BEIRUT: The American Embassy in Beirut is updating its consular services, in line with a State Department decision that will affect embassies worldwide.

As of Sept. 1, people will no longer be able to just turn up at the Embassy, situated in Awkar, north of Beirut, but will instead have to register for an appointment online.

Adrienne Hadrich, head of consular services at the embassy, said that she believes the new system will lead to an improved service, and avoid people having to wait around during times when services are in high demand.

“But obviously an emergency is an emergency. We’re not going to turn people away who have real needs,” she added, speaking at a media roundtable at the embassy Thursday.

Hadrich emphasized the need for all U.S. citizens – 90,000 of whom live in or visit Lebanon each year – to register with the embassy, and to regularly check the embassy website and Facebook page.

“We always encourage all citizens to register with us so that we can get in touch with them.”

In response to a question on advice for American citizens in the event of conflict breaking out, Hadrich said that each emergency situation is completely different, and citizens would be informed of what to do if and when such a scenario arose.

The U.S. Embassy faced criticism from some American citizens for its response to the outbreak of the 2006 war with Israel, when it organized an emergency evacuation of U.S. nationals by ship from the Port of Dbayyeh.

In terms of visa applications for Lebanese citizens wishing to visit the U.S., Hadrich said that honesty was the best policy.

“The best advice we can give is that people come to us and tell us about the purpose of their travel and tell us about what will bring them back to Lebanon,” she said, and that people must be prepared to answer questions.

Stressing that the embassy was aware many people were visiting family in the U.S., Hadrich said trying to cover up this information was unhelpful as the applicant may visibly appear to be concealing something.

“The law requires that we look at each case individually so I encourage people to come to us and tell us the truth,” she added.

“People have to demonstrate credibly that they will visit the States and then leave.”

However, she insisted, the embassy preferred to issue visas on the first application, and said that “80 percent of Lebanese around the world are issued with U.S. visas when they apply.”

Hadrich also warned those applying to the Green Card lottery, for permanent residence in the U.S., of recent instances of fraud associated with the lottery. Emails or letters purporting to be from the American government and which demand financial payments are not to be considered genuine.

“The State Department never sends letters or emails asking for money. Information that comes from us will come from an email address ending in .gov” Hadrich said.

Appointments can be made at http://lebanon.usembassy .gov