Hotline to Department of State

Overseas Citizens Services (OCS)

The Department of State's Office of Overseas Citizens Services (OCS), in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, has established a Washington, D.C.-based call center to provide general information to the public.

The call center will refer case-specific calls directly to the appropriate OCS country officer (or to a special task force in a crisis) and non-Consular calls to the appropriate agency or office. The call center has direct access to the most recent Consular Information Sheets, Travel Warnings and Public Announcements.

The OCS call center normally operates from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. in Hong Kong and Macau), Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays; please check the Consulates holiday schedule for reference). The center will run 24-hours-a-day as needed during a crisis.

Last modified: July 23, 2010