Guidance

Privacy notice for consular and crisis services

Updated 15 May 2026

What this notice covers

The General Data Protection Regulation requires that data controllers provide information to people whose personal information they process. Processing information means how we use it, store it, and share it, how long we keep it and how we destroy it.

This privacy notice covers: 

• notarial services
• documentary services
• emergency travel document services
• payments for notarial, documentary and emergency travel document services
• other consular services given at British embassies, consulates and high commissions overseas
• information you give during telephone calls to our teams, including in times of crisis
• information you submit to online webforms or in SMS text messages
• emergency loan services
• information you give when you contact us on digital messaging platforms such as WhatsApp 

Who we are

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) pursue our national interests and projects the UK as a force for good in the world. We promote the interests of British citizens, safeguard the UK’s security, defend our values, reduce poverty and manage global challenges with our international partners. To do this effectively we must collect, store, share and use personal information.

Consular and Crisis Directorate, including consular teams working in the UK and at British embassies, high commissions and consulates abroad, is part of the FCDO.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH
United Kingdom 

Telephone: 020 7008 5000

What information we collect about you and how we collect it

British embassies, high commissions and consulates process personal data to:

• provide British nationals with notarial and documentary services abroad
• provide emergency travel documents
• process payments for notarial, documentary and emergency travel document services
• administer emergency loans to help eligible people return to the UK (repatriation)

We also process data to provide the consular assistance described in our publication Support for British nationals abroad.

Our staff will use your data in the UK and abroad to assess your individual circumstances to decide what consular assistance you need. In some countries where British nationals are at risk, we may invite you to register your presence and give us your details, so we can contact and help you in an emergency.

We will record your data on our internal case management system. Data processed for the purposes of consular marriages, consular civil partnerships, consular conversions of civil partnership to marriage services and birth and death registrations also becomes part of the UK public record.

We record some phone calls for staff training, quality assurance and to help improve our services.

To use fee-paying services online, you will need to enter personal information. This includes your name, contact details and date of birth. In some cases, we will ask you to give details of certain documents. We use this information to confirm an appointment, provide the service requested, process the payment, identify who is paying and send email receipts and progress updates.

Some of the services we provide online may contain free-text fields in which you are invited to enter additional comments relating to the selected service. You should not enter details of medical history, religious beliefs and financial information or any other sensitive information into these free-text fields.

We may ask you to provide feedback for services you receive. Our separate privacy notice for research provides information about how your data is used for research purposes.

Processing of website usage information and web queries

Separately from the information entered by those using our online service, we also collect website usage information. This allows us to see how the service is being used. This analytics data includes:

• questions, queries or feedback you leave, including your email address if you send a message through feedback
• your internet protocol (IP) address, and details of which version of the web browser you used – IP addresses are anonymised to 2 bytes, for example, 192.168.xxx.xxx
• information about how you use the site, using cookies and page tagging techniques to help us improve the website

This helps us to:

• improve your experiences with the FCDO’s digital services
• respond to any feedback you send us, if you’ve asked us to provide you with information about local services

Our services use cookies to track user journeys. Check the cookie policy for the service you used for details.

Data you or third parties provide in times of crisis

We process your data to provide you with up‑to‑date safety and travel advice. In  exceptional situations, this may include contacting you to check whether you require additional support. In rare circumstances, your data may also be used to support evacuation planning.

In most cases, you will have provided the data we hold. However, in some cases, a family member or friend may have provided it by contacting us for advice or support.

During times of crisis, we may have been unable to highlight our privacy notice to you or the third party due to the urgency of the situation. However, to explain how we hold and process your data, we will provide a link to this privacy notice in our Personal information charter and our travel advice. We will also do this whenever we communicate how to contact us (for example, phone numbers, hotlines, webforms or SMS during a crisis).

We may also send an email or SMS to all affected persons immediately after we have closed the case file for a specific crisis to inform them of this privacy notice.

Legal basis for data processing

We process this data because we need it to perform our official functions as a government department, so that we can provide notarial, documentary, emergency travel document and consular services to British nationals abroad.

We also process some of this data to comply with our obligations under:

• The Consular Marriages and Marriages under Foreign Law (No.2) Order 2014
• Civil Partnership (Registration Abroad and Certificates) Order 2005
• The Marriage of Same Sex Couples (Conversion of Civil Partnership) Regulations 2014
• The Registration of Overseas Births and Deaths Regulations 2014

We process website usage data on the basis that we need it to improve the services we provide and respond to feedback.

