Sydney

U.S. Consulate

History

The Consulate General in Sydney is the oldest American Foreign Service post in Australia. The first American Consul was appointed in 1836, providing for more than 180 years of diplomatic relations between our two great nations.

The district includes the States of New South Wales and Queensland and also includes Norfolk Island. This area is home to half of all Australians. New South Wales is Australia’s most populous and industrialized state. Sydney, its capital, is Australia’s largest city and most important port. New South Wales has a population of 7.6 million, of which 4.9 million live in the Sydney area. Queensland has a population of 4.7 million people and around half of those (2.3 million) live in the greater Brisbane area. There are around 170,000 U.S. citizens in NSW and 80,000 in Queensland at any given time.

Sections & Offices

Consular Operations Public Affairs Section Political and Economic Section Administrative Section Transportation Security Administration Detachment 4, PACAF Air Postal Squadron

Consular Operations

Consular services offered in Sydney include assistance to American citizens, issuance of passports and determinations of U.S. citizenship, and visa services to Australians and other foreign nationals. Consular Services are provided by appointment only.

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Public Affairs Section

The Public Affairs Section is responsible for public outreach in New South Wales and Queensland through information and cultural programming.

Political and Economic Section

This section follows important political and economic developments in New South Wales and Queensland and maintains contact and liaison with the state governments and local federal government officials.

Administrative Section

The Administrative section provides the full range of support services to the Consulate General, including communications, personnel, customs and shipping, contracting, procurement and warehousing, information management, budget and fiscal, residential and commercial leasing, security and general services.

Transportation Security Administration

The TSA office consists of the Transportation Security Administration Representative (TSAR) and a Security Assistant. The TSAR serves as the technical expert and primary agency contact on all transportation security matters. The representative maintains contact with U.S. government agencies, U.S. air carriers, foreign government transportation authorities, foreign air carriers, and other related transportation interests. The TSAR’s area of responsibility includes Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Island nations that are not U.S. territories which have Last Point of Departure flights (LPDs) to the United States.

Contact: Fax (02) 9221-0598 (outside Australia dial +61 2 9221-0598)

Detachment 4, PACAF Air Postal Squadron

Detachment 4 provides official and personal postal service to Department of Defense, Department of State, visiting Navy ships, and other authorized government agencies and their dependents throughout Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, and Papua New Guinea. DET 4 manages all international and domestic transportation of mail to and from the Aerial Mail Terminal (AMT) and Air Post Offices (APO) located in Sydney; Woomera; Alice Springs; Canberra; Melbourne; Perth; Learmonth; Richmond; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Christchurch, New Zealand; and McMurdo Station, Antarctica. DET 4 is commanded by an Air Force Master Sergeant (E-7); Postal Detachment Chief. The Postal Detachment Chief exercises operational command and control over seven APOs, one AMT, and provides operational guidance to four limited service APOs. They are directly responsible to the postal headquarters at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. DET4 has provided over 40 years of professional postal service.

U.S. Commercial Service

The U.S. Commercial Service, within the International Trade Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce, helps American companies to find qualified, local partners, to overcome trade barriers, and to gain exposure in the Australian market with the overarching goal of increasing U.S. exports abroad.

In addition, the U.S. Commercial Service also provides information and contacts through our SelectUSA initiative to Australian investors interested in the U.S. market. Please visit www.selectusa.gov for more information, or email Office.Australia@trade.gov.

In Australia, the U.S. Commercial Service has offices in Sydney, Canberra and Perth. Commercial Service Specialists throughout our three posts can provide day-to-day business counselling to American exporters as well as customized market research and match making services, most notably through the Gold Key Service, the International Partner Search, the International Company Profile and the Single Company Promotion.

The U.S. Commercial Service also spearheads official U.S. Government advocacy efforts in support of American companies competing for local government public procurement contracts.

Commercial Specialists have country-wide responsibilities for industry sectors including: