The new Financial Services and Consular Protection Act will be applied to the Honduras Consulate abroad favoring hundreds of thousands of Hondurans living abroad.Arturo Corrales Alvarez, Foreign Minister Jorge Ramon Hernandez and Alcerro, Ambassador of Honduras, presented this new mandate to the 11 Honduran consuls in the United States, located in cities where 94% of Honduran immigrants live.
The consuls participated in the workshop organized by the Honduras Embassy in Washington, during which officials from the Honduran embassy explained to them the new processes of the law which repealed the obsolete regulations of 1991.
The main change is that now Consulates are prohibited from the cash payment of consular services. All services such as passports, certificates, translations, and other authentication documents, must be prepaid at a banking institution through electronic payments or “money orders” bought on behalf of the Treasury of the Republic of Honduras. This change was prompted by the years of complaints by Honduras Expats towards Consulates that did not deliver the services they paid for as well as the constant complaints about delays and lost records.
As for Mobile temporary consulate campaigns by consuls; they were directed that this task is now regulated and must be fulfilled to the letter by consular officers.
The bureau chief must schedule a quarterly visit with a maximum of three staff on two public holidays, at a distance not less than 150 kilometers from the seat of the consular office as well and is subject to a per diem.
To cover the costs of mobile consulate visits they will charge a surcharge of 30% of the initial value of the service provided, with the exception of those transactions already being processed as the surcharge was already established, as mandated in Article 34 of the Act.
Promptly, and at any time whatsoever without delay and at no charge and regardless of immigration status, consular officers are required to assist with repatriation of Hondurans that are deceased patients in serious conditions, injured and disabled, victims of human trafficking, vulnerable adults and children , calamity proven conditions and those detained by immigration conditions and deportation proceedings.
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