The honorary consular post in Medfield was opened in 2025 when Christian Donner was appointed Honorary Consul for New England by Ambassador Schneebauer. Mr. Donner succeeds Grand Rabbi Korff in this role who was Honorary Consul for over 30 years.
The Boston Consulate is one of the honorary consular posts under the jurisdiction of the Austrian Consulate General in New York City. Honorary consuls are uncompensated volunteers with fewer protections than career diplomats. They are authorized to perform certain consular transactions on behalf of the Consulate General. This serves both the Consulate General (because it reduces the workload of their full-time staff) and the public (because applications can be processed locally without travel to New York).
The roles of Honorary Consuls and their rights and duties are governed by the Vienna Contention on Consular Relations, in particular Chapter III of this document that is embedded below.