Special category and criminal data

In some cases, we process what is known as ‘special category data’. This is data that requires extra protection. It includes information about your:

• health
• race
• ethnic origin
• sexual orientation
• genetic or biometric data

For example, before we can issue registration documents, we will ask you for a copy of your passport photo page to verify your identity. Before we can issue an emergency travel document, we will also ask you for a photograph. When you apply for an emergency loan, we will ask you for a copy of your passport photo page to verify your identify and proof of address to check your eligibility and how to contact you for repayment. These things may be done online or at a later point in the process.

Photographs

We process photographs for identity purposes because the FCDO needs to be able to verify your:

• identity
• nationality
• eligibility for an emergency travel document

If we issue an emergency travel document, we will print the photo on it so it is a valid and restricted travel document for you to use. We cannot issue an emergency travel document if you do not provide this data.

It is therefore necessary to process it to perform our functions as a government department and for reasons of substantial public interest.

Health information

If we need to process health information, for example because you have fallen ill abroad and we need to help you find appropriate care, we process such data because it is necessary to do so in order to perform our official functions as a government department and because it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest. There may also be cases, such as in an emergency, when it is necessary to process such data to protect your vital interests.

Serious offences

If a British national is arrested overseas for a serious offence, and the FCDO is notified of this, we share this data with ACRO Criminal Records Office (ACRO). ACRO have a legitimate interest in receiving such information because it is necessary for them to have a complete offending history of individuals to perform their function of safeguarding the public in the UK against unlawful acts, dishonesty or seriously improper conduct. This includes safeguarding individuals who are particularly at risk such as children as well as vulnerable adults.

Security of your data

We take data security very seriously and we take every step to ensure that your data remains private and secure. For online services we have procedures and security features in place to keep your data secure once we receive it. We also use SSL to encrypt all data transferred to and received from our server.

Who we share your information with and why

We may share your data to organisations in the UK and abroad. This may include business partners, other government departments, law enforcement agencies and local authorities to help fulfil their aims and objectives. 

Registration services

To register births, deaths and marriages, our Overseas Registration Unit may need to verify your data with the Home Office, HM Passport Office and the General Register Office. We will therefore share your data with these organisations to do so.

Emergency travel documents and lost, stolen and recovered passports

We may share your data with the Home Office, including HM Passport Office to help us process your application for an emergency travel document. Once an emergency travel document is approved, we will share details with the Home Office.

Information about lost, stolen or recovered passports may be shared with appropriate public and private sector authorities who can help locate and recover the missing passport and prevent criminals using it. We will pass details of lost, stolen and recovered passports to HM Passport Office.

Consular assistance services

We may need to share your data with other UK government departments, foreign authorities and organisations (for example, local hospitals, prison authorities and airlines) to ensure you get the support you need.

We may also share some of your data with partner organisations that can give you information or support we are unable to provide. This may include organisations such as Prisoners Abroad for detainees, Victim Support for those bereaved by murder or manslaughter, and airport chaplaincies in the UK for those who need assistance when they return to the UK.

Crisis support services

In times of crisis or emergency, we may share your data with other UK government departments, law enforcement bodies, border and immigration authorities, and relevant international or overseas partners. We do this when it is necessary and proportionate to support a coordinated and timely crisis response.

Emergency loans

When we issue an emergency loan, we will share personal data with third parties to confirm eligibility for the loan. These third parties include the Royal Mail to verify UK addresses.

If an emergency loan is not repaid in accordance with the terms of that loan, we will also share personal data with third parties such as credit reference agencies and the government debt management service, Sopra Steria, who may use debt collection agencies to recoup the debt. We may also share personal data with other government departments in connection with any outstanding debts including:

• HM Passport Office, who will not issue you with a replacement passport until the loan has been repaid in full
• Department for Work and Pensions to ask for information as may be relevant in respect of any non-payment of this debt, including details of your current address and any benefits or allowances paid to you

Data sharing for legal reasons

We are also legally required to share information with the General Register Office because we deposit copies of consular marriages, consular civil partnerships and consular conversions and birth and death registrations under the following legislation:

• The Consular Marriages and Marriages under Foreign Law (No.2) Order 2014
• Civil Partnership (Registration Abroad and Certificates) Order 2005

• The Marriage of Same Sex Couples (Conversion of Civil Partnership) Regulations 2014

• The Registration of Overseas Births and Deaths Regulations 2014

Data processors 

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure host our webforms and Digital Triage Tool.

