IP: honorary consul

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: David Lesher <wb8foz () nrk com>
> Subject: honorary consul
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
>
> > The diplomat was Yemen's "honorary consul" in San Francisco.
> > (I'm not sure if honory consular people in Yemen are actually
> > real diplomats from the home country or not).
>
> FYI, if you care:
>
> "Real" varies on how you define. An Honorary Consul is (basically,
> and from memory) a non-govt employee awarded status by the visiting
> power. Typically, it's a businessman living in the host country
> [USA] already. The visiting power [Yemen] awards him consular
> status to represent the country the same as a professional officer.
>
> Note the Consul need NOT be a citizen of the visiting power!
>
> Honorary Consuls are used where the host country can not afford to
> send and support someone in the US. [Consider how expensive it is
> for a country like Chad to keep someone in DC..] Larger countries
> [Belgium, I've heard mention of..] may use such to have a presence
> in other US locations than the mission [say Miami, or Chicago]
> to encourage trade/commerce. They can offer connections, grease
> wheels, maybe issue visas, etc. Some do far more work than others.
>
> The Honorary Counsel gets little but prestige out of the deal;
> party invitations, maybe a local tax exemption.  One traditional
> perk was Dip. plates to beat parking tickets...
>
> The most famous use was the small Balkan states ...absorbed... by
> the USSR after WWII kept Honorary Consuls in place in the US for
> all those years. When the USSR collapsed, they were in place,
> already.
>
> The "Real" question is are they on the official Dept. of State
> Dip list kept by the Protocol Office. If so, there's no doubt
> that detaining & handcuffing them is not just a violation but
> also a real incident. INS officers should have phone numbers to
> contact Dept. of State Op's center 24x7 if such comes up. Such
> treatment as described speaks badly for how we treat visitors
> to the US.



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