For the Icelandic community in Washington, this is the practical link to the administration back home — documents, identity, civil status, and help when something goes badly wrong far from home.
The contact details, the services usually available and the appointment process are set out below, along with the things worth knowing before you make the trip into Washington.
📞 Quick Contact
- Address: 2900 K ST NW 509, Washington
- Phone: (202) 265-6653
- Official website: https://www.government.is/diplomatic-missions/embassy-of-iceland-in-washington-d.c
- Type of office: Embassy
🛂 The consular work done at this post
Icelandic consular offices generally handle the following, though not every post offers every service:
- Visas: entry permission for those whose nationality requires it. Ask whether your trip needs one at all before assuming it does.
- Help in trouble: a consulate cannot lift you out of a foreign legal system, but it can make sure you are not facing it alone.
- Passports: handled here in most cases, though a lost or stolen book follows a separate route that usually begins with a police report.
- Powers of attorney: drawn up or witnessed here for use at home. The wording should come from the lawyer or notary who will use it.
- Civil status: births, marriages and deaths occurring here have to be entered in the home register, and that is done through the consulate.
- Documents: legalisation and certification. Ask the office that will receive the paper which certification it accepts before paying for any of it.
📅 Appointments and waiting times
Most consular procedures need an appointment, and at a busy embassy the wait for one is usually the longest part of the whole process.
Use the office’s own channel. Sites that charge for slots are intermediaries, and consulates warn against them regularly.
Ask about payment when you book. Cash or a money order for the exact amount is common across consular networks, and cards are the exception rather than the rule.
🤝 Before you make the trip
Jurisdiction decides everything and distance decides nothing. A file submitted to the wrong post is returned, however close that post happens to be.
Names are the other recurring problem. Where the spelling on an American document differs from the Icelandic record — accents dropped, surnames ordered differently, a married name — expect to be asked for evidence explaining the difference.
Where a document has to be produced back home, the appointment is the start of the timetable rather than the end of it.
Before you travel to the embassy in Washington
What if I lose my passport days before a flight?
That does not go through the ordinary appointment queue. Call and say it is an emergency: for imminent travel most networks issue a travel document valid for a single journey.
Can I go there if I live in another state?
Usually not: applications from outside the district are refused. Ask which states the Washington office covers before you travel.
Do I need a visa to visit Iceland?
That depends on your nationality and the length of the trip. Where Iceland does require one, it is increasingly applied for online rather than at a counter.
How do I get hold of this office?
By telephone on (202) 265-6653. Note who you speak to and what you are told, because requirements differ between posts of the same country.
Does this office handle passports?
It usually does, by appointment and with personal attendance for biometrics. Ask whether the booklet is collected at the counter or posted out.
Which source wins if there is a contradiction?
The office’s own, at www.government.is/diplomatic-missions/embassy-of-iceland-in-washington-d.c. No directory, this one included, replaces the official source.
What is the address in Washington?
It is 2900 K ST NW 509. Many posts share a building with unrelated offices, so find the specific door before you turn up.