Location:
Sierra Leone
Part of:
Foreign & Commonwealth Office

The British High Commission in Sierra Leone is responsible for developing and maintaining relations between the UK and Sierra Leone.

Check our opening hours

Services for British nationals

Urgent assistance

If you’re in Sierra Leone and you urgently need consular assistance (eg if you’ve been attacked, arrested or there has been a death), call +232 (0) 76780713 and follow the instructions to be connected with consular officers. If you’re in the UK and concerned about a British national in Sierra Leone, contact us on 020 7008 1500.

Get or renew a passport

The British high commission can’t help with passport enquiries. Contact Her Majesty’s Passport Office if you need help.

If you can’t get a new or replacement passport in time to travel, you may be able to get an emergency travel document

Get an emergency travel document

You can apply for an emergency travel document if you’re abroad and your passport has been lost or stolen, damaged or expired, and you can’t get a new or replacement passport in time to travel.

If you are due to travel in the next 24 hours, contact us as soon as possible.

Apply online for an emergency travel document if you:

  • are over 16 years old and
  • are a British citizen and
  • have previously owned a British passport

Contact us to apply for an emergency travel document if you are:

  • over 16 years old but have not owned a British passport before or
  • not a British citizen or
  • applying for a child under 16 years old

Once you have contacted us, you will be advised to make an appointment to apply for an emergency travel document at British High Commission Freetown.

For information and advice on travelling to Sierra Leone, see travel advice for Sierra Leone

Get a visa

The British high commission can’t help with visa enquiries.

If you’re not a British national, you may need a visa to travel to the UK. Check if you need a UK visa.

If you’re a British national travelling abroad and need to apply for a visa to visit a particular country or check if you need a visa, see the entry requirements on our foreign travel advice for the country you want to visit.

For more information on visas, see UK visas and immigration.

Marriage and civil partnerships

We cannot issue certificates of no impediment, affirmations or affidavits of marital status. For information on getting married in Sierra Leone see getting married abroad.

Register a birth or death

Find out how to register a birth or register a death that occurred in Sierra Leone. You can’t register a birth or death at the high commission.

Bereavement support

If the death occurred in Sierra Leone and you’re still in the country, [contact us] (https://www.gov.uk/government/world/organisations/british-high-commission-freetown#contact-us). If you’re in the UK and hear of the death of a relative from a third party, you should contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 020 7008 1500.

Read our guidance on coping with death abroad.

Support if you’ve been arrested

We’ll do all we can to contact you within 24 hours of being told that you’ve been detained or arrested, and will give you a prisoner pack with information for British prisoners in Sierra Leone. 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.

Notarial and documentary services

For legal reasons, we’re unable to carry out notarial acts in Commonwealth countries. This includes certifying documents as true copies of originals, administering oaths or taking affidavits. For these or other notarial acts, you should contact a local notary.

Legalisation services

British High Commission Sierra Leone does not provide legalisation services.

Ask the UK government to get a UK document legalised (certified as genuine).

Local service providers

Use our lists of local suppliers and services if you need help in Sierra Leone. Please note that inclusion in these lists does not constitute official endorsement by the British high commission or the UK government.

How else we can help

In addition to the services listed above we can also:

  • 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
  • offer support and help in a range of other cases, such as child abductions, missing peopleand kidnapping
  • contact family or friends for you if you want
  • make special arrangements in cases of terrorism, civil disturbances or natural disasters or other crises abroad

For more information on the services we can provide, see Support for British nationals abroad: A guide.

What the high commission cannot do for you

Although we try to help British nationals in a wide range of situations, we cannot:

  • help you enter a country, for example, if you don’t have a visa or your passport is not valid
  • 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’ll have to pay back)
  • make travel arrangements for you, or find you work or accommodation
  • make business arrangements on your behalf

Consular fees

We charge fees for some of our services. See the full list of consular fees in Sierra Leone

Our people

Guy Warrington

Guy Warrington

British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone

Contact us

British High Commission Freetown

6 Spur Road Freetown
Freetown
Sierra Leone

General consular enquiries email: freetown.consular.enquiries@fco.gov.uk

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Corporate information