Lost your passport abroad? What to do, step by step

It happens to careful people. A bag left on a train, a pickpocket in a crowd, a drawer in a hotel that you emptied in a hurry. Realising your passport has gone is a bad moment, and the first instinct is panic. A calm sequence of steps gets most people sorted faster than they expect.

This guide covers the general process. Details differ by country and by the document you need, so confirm the specifics with your own embassy or consulate.

First hour: stop and check

1. Search properly. Check your bags, pockets, hotel room, taxi and the last two places you were. Passports often turn up in a jacket you forgot.
2. Retrace your steps. Call the places you visited, as honest finders often hand documents in.
3. Decide whether it was stolen. If so, treat it as a security issue and protect your other cards and phone as well.

Report it to the police

If the passport is lost or stolen, file a report with the local police and ask for a copy of it. Many embassies require the report before they issue a replacement, and you may need it for travel insurance claims too. Take your remaining ID and, if you have them, copies of the passport.

Contact your embassy or consulate

Your country's embassy or consulate in the place you are can cancel the lost passport and issue a replacement. In many cases this is a temporary or emergency document valid only for getting home or continuing a trip, rather than a full passport. Ask about:

• What proof of identity they accept.
• How many photos they need and their size.
• The fee and the ways to pay.
• How long it takes and whether they offer urgent service.

If you do not have an embassy in the city, ask whether another country offers consular help to your nationality. Some regions have arrangements for this.

What helps you prove who you are

• A photocopy or scan of your passport photo page.
• Another photo ID, such as a national ID card or driving licence.
• Your booking confirmations and tickets.
• A person at home who can confirm your identity to the embassy.

The more of these you have, the faster the process. This is why it is worth keeping a scan somewhere you can reach from a new phone, such as secure cloud storage or an email to yourself.

Your flights and visas

A replacement passport does not carry your old visa or stamps. If you held a visa or an authorisation tied to the lost passport, find out how to transfer or reissue it. Tell your airline what happened, as you will need to show the new document at check-in. If your trip continues to other countries, check their passport validity rules, because an emergency document may be valid for only a short time.

Protect yourself afterwards

• Change passwords if your phone or cards went missing as well.
• Tell your bank if cards were in the same bag.
• Keep the police report and every receipt, since insurance may reimburse the costs.

Be ready before you go

1. Scan your passport photo page and store it securely, away from the passport.
2. Carry a spare passport photo or two.
3. Write down your embassy or consulate phone number for each country you visit.
4. Give a trusted person at home a copy of your itinerary and documents.
5. Carry the passport in a place that is hard to reach, and leave it in a hotel safe when you do not need it.

All of these belong on a good pre-trip checklist, and you can check the current travel advice level for your destination to know how careful to be.

In Explo

Explo helps with the preparation side. It shows entry rules and travel advice for each country you plan to visit, and keeps your trips in one place so you know where you will be and when. Keeping that plan with a scanned copy of your passport means that if something does go wrong, you have the facts to hand.