Will a foreign embassy give assistance in genealogical research?

Question

If you are doing research can a foreign embassy be of any help in accessing documents from their country.

Answer 1

Work is the last thing employees at an Embassy want to do.  You will never get any help from them.  Also, in many countries genealogical records are sealed for 100 years.  It's crazy, but that's the law in many countries.

Let me tell you about the last embassy I visited (I won't name the European country).  People started waiting in line an hour before the doors opened.  Then, they let in 20 people, and didn't give any indication to the people outside when they would be assisted.

An hour and a half later, after the people outside started getting noisy, and demanded that someone at least tell them what was going on, the rude Consulate people just scolded them like they were little kids, even though the employees were the ones who had caused the situation by not providing any information.

Inside the consulate, there were two (yes..... two) seats (not cusioned, of course).  When you apply for the visa, they tell you to call them in two months!  This Consulate later asked me to send them a scanned copy of my passport, even though they had it for over an hour, and were supposed to do it themselves.

Help?  Man, they can't even help themselves.

Answer 2

Make a formal request to the Embassy if they are willing to cooperate for a genealogical research.  They can entertain it if the reason is valid.

Answer 3

No. Foreign embassy's are excluded from participating in such research. They are restricted to assisting on citizens of their home country with normally political issues.