What it is
Flag That Plate was created out of interest in diplomatic license plates and the countries and mission roles they represent. It is an independent reference and observation project intended for educational and informational use. It is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of State.
The site logs lookup activity to improve the plate database over time. Unknown codes may be reviewed and added as new plate assignments are observed.
How the codes work
Diplomatic plates in the United States are issued by the State Department's Office of Foreign Missions. Each country or organization has a two-letter code, and the plate list here has 213 of them. A letter before the code gives the holder's role, a D after it marks a diplomat at the United Nations, and the numbers are the plate's serial.
| Plate | Role letter | Country code | Means |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAF 0789 | D, before the code | AF | A diplomat from Japan |
| CAF 0789 | C, before the code | AF | A consul from Japan |
| SAF 0789 | S, before the code | AF | Embassy or mission staff from Japan |
| AFD 0789 | D, after the code | AF | A Japanese diplomat at the United Nations |
A few codes are listed for two missions. QX, for example, appears for both Pakistan and Iran (DC only): Iran's interests in Washington are represented through Pakistan's embassy. The decoder names both when that happens.
What we record
When you look up a plate, the site records the country, the plate you typed and the time, together with a one-way hash of your IP address, your browser's user agent, the country your connection comes from, and your username if you're signed in. Codes it doesn't recognize are logged for review, and a vehicle sighting stores the details you enter. These events may also be sent to the site's operational monitoring.
License
Unless otherwise noted, site content is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Country summaries come from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Contact
Write to flagthatplate@gmail.com with corrections, new codes or questions.