The MIKHAK system (Integrated Consular Services Management) is the centralized portal for the consular services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran for Iranian citizens abroad. The system is designed to digitize and facilitate consular services, and covers — remotely — processes such as registering and updating identity information, passport affairs, consular powers of attorney, document authentication, civil-registry (sejelli) affairs, and certain services related to nationality and residence. In many countries, similar systems exist for providing consular services to nationals residing abroad, and MIKHAK's official function is also defined within this framework.

However, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, MIKHAK has become one of the main nodes for the aggregation of identity and consular data of Iranians abroad. Using the system requires registering precise identity, residence, and contact information, and user identity verification is designed in a way that connects consular data to domestic identity systems. This connection enables the overlap of consular data with databases inside the country and creates a traceable digital profile of citizens abroad.

From a surveillance perspective, MIKHAK operates beyond a service tool and has become a platform for the administrative and consular monitoring of citizens abroad. The dependence of access to consular services on the registration and validation of data in this system allows the government to manage the provision or suspension of services systemically. The concentration of this volume of sensitive data about the Iranian diaspora, in the absence of transparency about how the data is shared with other government bodies, heightens serious concerns about the secondary use of information, consular tracking, and the imposition of administrative or security pressure on citizens.