A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes an embassy or high commission, which is the main office of a country's diplomatic representatives to another country; it is usually, but not necessarily, based in the receiving state's capital city. Consulates, on the other hand, are smaller diplomatic missions that are normally located in major cities of the receiving state. As well as being a diplomatic mission to the country in which it is situated, an embassy may also be a nonresident permanent mission to one or more other countries.
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment. The word is also used informally for people who are known, without national appointment, to represent certain professions, activities, and fields of endeavor, such as sales.
The Heads of British diplomatic missions are persons appointed as senior diplomats to individual nations, or international organizations. They are usually appointed as ambassadors, except in member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations where a high commissioner is appointed. The head of mission to an international organization is usually a permanent representative. For some nations a consul or consul-general is appointed.
Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the president to serve as the United States' diplomatic representatives to foreign nations, international organizations, and as ambassadors-at-large. Under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, their appointment must be confirmed by the United States Senate; while an ambassador may be appointed during a recess, they can serve only until the end of the next session of Congress, unless subsequently confirmed.
Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seatings at state dinners, the person to whom diplomatic credentials should be presented, and the title by which the diplomat should be addressed.
A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country, usually an embassy. The term "consulate" may refer not only to the office of a consul, but also to the building occupied by the consul and the consul's staff. The consulate may share premises with the embassy itself.
In the Commonwealth of Nations, a high commissioner is the senior diplomat, generally ranking as an ambassador, in charge of the diplomatic mission of one Commonwealth government to another. Instead of an embassy, the diplomatic mission is generally called a high commission.
Canadian High Commissions are Canadian diplomatic missions in the capitals of Commonwealth states. High Commissions are the equivalent of embassies in non-Commonwealth states.
African Union [AU]
Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN]
Caribbean Community [CARICOM]
European Union [EU]
Afghanistan [3] 
Algeria 
Armenia [4] 
Bangladesh †
Brazil 
Brunei 
Chile 
China 
Colombia 
Cuba 
Czech Republic 
Denmark 
Dominican Republic 
Ecuador 
Egypt 
El Salvador 
Estonia [4] 
Finland 
Germany 
Haiti 
Holy See 
Iceland 
Iran [operations suspended]
Iraq 
Ireland 
Israel 
Japan 
Jordan 
Latvia 
Lebanon 
Libya 
Lithuania [4] 
Malaysia †
Mexico 
Mongolia 
Myanmar 
Netherlands 
Norway 
Pakistan †
Palestinian Authority 
Panama 
Philippines 
Portugal 
Qatar 
Rwanda †
Singapore †
Slovakia [4] 
South Sudan 
Sweden 
Syria [operations suspended]
Trinidad and Tobago †
Tunisia 
Ukraine 
United Arab Emirates 
United Kingdom †
United States 
Uruguay 
Venezuela [operations suspended]
Vietnam 
