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 m

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...