In response to the US government’s expulsion of Russian diplomats from the United States and closure of the Russian Consulate in Seattle, Russia has responded by announcing the expulsion of sixty American diplomats along with envoys from other countries as well as the closing of the American Consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city. The crisis is the result of investigations into the March 4 poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in Salisbury, England that showed Russia was likely responsible. The Consulate in St. Petersburg has been closed effective March 31, and the US Embassy in Russia notified Americans in the St. Petersburg consular district that they should contact the US Embassy in Moscow for all emergency assistance and routine services.
Read moreDiplomats and Their Special Privileges
Over 100,000 representatives of foreign governments, including their dependents, are in the United States, and many of these foreign representatives are entitled to some degree of diplomatic immunity and certain privileges. We have written about a variety of immigrant and nonimmigrant visa types for foreign nationals, but diplomats are, in a word, special. We thought we’d take a closer look at visa types for diplomats as well as their privileges while in the US and, importantly, whether they are really responsible for those unpaid parking tickets!
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