A de facto embassy is an office or organisation that serves de facto as an embassy in the absence of normal or official diplomatic relations among countries, usually to represent nations which lack full diplomatic recognition, regions or dependencies of countries, or territories over which sovereignty is disputed. In some cases, diplomatic immunity and extraterritoriality may be granted.[1]
Alternatively, states which have broken off direct bilateral ties will be represented by an "interests section" of another embassy, belonging to a third country that has agreed to serve as a protecting power and is recognised by both states. When relations are exceptionally tense, such as during a war, the interests section is staffed by diplomats from the protecting power. For example, when Iraq and the U.S. broke diplomatic relations due to the Gulf War, Poland became the protecting power for the United States. The United States Interests Section of the Polish Embassy in Iraq was headed by a Polish diplomat.[2] However, if the host country agrees, an interests section may be staffed by diplomats from the sending country. From 1977 to 2015, the United States Interests Section in Havana was staffed by Americans, even though it was formally a section of the Swiss Embassy to Cuba.
Governments of states not recognized by the receiving state and of territories that make no claim to be sovereign states may set up offices abroad that do not have official diplomatic status as defined by the Vienna Convention. Examples include the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Offices; Somaliland's Representative Offices in London, Addis Ababa, Rome, and Washington, D.C.; the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices that represent the government of that territory; and Gibraltar House, Bermuda House and Falkland House in London, representing the three dependent territories in their "motherland". Such offices assume some of the non-diplomatic functions of diplomatic posts, such as promoting trade interests and providing assistance to its citizens and residents. They are nevertheless not diplomatic missions, their personnel are not diplomats and do not have diplomatic visas, although there may be legislation providing for personal immunities and tax privileges, as in the case of the Hong Kong offices in London and Toronto, for example.