Corporate Travel Management Ltd (CTM) may act as the FCDO’s flight booking partner, providing assistance with the booking of repatriation flights.

Digital Modus provides service availability schedules and manages bookings.

Entrust prints emergency travel documents and manages the stock of emergency travel documents.

Foundever provides an outsourced call centre to support our Consular Contact Centre during busy times.

Gamma stores and handles call recordings on their cloud contact centre platform (SmartAgent, built on Amazon Connect).

GOV.UK Notify sends email and SMS status updates on the progress of applications and confirmation emails.

GOV.UK Pay provides the online payment service.

Kainos Software Ltd provides consultation on digital transformation.

Matomo provides web analytics data.

Microsoft provides the FCDO with a range of products.

Microsoft Teams web hosts our contracts with suppliers, requiring them to comply with applicable data protection laws. 

NTT Data provides case management software.

Salesforce hosts our case management software.

Worldpay supports our consular payment service. If you choose to pay online, read Worldpay’s cookie policy. Users’ internet protocol (IP) and email address information will be sent to Worldpay for online payments.

If we are helping you return to the UK and have issued you with an emergency loan, we will make travel bookings on your behalf using third-party travel providers.

How long we keep your personal information for

In general, after we close your case, we will keep your data following this retention schedule: 

• general enquiries and signposting – 60 days
• general assistance – 3 years
• emergency travel documents – 3 years
• financial assistance – 6 years
• forced marriage unit - 7 years
• cases affecting a minor – up to 21 years

We may mark case files for additional retention where we identify a need to retain the data for longer, including records that need to be considered for archiving in the public interest.

Data entered in the consular marriage, consular civil partnership, consular conversions and birth and death registers will be retained in perpetuity. Notices of marriage, where a certificate of no impediment is issued, are also kept in perpetuity, in accordance with the following legislation:

For consular marriages:

• Section 4(5) says registration officers must retain every notice of intended marriage
• Section 10(1) says registration officers must maintain a register and therein register every marriage

For local marriages:

• Section 15(1) says registration officers must retain every notice and declaration

When you pay online using GOV.UK Pay, the Cabinet Office will hold and retain your data in line with their privacy statement.

We will retain phone call audio recordings for 3 years.

Your rights

There are 8 rights you have when the Consular and Crisis Directorate uses your personal information. If you have any questions about these rights, you can contact the FCDO’s Data Protection Officer or read the Information Commissioner’s Office guide to individual rights for more information.

Right to be informed

You have the right to be informed about what we do with your personal data, which is the purpose of this privacy notice.

Right of access

You have the right to request a copy of any personal information we hold about you and what we do with it. This is known as a subject access request. You can make a request by emailing information.rights@fcdo.gov.uk.

Right to rectification

You have the right to request that any inaccurate personal data we hold is corrected or have incomplete personal information completed.

Right to erasure

You have the right to request that your personal data is erased. This only applies in certain circumstances.

Right to restrict processing

You have the right to request that we limit the use of your personal data. This only applies in certain circumstances.

Right to data portability

You have the right to move, copy or transfer personal information from one IT system to another in a safe and secure way. This right only applies to certain information in certain circumstances.

Right to object

You have the right to object to the use of your information, which means that we would have to stop using your personal information. This right only applies to certain information in certain circumstances.

Rights related to automated decision-making including profiling

If a decision is being made without human involvement, you have the right to challenge and request a review of any decisions made.

If your personal data is processed on the basis of consent, you have the right to withdraw consent to the use of your personal data at any time.

Exercising your rights

When making a request to exercise any of these rights, include your full name, up-to-date contact details and the date of your request. If you are making a subject access request, include a comprehensive list of what personal data you want to access, including any relevant dates or search criteria to help us identify what you want.

How to contact us

Contact the Data Protection Officer at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office if you:

• have any questions about this notice
• think your personal data has been misused or mishandled
• would like to exercise any of your rights

Data Protection Officer 
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
King Charles Street
London 
SW1A 2AH 

Email: Data.Protection@fcdo.gov.uk

How to make a complaint

You may also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, an independent regulator, by contacting them at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF 

See details about how to make a complaint on the Information Commissioner’s Office website.

Changes to this notice

We encourage you to reread this privacy notice occasionally. We aim to update it regularly to keep you fully informed about how we use your personal information.

This publication is available from our Personal information charter page.