Consular protection is the help that an EU Member State can provide to its citizens in case they need assistance abroad.

Normally, consular protection includes cases such as:

• need for emergency travel documents;
• serious accident or illness;
• relief and repatriation in case of emergency;
• being the victim of a crime;
• arrest or detention;
• death of a family member or other companion.

In Uruguay, there are eight Member State Embassies (Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Romania and the Montevideo office of the Hungarian Embassy in Buenos Aires). All other Member States except Czechia, Ireland, Luxemburg and Malta have honorary Consuls.

You can contact your Embassy / Consulate / Honorary Consulate resident in the country, so that they can provide you with consular protection.

If your Member State does not have an Embassy / Consulate/ Honorary Consulate, you can go to another EU Member State to obtain consular protection. Some Member States have specific agreements with other Member States for the consular protection of their citizens, though there are no local agreements of this kind in Uruguay.

In fact, any EU citizen abroad, whose Member State does not have local representation, is entitled to receive consular protection from the diplomatic or consular authorities of any other EU Member State. In that case, EU citizens are entitled to benefit from consular protection under the same conditions as nationals of that other Member State.

You can find the contact details of all the EU Member States' Consulates and Honorary Consulates in Uruguay that can provide consular protection on this page.

Please note that the EU Delegation in Uruguay cannot provide direct consular assistance. In line with the Consular Protection Directive, the EU Delegation contributes to the implementation of the EU citizens’ right to consular protection in close cooperation with EU Member States, in particular, facilitating coordinated EU efforts on consular crisis preparedness and response.

As an EU citizen, you can take simple steps to make consular protection more effective, for example:

• follow the travel advice issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of your country;
• keep an electronic copy of your travel documents and save emergency contact details.

For more information on consular protection, visit the web pages dedicated to these matters of the EEAS, the European Commission and the European Council.