World Directory

The entity responsible for its citizens abroad and for such matters as visas is called a consulate: this might be part of the embassy, or separate. Some countries maintain consulates in several cites within the same host country.

Some de facto countries are not universally recognised as such, and the things to or from such places that function as embassies may have an alternative name, such a Trade Promotion Office. Also, countries on less than friendly terms may maintain an Interests Section within a third country's embassy.

Websites for all of these are listed within the various Embassies and Consulates categories. The name is abbreviated to shorten the category names, not to exclude certain types of representation, nor to imply that any particular entity has any particular legal status.

Some countries are host to embassies and consulates outside the capital, and typically such consulates will serve a particular 'consular district'. For some host countries, the consulates are listed by their sub-national location. The precise level of sub-national location varies from country to country: possibilities include by state or province or constituent nation, by metro area, or by city. When there are sub-national Embassies and Consulates categories, there is an @link to each of these from the national : ... Government: Embassies and Consulates: Foreign category. For example, the British Consulate-General in New York is listed in Regional: North America: United States: New_York: Localities: N: New York City: Manhattan: Government: Embassies and Consulates, to which there is an @link from Regional: North America: United States: Government: Embassies and Consulates: Foreign.

For other countries the local consulates might be listed at the national level: again, this is determined country-by-country. But in either case all consulates located in a particular country are listed either in that country's national Government: Embassies and Consulates: Foreign category or in a local Embassies and Consulates category to which that @links.

This means that a capital city will not have a Government: Embassies and Consulates category, as these will be at the national level. However there might be @link from the capital city's Government category pointing to the national Government: Embassies and Consulates: Foreign category.

When one embassy is accredited to multiple countries, that embassy is listed in the Foreign category of the country where that embassy is physically located. The Foreign categories of the other countries to which the embassy is accredited should have also-see links pointing to the category containing the diplomatic post.

For simple embassies (from one country to one country) in the Abroad categories, users will know which is the country of origin, as the entire category contains embassies from the same place. So users need to know where the embassy is located: which country and which city? Hence the title should be of the the form destination country - destination city. Eg, "United States - Washington DC".

For simple embassies (from one country to one country) in the Foreign categories, the position is reversed. Users know the location, but not the origin, and hence sites should be titled by the name of the country of origin. Eg, "United Kingdom".

In the Abroad category, when titling the sites of embassies accredited to multiple countries, the standard is for the title to be a list of countries to which the embassy is accredited. This list should begin with either the country of location, or the largest of the countries to which it is accredited. These are typically the same. Further, the description should mention the city of location.

In Abroad categories, missions and representatives to multilateral organizations should be titled with the name of the organisation to which they are accredited. "United Nations" and "European Union" should be written out in full, but "NATO" is written as the acronym.

Any variation on this titling (as per guidelines for titles) is acceptable provided that: it contains at least as much information and it sorts into the same alphabetical order.

The three layers are:
1. Society: Government: Embassies and Consulates;
2. The 'continental' Embassies and Consulates categories (such as Regional: Europe: Government: Embassies and Consulates); and
3. The individual countries Embassies and Consulates categories.
Within these three layers, @links go forward and see-also links go back.

So Society: Government: Embassies and Consulates contains @links to the European @link farm and to ...: United Kingdom: Government: Embassies and Consulates. The continental category contains a see-also link back to Society: G.: E.&C. and an @link forward to ...: United Kingdom: G.: E.&C., which in turn has see-also links back to both the continental and Society categories.

This entire structure is then replicated for the Abroad categories (for which the @link farms are also known as By Country of Origin), and for the Foreign categories (By Location).

In addition, when a Foreign category contains an embassy also accredited to other countries, each of those other countries' Foreign categories contains an also-see link to the Foreign category of the physical location of that multiply-accredited embassy.

Separately, when there is a local category of the form Regional: continent: country: locality: Government: Embassies and Consulates then that category should have also-see links to:
Regional: continent: country: Government: Embassies and Consulates: Foreign
Regional: continent: Government: Embassies and Consulates: By Location; and
Society: Government: Embassies and Consulates: By Location, all three of which should contain an @link pointing to that local category.