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Directorate of Consular Affairs and International Cultural Relations
The Directorate manages two main areas, working closely with Luxembourg's diplomatic and consular missions around the world:
- coordination of consular affairs
- monitoring of cultural affairs files pretraining to the Ministry
1. Consular affairs
The missions are detailed on the Ministry's ‘Services to citizens’ page.
Consular assistance
Luxembourg nationals can receive consular assistance when they find themselves in distress abroad (crisis situations, loss of identity documents, serious accident or illness, detention, etc.).
Passports
The department is responsible for managing travel documents, in particular the production and issuance of ordinary passports, service passports and diplomatic passports. It also personalises travel documents for foreigners, refugees and stateless persons, and processes applications relating to the recognition of foreign travel documents.
Visas
The processing of applications for short-stay visas (valid for less than 90 days) and Work & Holiday visas falls within the remit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As such, the Directorate is responsible for examining applications, managing all related issues and liaising with diplomatic representations abroad.
The Directorate is also responsible for processing applications for commitments to cover the costs of third-country nationals wishing to stay in Luxembourg for a short period of time.
It is also responsible for coordinating and monitoring Schengen audits and evaluations carried out in the context of compliance with the Schengen acquis in the field of common visa policy.
Issues relating to applications for long stays (more than 90 days) fall within the remit of the Ministry of Home Affairs/General Department for Immigration.
Please note:
If you are a Luxembourg national and wish to travel to a country outside the European Union that requires a visa, you must contact the embassy or consulate of that country directly for information.
Legalisation
The Directorate manages and processes requests for the legalisation and apostille of documents intended for use abroad. It authenticates the signatures of Luxembourg public authorities on official documents in order to ensure their recognition by foreign authorities.
The Directorate also represents Luxembourg at national, European and international forums in relation to the above-mentioned areas.
2. International cultural relations
The Directorate covers matters falling within the remit of the Ministry relating to international cultural relations, particularly in the field of cultural diplomacy.
The Luxembourg diplomatic and consular network, and in particular the Maisons du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg (MGDL) established within a number of representations around the world, proactively contribute to promoting Luxembourg culture in all its diversity on an international scale.
While supporting cultural exchange and actors in the Luxembourg cultural scene through the Luxembourg diplomatic network, cultural diplomacy contributes to Luxembourg's visibility and influence internationally and to the deepening of relations with other countries. The Directorate works closely with other administrations such as the Ministry of Culture and many other actors in the Luxembourg cultural landscape.