Consular Assistance
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) provides consular assistance to Australians overseas. If you require consular assistance while in Sri Lanka or Maldives, you can contact the Australian High Commission in Colombo.
The Consular Section of the High Commission is open from 9.30am until 4.00pm Monday to Friday, excluding some Australian and Sri Lankan public holidays. Passport and notarial services are by appointment only.
DFAT also provides Australians with emergency consular services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can contact the Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 within Australia or +61 2 6261 3305 from outside Australia.
The Consular Services Charter explains what we can and cannot do if you seek consular assistance. There will be circumstances in which our ability to provide consular assistance may be limited.
For information about collecting your personal information please read the Consular Privacy Collection Statement
Travel information for Australians:
Get the latest Sri Lanka travel advice and other traveller hints from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Smartraveller website.
Important changes to Smartraveller are coming. Our new Smartraveller website will be launched in November. It will include a simpler system for getting travel advice updates and a new approach to registration.
Travellers have told us what they want most from Smartraveller is timely travel advice. We’ve listened, and we’re working on a subscription service that will deliver the latest updates to your inbox and SMS critical alerts in a crisis.
As part of the update we no longer ask Australians to register their travel before departure.
From November, Smartraveller’s registration system will activate only when there’s a crisis overseas.
The service we provide to Australians in difficulty overseas is not changing.
You’re still welcome to register your travel with Smartraveller until November.
As always, we encourage Australians overseas to stay in touch with friends and family and let them know you’re safe.
If you need immediate assistance, you can call the Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305 from overseas or 1300 555 135 from within Australia.
For more information on the changes, visit Smartraveller.gov.au/changes
Living in Country
Useful links:
- Citizenship
- Taxation issues
- International driving permits
- Birth, marriage and death certificates
- Police clearances
- Marriage overseas
- Authentications and apostilles
- Centrelink
- Australian Electoral Commission
Visas
The Consular and Passport section is not responsible for Australian visa and application queries. This service is provided by the Australian Department of Home Affairs. Information about visas and immigration is available here.