from these charges but instead use the funds to be able to help British nationals)
