The embassy kept busiest by New Zealanders abroad is London, which spent 963 hours on consular services last year. This was followed by Washington DC at 925 hours and Guangzhou China with 908 hours.
One of the most common requests for embassies and New Zealand high commission outposts is to replace lost passports and travel documents. There were a whopping 591 cases of lost passports last year and we can reveal that the USA is the favourite destination for forgetful New Zealanders. 117 items of property were lost there last year.
As for the countries where the most Kiwis fell victim to crime, surprisingly it was the popular Mediterranean holiday spots of Italy, Greece and Spain from which consulates received the most cases. These countries had 43, 33 and 11 cases respectively.
The USA accounted for 21 cases of New Zealanders falling foul of criminal activities and needing help as one of the most popular overseas destinations.
The consular staff and embassies have a range of duties and services for New Zealanders abroad such as helping them contact family in emergencies or replace damaged or lost travel documents, however they will not pay any travel expenses that befall unlucky travellers.
Surprisingly New Caledonia was the place from which the consular services received the most cases concerning medical emergencies. The 28 cases saw the number of medical cases where consular assistance was needed increase by 29 per cent on last year.
Unless there is some reciprocal arrangement with a country's health service, New Zealanders who do not have insurance will have to pay their own medical expenses abroad.
"If you can't afford travel insurance, you can't afford to travel," says MFAT.