Today I’m going to tweet about our Consulate in #SanFrancisco. It’s the third oldest Irish Consulate in the US established in 1933 after our Consulates in New York and Boston. You can reach us on twitter & instagram @IrelandinSF. 
We’re a pretty busy office! In 2017 we issued about 4,658 passport & travel documents - the 2nd highest in the US and 4th in the world. Applicants from overseas can apply for passports online: passportonline.dfa.ie but we’re still busy with renewals for children & 1st time apps
We also issue Working Holiday Auhorisations which allow recent graduates in the US to work & travel in Ireland for a 12 month period. Irish graduates can do the same in the US under the J12 prog. A lot of our younger @GlobalIrish community in #SF have arrived here on this prog.
A large part of our work is providing consular assistance to Irish citizens in distress. The image below shows what we can & cannot do. Assisting Irish people through difficult situations is v. challenging but it is the most rewarding part of what we do.
We issue visas for people visiting Ireland. We have had a big increase in applications over the last five years as direct air links have been established from @flySFO @flyLAXairport & this year @SeaTacAirport to @DublinAirport. Here’s the Naomh Caoimhe arriving in Seattle in May!
One of the biggest pieces of work that we do is bringing together our community. Recently we started a monthly networking breakfast #IrelandinSF (the pic below is @EI_theUSA colleague @mairepwalsh & former Mayor of SF @MarkFarrellSF who kicked off our series in Sept).
We also host a range of events in the Consulate throughout the year for alumni of Irish third level academic institutions, visiting delegations and celebrating the achievements of our @GlobalIrish in #SF such as @SanFranciscoGAA who hosted the @GAA_USA championships here in 2017
A priority for the Consulate is working closely with the State Agencies as part of #TeamIreland. Both @EI_theUSA & @IDA_WestCoast have offices here led by @EI_pburfield & @ParaicHayesIDA respectively. Team photo with @campaignforleo from his visit here last year.
All of the above is made possible by our super team here @IrelandinSF. Here are most of us during a visit by Amb @DanMulhall in July this year. We are fortunate to have a great mix of people in the office who are dedicated to #working4Irl!
