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Comment by TrueGeek | Hacker News Reader

> Government services are available offline or via phone as well

The US Embassy FBU in London has recently switched to email only. They no longer accept postal mail. [1] The FBU handles social security related matters for those out of the country.

You can visit in person only for urgent visits with an appointment which they point out are limited. [2] They no longer list a phone number of their site so appointments must be made through email as well.

Their territory reaches very far from London so in person visits for Americans in South Africa means event urgent requests are email only.

[1]https://uk.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/federal-benefi...

[2] https://uk.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/federal-benefi...

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Polish consulates everywhere have also switched to an online-only appointment system, you can't visit if you haven't got an appointment(except for emergencies), you can't book an appointment over the phone, you have to use the website.

This seems to be the case for other embassies of other nations too (I am an expat). But I do get the feeling that if you have moved to another country then you probably are more able to access services online (buying the ticket to get there in the first place is a start) than some 90 year old 'back home' who's never left the village.

I guess the flipside is your needs may be more complex (passport / family / citizenship issues always are) so having someone competent to talk to on the phone is necessary.

Please keep in mind that some expats have been living overseas for 60+ years. They shouldn't be expected to know more about technology for any other senior citizen.

Very true. For 99% of cases I would guess they're dealing with expats who didn't get a check or have a question about medicare coverage.

The example they give of an emergency is "a 12 year old needs to have a social security number issued". I think social security numbers are issued at birth now, so I don't think it comes up often. (Coincidentally I did need to have mine issued very quickly at 12)

But, to OP's point, there are services that are indeed moving to "online only".

Landing in another country is one of the scenarios where you're most likely to be unable to access telecommunications. For example, you find your internet provider doesn't work internationally, you can't enable roaming without visiting their website, your phone isn't compatible with the local spectrum, your credit card gets fraud-flagged when you try to buy a local sim card because you forgot to tell Visa you'd be travelling, and you discover there's rules against paying in cash for a phone plan.

These are all just some of the things that can go wrong arriving in a foreign country!

Exactly. Otherwise what is the point of having an embassy if everything is to be done only online :)

Yes that is unfortunate - but all out of the remit of what an embassy will help you with. Maybe if things have gone so wrong for you that you throw loosing your passport into the mix, or being physically detained by the police in the host nation then perhaps they'll help out.

But, at least for my own country, they're definitely not there to help you with connectivity issues.

Yeah of course they're not. My post is about not being able to contact an embassy (or any other critical service) that offers only a web interface, when you have embassy-relevant business to discuss. It happens that the very time when you most might need the service of an embassy coincides with times when you are least likely to be able to access the internet: freshly arriving on foreign soil. The post is not about expecting the embassy to fix your internet connection, just to anticipate your lack of it.

The probably don't accept telegrams either. Maybe email is now easier/quicker/more cost effective than processing letter mail?

Not offering any way to communicate with them would be even more cost effective, but might cause difficulties for some citizens.

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