Top Travel Advice - Know before you go
Golden Leaves International brings you the latest lifestyle and travel news to ensure you have all the information you need to enjoy the expat life.
Know before you go
As a proud partner of the Foreign & Commonwealth Offices’ Know Before You Go campaign, Expat Services will be providing information to support travellers just about to begin their journey, those who have already joined the expat community, and those who take regular trips away from their expat community.
FCO Passport Advice
This great video produced by the FCO highlights how easily your passport can be taken.
In 2014, 20,612 UK passports were reported as lost or stolen around the world last year and 39,053 emergency travel documents (ETDs) were also issued overseas. Watch the FCO video
The FCO’s five top tipsfor looking after your passport
- Value your passport and look after it carefully. A damaged passport cannot be used for travel
- Your passport is not always safer on you (e.g. lock your passport in a safe if you have access to one), unless the local law requires you to keep it with you.
- Make two photocopies of your passport – leave one with friends or family and take the second with you, or store it online using a secure data storage site
- Use this photocopy as alternative ID, for example when going out at night
- Make sure your passport is valid. For certain countries, your passport must be valid for 6 months after the date you travel – check the entry requirements before you go
Any more enquiriesfor FCO?
If you have any enquiries for FCO consular staff before you go or while abroad you can use the FCO’s Twitter service @FCOtravel.
Questions are answered 9am-6pm GMT, Monday to Friday and FCO staff aim to respond within 30 minutes. This service adds to the ways that British people travelling or living overseas can already get in touch with the FCO: by emailing their travel advice team or contacting local consular staff.
You can keep up-to-date with the latest FCO travel advice by signing up to the FCO’s Facebook and Twitter feeds: www.facebook.com/fcotravel or twitter.com/fcotravel.
For further travel advice go to https://travelaware.campaign.gov.uk
How the FCO can help British nationals abroad
The FCO can:
- Issue you with an emergency travel document
- Provide information about transferring money
- Provide help if you have suffered rape or serious sexual or physical assault, are a victim of crime, are ill or in hospital
- Give you a list of local lawyers, interpreters, doctors or funeral directors
- Contact you if you are detained abroad
- Contact friends and family back home for you if you wish
- Provide help in cases of forced marriage
- Assist people affected by parental child abduction
The FCO cannot:
- Help you enter a country if you do not have a valid passport or necessary visas
- Give you legal advice or translate documents
- Investigate crimes or get you out of prison
- Get you better treatment in hospital or prison than is given to local people, but we will raise concerns if treatment falls below internationally recognised standards
- Pay any bills or give you money
- Make travel arrangements for you
