U.S. Embassy in Cabo Verde

The Department of State assists U.S. citizens imprisoned overseas and works to ensure their fair and humane treatment.

The Department of State helps the family and friends of U.S. citizens who die abroad. We inform the U.S. citizen’s next-of-kin of the death and we provide information on arrangements for local burial or the return of remains to the United States and on disposition of estates and personal effects. We also issue a Consular Report of Death Abroad, an official record of death.

The Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues works to resolve and prevent cases of international parental child abduction and to help children and families involved in abduction cases. For more information, see our international parental child abduction page on travel.state.gov.

The Department of State helps U.S. citizens who are victims of crime overseas. We connect crime victims with police and other services and provide information and resources to assist with physical, emotional, and/or financial injuries from crime.

Are you a U.S. citizen who needs a passport?

The Embassy is currently working with the Government of Cabo Verde to ensure that adoptions made by U.S. families are processed in accordance with the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption (the Hague Convention). As such, the U.S. Embassy in Cabo Verde is not processing adoption cases at this time. For more information please visit travel.state.gov. If you have additional questions about adoptions in Cabo Verde, please contact the Embassy’s consular section at PraiaACS@state.gov.

If you have a child outside the United States the child may have acquired U.S. citizenship at birth if the requirements under the Immigration and Nationality Act have been met as of the time of your child’s birth. To determine whether your child acquired U.S. citizenship at birth and to document that, you can apply for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) for your child. You may also choose to just apply for a U.S. passport for your child, although one benefit of a CRBA is that, unlike the U.S. passport, it does not expire and may be used as proof of acquisition of U.S. citizenship at birth. A full validity, unexpired U.S. passport is also proof of U.S. citizenship.

Transmission of U.S. citizenship depends on:

• At least one parent with United States citizenship at the time of the child’s birth;
• Evidence of a blood relationship between the child and U.S. citizen parent(s); AND
• Documentary evidence demonstrating the U.S. citizen parent(s)’ presence in the United States prior to the child’s birth, as specified in the Transmission Requirements Table below.

U.S. embassy and consulate personnel cannot perform marriages. Depending on the local law, civil or religious officials generally perform marriages. If your marriage overseas was performed in accordance with local law, it is valid in the country where it took place. Whether your marriage is recognized elsewhere depends on the laws of that place.

If you get married abroad and need to know if your marriage will be recognized in the United States and what documentation may be needed, contact the office of the Attorney General of your state of residence in the United States.