What to Do in an Emergency Abroad

An emergency abroad is mostly a communications problem. You need to reach help, reach your insurer, and reach someone at home, in a country where the number is not 911 and your phone may be the thing that was lost. The preparation is a card in your pocket with four numbers on it, and the knowledge of what a consulate can and cannot do.

What You Need to Know

The first five minutes

Get safe, then get help. Call the local emergency number if there is an immediate danger to life. If the situation allows, call your insurer’s 24-hour assistance line early: they can direct you to a facility they will pay for, sometimes arrange payment directly, and they do this every day in the country you are in.

What a U.S. embassy or consulate can do

• Help you find local medical care, a lawyer, or an interpreter.
• Contact family or friends on your behalf.
• Assist with a transfer of funds from home.
• Issue an emergency replacement passport.
• Visit you if you are arrested, and monitor your treatment.

What it cannot do

• Pay medical, legal or hotel bills, or post bail.
• Provide medical care or legal representation itself.
• Get you out of jail, investigate a crime, or override local law.
• Compel a hospital to treat you.

That list is not a criticism; it is the boundary, and knowing it in advance saves the hours people spend expecting the wrong thing. The gap between what a consulate does and what an emergency costs is exactly what travel insurance is for.

Categories of emergency

Medical is covered in detail in Medical Emergencies Abroad. Crime means a police report, in writing, which every insurer will ask for. Arrest means asking immediately for the U.S. embassy to be notified, which you are entitled to. Lost documents means a police report and then a consulate. A large-scale event, such as unrest or a natural disaster, is where being enrolled in STEP matters, because it is how the embassy knows to contact you.

What to Do Before Your Trip

• Write the four numbers on a card and keep it apart from your phone.
• Look up the local emergency number for every country on the route.
• Note the nearest embassy or consulate address and telephone for each city.
• Enroll in STEP.
• Tell someone at home your itinerary, with dates and accommodation.

Important Considerations

Local emergency numbers are not standardized. Many European countries use 112; a great many others use separate numbers for police, ambulance and fire; some have no effective centralized service at all. The State Department publishes the numbers on each destination’s page, and 97 of the 211 destinations describe ambulance service as limited, absent or below U.S. standards, with several stating that a taxi to a hospital is faster than waiting.

Assume your phone may be unavailable. It may be stolen, broken, out of battery or out of signal, and it is the single point of failure in most travelers’ plans. That is the entire argument for paper.

Tips for Group Travelers

• Brief the local emergency number on arrival, to everyone.
• Carry the group’s emergency contacts and insurance details in one sealed place.
• Agree the hospital plan before you need it.
• Know each traveler’s contact at home and who may be told what.
• Have a second leader who can run the itinerary if the first is occupied.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Dialing 911 by reflex.
• Every number stored only in a phone.
• Expecting a consulate to pay.
• Calling the insurer after treatment when prior authorization was required.
• Leaving without a written police report.

Frequently Asked Questions

What number do I call in an emergency abroad?

It varies by country and there is no universal number. Many European countries use 112, and many others have separate numbers for police, ambulance and fire. The State Department publishes them on each destination’s country information page. Write them down rather than trusting a phone.

Will the U.S. embassy get me out of jail?

No. A consulate can visit you, monitor your treatment, provide a list of local lawyers and notify your family, and it cannot secure your release, post bail, or override local law. If you are arrested, ask immediately that the embassy be notified; you are entitled to that.

Do I need a police report?

For anything you intend to claim on, yes, and get it in writing at the time. Insurers require it for theft and for many other losses, and reconstructing it weeks later from another country is usually impossible.

What if there is unrest or a natural disaster while I am there?

Follow local authorities first, then contact your embassy. This is the scenario STEP exists for: enrollment is how the nearest embassy knows you are in the country and can send you instructions. Tell someone at home you are safe as soon as you are able.

Related Travel Tips

• Safety and security, the section this guide belongs to.
• Emergency Contacts to Carry. The card itself.
• STEP: Enrolling With the U.S. Embassy.
• Medical Emergencies Abroad. The medical case in detail.

Plan Your Trip With LABUSA Travel

Knowing where the nearest consulate and the nearest capable hospital are for each stop on a route is planning work, not emergency work. LABUSA Travel does it while the itinerary is being built.

Talk with a LABUSA Travel advisor about a trip you are considering, or browse our destination guides for a specific country.

Verify Before You Travel

Emergency numbers, embassy locations and what consular officers can do are published by the U.S. Department of State. Conditions are assessed independently by the U.K. FCDO and Global Affairs Canada.