5 ms·

When I saw that pic of that fake embassy I wondered how could a embassy look that shoddy. Then I thought maybe not all countries have posh and clean looking emb

When I saw that pic of that fake embassy I wondered how could a embassy look that shoddy. Then I thought maybe not all countries have posh and clean looking embassies. Then I see the pic of the real embassy on that page and it looks similar to what I have seen of most embassies - clean and elegant looks. To be able to run this fake embassy in that shoddy building for a decade does take real something.

azinman2 10y ago
It's all relative... if that seems fine to those who go in then I guess it worked well enough!
- gumby 10y ago
  I went to a US consulate in Bremen to renew my kid's passport. It was just two offices in a random office building. I was very surprised to see two US marines outside the office -- had I not seen them I would not have been surprised. My own country (Australia) has some consulates in some remote locations which are basically no different from commercial offices. (on the other hand some are pretty fancy and of course offices are fancy). At times even the consulate in SF has been pretty bare bones. My wife's country (Germany) seems to have the money for fancy consulates, at least all the ones we've needed to visit. (I have to say going into a US consulate or embassy with issues relating to my US citizen child was quite different from visiting on my own or my wife's account -- non citizens are treated with great suspicion.)
  - jpatokal 10y ago
    Consulates are usually much less flashy than embassies. Embassies are for diplomacy between states, where status and protocol are important and there's a lot more staff, while consulates are for mundane stuff like visas and may not contain more than one actual diplomat (or, if honorary consulates, not even that). See also: http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/9480/whats-the-difference-between-embassies-and-consulates http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/9480/whats-the-dif...
zhte415 10y ago
UK has outsourced all visa application and interview work to a company named FRS, whose offices, offices for visa and application, representing the country, can be described no more than shoddy and downright a disgrace for the UK. *Context: Was in one of their offices 2 weeks ago and embarrassed this was how my country was representing itself.
- geocar 10y ago
  Indeed. This[1] is where I had to go for part of the UK immigration process. If I hadn't linked there from a gov.uk website I wouldn't have believed I was at the right place. [1]: http://i.imgur.com/ns3560x.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ns3560x.jpg
  - zhte415 10y ago
    Thanks. Wow. That's really bad.

azinman2 10y ago

It's all relative... if that seems fine to those who go in then I guess it worked well enough!

gumby 10y ago
I went to a US consulate in Bremen to renew my kid's passport. It was just two offices in a random office building. I was very surprised to see two US marines outside the office -- had I not seen them I would not have been surprised. My own country (Australia) has some consulates in some remote locations which are basically no different from commercial offices. (on the other hand some are pretty fancy and of course offices are fancy). At times even the consulate in SF has been pretty bare bones. My wife's country (Germany) seems to have the money for fancy consulates, at least all the ones we've needed to visit. (I have to say going into a US consulate or embassy with issues relating to my US citizen child was quite different from visiting on my own or my wife's account -- non citizens are treated with great suspicion.)
- jpatokal 10y ago
  Consulates are usually much less flashy than embassies. Embassies are for diplomacy between states, where status and protocol are important and there's a lot more staff, while consulates are for mundane stuff like visas and may not contain more than one actual diplomat (or, if honorary consulates, not even that). See also: http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/9480/whats-the-difference-between-embassies-and-consulates http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/9480/whats-the-dif...

zhte415 10y ago

UK has outsourced all visa application and interview work to a company named FRS, whose offices, offices for visa and application, representing the country, can be described no more than shoddy and downright a disgrace for the UK. *Context: Was in one of their offices 2 weeks ago and embarrassed this was how my country was representing itself.

geocar 10y ago
Indeed. This[1] is where I had to go for part of the UK immigration process. If I hadn't linked there from a gov.uk website I wouldn't have believed I was at the right place. [1]: http://i.imgur.com/ns3560x.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ns3560x.jpg
- zhte415 10y ago
  Thanks. Wow. That's really bad.