How Artificial Intelligence Can Modernize Consular Services
When used wisely, AI reinforces the best of the human element, freeing officers to focus on what matters most: connecting with people.
Consular work stands at the front lines of diplomacy, where lives and futures often hang in the balance. For decades, consular officers have lived at the intersection of hope and hardship — helping families navigate immigration laws, assisting travelers in distress and managing the relentless churn of visa and passport applications. The work offers purpose, but it often demands tedious hours spent on manual document review, data entry and policy cross-checking, with officers battling surging demand at every turn.
Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA) are fundamentally reshaping this landscape. Rather than digitizing old routines, AI- and RPA- powered systems can now scan, sort and summarize supporting documents in a fraction of the time. These tools flag anomalies or missing information that might otherwise slow down decisions or lead to mistakes. For today’s consular officers, this transformation delivers one thing above all: more time to apply judgment, offer reassurance, and make the difficult and nuanced calls.
AI doesn’t replace the human element. Instead, it reinforces the best of it. By extracting key data, detecting possible fraud and providing regulatory guidance, AI allows officers to focus on what matters most: connecting with people, not just paperwork.
In an effort to reduce and streamline paperwork, the State Department has adopted an innovative solution that applies innovative machine-learning with AI and natural language processing (NLP) tools to the visa application process. It aims to provide multilingual support to visa applicants, while reducing administrative burdens, including by helping to modernize data intake, validation and case prioritization processes. It also makes it possible for officers to devote less time to rote data entry and more attention to nuanced decision-making that demands experience and empathy.
Consular chatbots
Canada also employs AI in its immigration, refugees and citizenship operations. AI triages straightforward applications and automates positive eligibility determinations, freeing officers to focus on complex or ambiguous cases. This approach maintains both integrity and efficiency, even as application volumes surge.
In using AI-powered chatbots to handle routine queries, Australia led the way with “Sophie,” which is designed to assist with visa and citizenship inquiries. Sophie delivers real-time, personalized information, guiding users through travel documentation, border issues and emergencies without delay. Such innovations not only ease administrative burdens but also strengthen the national image abroad — a subtle but powerful form of modern soft power. During the Covid-19 pandemic and natural disasters, Sophie played a critical role in managing surges in requests about border closures, repatriation and travel restrictions. Australians abroad accessed instant support precisely when they needed it. Feedback from citizens and staff points to reduced wait times and improved user experiences.
In 2023, Britain piloted an AI-based triage system using a large language model (LLM) to review, categorize and route written consular enquiries from British nationals abroad. This tool rapidly classifies urgency, suggests guidance and directs cases to the appropriate teams, ensuring citizens receive timely, accurate support even as inquiry volumes climb. The system empowers consular officers to focus on urgent, complex or life-and-death cases, with AI streamlining the process in the background.
India introduced chatbot solutions as well, integrating one into its Madad (meaning “help” in Hindi) portal to help citizens lodge grievances and seek emergency consular assistance.
Crisis management
Nowhere does AI’s impact become clearer than in moments of crisis. Natural disasters, political unrest or sudden surges in migration demand swift, coordinated action. In these scenarios, AI enables diplomats and their governments to respond faster, using richer information.
In 2019, the European Union’s diplomatic service, which is known as the European External Action Service, established a crisis response center to manage security and consular emergencies affecting EU citizens abroad. The center relies on automation tools that facilitate real-time information sharing, interactive mapping with geotagging capabilities and secure mobile communication. The system significantly improves coordinated response among EU member-states and enhances the service’s ability to deliver timely assistance, even amid the chaos of disaster or political upheaval.
In 2021, the United Nations Refugee Agency rolled out “La Chama,” an AI-driven chatbot in Brazil assisting Venezuelan refugees and migrants. Accessible via WhatsApp, La Chama provides reliable information on documentation, health services and employment, reaching over 10,000 users by early 2023.
In the future, consular crisis platforms may evolve toward predictive analytics, offering early warning systems that proactively assist citizens before events escalate.
Ethics and oversight
No revolution comes without obstacles. AI in consular work raises critical concerns about data privacy, bias and the risk of miscommunication. Chatbots and automated tools sometimes struggle with nuanced or highly personal cases, reminding us that technology must never replace empathy and ethical judgment. Governments must invest in transparency, robust oversight and ongoing training to ensure AI supports — not undermines — the human mission of diplomacy. Diplomatic training must also evolve to equip officers with the skills to oversee AI systems critically, recognize errors and assert human judgment where machine outputs fall short.
That is why, for all its promise, AI cannot replace the essential ingredients of consular service: sound judgment, compassion and the willingness to help. The best AI tools disappear into the background, quietly eliminating administrative burden, surfacing critical insights and making space for what matters most: real human connection. Technology, thoughtfully implemented, positions consular professionals to be more present, more responsive and more effective at the moments when lives and futures hang in the balance.
With over half a century of combined diplomatic experience, we see AI’s careful adoption transforming our field into something faster, smarter and, ultimately, more humane. This isn’t a story of machines taking over. It’s a story of people using technology to reach higher, stretch farther and stand ready for whatever tomorrow brings.
With AI, consular work enters a new era — one where digital tools amplify the best in humanity. The future belongs to missions that embrace innovation, and to consular officers who wield both heart and algorithm.
Virginia Blaser is a former U.S. Foreign Service officer, whose most recent assignment was as consul general in Cape Town, South Africa. During more than three decades as a diplomat, she also served in Belgium, Spain, Britain, El Salvador, Mauritius, Uganda and Tanzania. Her career track was consular affairs.
Don Kilburg was a U.S. Foreign Service officer specializing in public diplomacy for almost 22 years. His foreign postings include China, Mexico, Kazakhstan, the Dominican Republic and Italy. He is also a U.S. Army infantry veteran and a former professor, with a doctorate in experimental psychology.
They are currently working on a book about AI in diplomacy.