View Vacancy – LAO – Pro Consul, AO
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Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Consular Roles)
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Consular
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As part of a small, dedicated team within the British Embassy, the Pro-Consul will make a direct difference to people’s lives in sometimes challenging circumstances by providing assistance and support to British people in Laos, either visitors or residents, who experience problems, difficulties or crises. Consular work covers a broad range of issues from the issuing of Emergency Travel Documents, providing advice and support to British nationals facing deportation or who have been arrested, hospitalised or a victim of a crime.
You will also work in delivering consular prevention outreach activities, and support more country-wide activity, in engaging with British travellers and local authorities. The role also involves supporting the British Embassy’s crisis preparedness and being an integral part of its response to major incidents involving British nationals.
Consular work is extremely rewarding; helping people when they most need it, and no two days are the same. The job is in a fast-paced environment, dealing with extremely sensitive cases and stressful events. It is challenging and requires personal resilience and a flexible, empathetic attitude.
Provide consular assistance (80%):
Effectively Manage and prioritise a full range of casework ensuring a person’s needs are assessed and delivered according to consular guidelines and policy. This may sometimes require travel within Laos to provide assistance directly where necessary and appropriate.
To support British people who have been arrested or detained in Laos, providing information about local procedures and legal service providers; undertake regular visits to monitor their welfare and liaise with the authorities on any welfare or health concerns in line with the international standards.
You will assist British people who have been hospitalised, advising them of the options available to them; liaison with medical staff and local authorities to monitor their welfare, including visits where appropriate.
In the event of a death of a British person, to assist their family by explaining local procedures, liaising with international undertakers and relevant local authorities; ensuring that any burial, cremation or repatriation is timely and dignified.
In addition, you will also support British people who are victims of crime, experiencing mental health problems, financial difficulties and welfare issues.
Prevention (10%):
You will contribute to and deliver prevention projects in line with the embassy’s business plan and the consular strategy. You will also support work to build and maintain networks of a range of key stakeholders, authorities and partner organisations such as Lao Police and local hospitals.
Crisis planning and response (5%):
You will contribute to the embassy’s planning for a crisis situation, such as a major incident involving British nationals. In a crisis response you will work as required to support the embassy response (sometimes on a shift pattern working unsociable hours).
Wider corporate role (5%):
You are expected to make a contribution to the smooth running of the embassy either through committee membership or another voluntary role to support the vision and values of the embassy. There will also be some administrative work to ensure British National detainees receive funds.
In delivering our consular service, you may be required to work outside of normal working hours and/or travel within Laos when it may be necessary and appropriate to do so.
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- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with a strong customer service focus
- Ability to work independently, follow procedures and guidelines in making sound judgements and solving problems
- An ability to deal sensitively and empathetically with difficult situations and people in distress
- Flexible, resilient under pressure and decisive, with a track record of delivering results to a high standard within tight deadlines
- Ability to liaise with and manage relationships with external contacts
- Familiar with using Microsoft Word, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and WhatsApp
- Flexibility to occasionally travel to other parts of Laos, sometimes outside of normal work hours
- Language requirements: Lao and English
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- An understanding and experience of consular work or similar
- Experience of living in, or understanding of the United Kingdom, British people and British culture
- Experience of living in or understanding of Lao people and culture
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Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Making Effective Decisions, Managing a Quality Service
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25 May 2026
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Administrative Officer (AO)
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Full-time, Fixed term, with possibility of renewal
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35 hours per week
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Asia Pacific
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Laos
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Vientiane
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British Embassy
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1
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USD
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USD 1,561.95
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monthly
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20 July 2026
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This role is advertised as a 12-month fixed term contract, with possibility of renewal.
This could be a busy role which may on occasion require some out of hour’s support in the event of a crisis or incident. Attempts are made to limit this, and a system of TOIL is in place.
In accordance with Laos labour law, a new jobholder will be given 1 year fixed-term contract and then extend for 1+1 so in total 3- year-fixed term. After this period, a permanent contract will be issued.
The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer. We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.
The British Embassy, located close to the Patuxay Monument, is a small, friendly and vibrant place to work. There will be great opportunities for you to not only develop and build on your existing knowledge, but to understand and contribute to how our work develops and strengthens UK – Laos relations.
Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy Vientiane are subject to terms and conditions of service according to local Lao employment law.
No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position. You must have or be able to obtain work authorisation for Laos in order to apply. All candidates must be legally able to work and reside in the country of the vacancy with the correct visa/work permit status or demonstrate eligibility to obtain the relevant permit. Any costs related to obtaining or renewing permits and visas are the responsibility of the successful applicant.
Employees who are not liable to pay local income tax on their Mission salary may have their salaries reduced by the equivalent local income tax amount.
The FCDO operates an agile approach to delivery. To facilitate an agile workforce, you may be required to undertake other duties from time to time as we may reasonably require.
Learning and Development Opportunities:
Our Learning and Development package is very attractive, which offers both online and in person training. We are a relatively small Embassy, which will allow the job holder to be involved in a variety of activities.
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Please note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.
Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.
We advise you to allow enough time to complete and submit your full application since only applications completed and submitted before the deadline will be considered.
Note: All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the online application form completely including the employment and educational details, experience, professional skills and behaviour-based questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the applications and incomplete form in any respect may not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.
Only shortlisted candidates for interview will be contacted. Interviewees will be assessed on the core behaviours/qualifications listed above. Unsuccessful candidates will be notified via the system in due time. Appointable candidates who were unsuccessful may be placed on a ‘reserve list’. If during the reserve period of 6 months the same or a largely similar role becomes available, that role may be offered to the second or subsequent candidate.
To ensure a successful application it is important that you explain how you demonstrate these behaviours, including through your experience. You are strongly advised to read the Success Profiles Civil Service Behaviours Framework, which provides detailed guidance on how the behaviours are defined.
Applicants are encouraged to use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) format to prepare specific examples of when they have demonstrated these behaviours in their application. Using the STAR format to provide evidence of your skills and experience in your application and at interview helps to give a structure. You briefly describe the situation in which you showed the behaviour, and then explain your task in addressing the situation, what action you took and the result of this.
Please ensure that your application is authentically written based on your own experiences. If AI tools are used, their usage must only be limited to specific tasks such as ensuring formatting consistency and keyword relevance. The core content, personal narratives, and responses to behaviour and skill-based questions must genuinely reflect your professional journey, experiences, and achievements. We place great importance on originality and individual effort throughout the application process. Any form of plagiarism will result in immediate disqualification.
For inclusivity and diversity, please remove the following personal information when uploading your CV: name, address, email address, age, date of birth, gender and nationality.
The start date mentioned in the job advert is a tentative start date and the successful candidate will be required to undergo security vetting procedures. Any offer of employment will be subject to the candidate achieving suitable clearances.
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To apply please copy and paste this link: https://fco.tal.net/vx/appcentre-ext/candidate/jobboard/vacancy/1/adv/
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