Everything here is general guidance, not professional advice. We research carefully and can still be wrong or out of date, so treat it as suggestions to check rather than instructions to follow, and accept that you act on it at your own risk. Full terms.

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BlogLost your passport abroad

Lost your passport abroad

Report it to the country that issued it, then ask that country's embassy for an emergency document. A cancelled passport will not get you on the plane, even if you find it later.

The passport is not in the safe, the bag, or your jacket, and you are outside the country that issued it. Report it missing so nobody else can travel on it. Then get an emergency document from the government that issued it. The country you are standing in cannot print that book for you, unless it is also your own.

The playbook, with the US and UK details side by side, is Passport lost or stolen abroad. Below is the shape, then the two procedures we have checked against the official pages. Every other country has its own form and fee. Ask the embassy those questions rather than guessing from this page.

The same first hour, whatever the passport

Search once. Hotel safe, taxi, the security tray you just walked through. Tell the hotel desk. Then stop and report it. A cancelled passport is safer than a valid one that is in someone else’s pocket.

If it was taken in a robbery, or you are unsafe, contact local emergency services first. The UK’s FCDO tells British people to report a crime abroad to local police before they leave the country if they want it investigated, and insurers often want the written report. A police report is not always required to replace the passport. Ask the embassy. Their page is Reporting a crime abroad. From the UK the FCDO number they publish is +44 (0)20 7008 5000. Abroad, use the nearest British embassy if you are British. Other nationalities use their own foreign ministry, not that number.

If cards were in the same bag, call the issuers on the numbers you already have. That is Scammed or fraudulent bank charge. If the phone went too, lock it from a borrowed device: Phone lost or stolen.

Do not book a replacement flight until an embassy has told you what document you will get, when you can collect it, and that your route accepts it.

If it is a US passport

The State Department says to report it immediately. Their page is Lost or stolen passport abroad. Reporting online cancels the book within one business day, and they email a confirmation. After that, it is not valid for travel. Another country can refuse you entry, or refuse to let you leave, if you try to use it anyway.

You replace it in person at a US embassy or consulate. If there is not time for a full passport, they can issue an emergency passport valid for up to one year. Bring a 2x2 inch (5x5 cm) photo, identification, proof of citizenship such as a birth certificate or a photocopy of the missing passport, your itinerary, Form DS-11, the fee, and a police report if you filed one. If the form does not explain where and when the passport went missing, they may pause and ask for Form DS-64.

From the US or Canada the emergencies line they publish is 1-888-407-4747. From overseas it is +1 202-501-4444. That contact page is Emergencies abroad. Most posts do not issue passports on weekends or holidays. After-hours officers are for life-or-death emergencies, serious crime, or travel when the section is closed.

Ask that post whether the next country accepts an emergency passport. The US embassy in Japan, for example, warns that some countries refuse them and that an airline can refuse boarding. Their note is on the emergency passport page for Japan. Do not assume your route is fine because the document is genuine.

If it is a UK passport

Cancel it at gov.uk/report-a-lost-or-stolen-passport. You need a phone number. A photo of the photo page helps. You can report a passport for someone else if they cannot.

If you are abroad and you must travel within six weeks, you can apply for an emergency travel document instead of cancelling first. GOV.UK says the application cancels the old passport once you pay, so you do not cancel separately. The fee is £125 and is not refunded. Eligibility, in the ordinary case, includes being a British national outside the UK, needing to travel within six weeks, being unable to get a full replacement in time, and having held a UK passport issued on or after 1 January 2006. The pages are who can apply and how to apply.

The document usually covers one single or return journey, through at most five countries. It is usually ready two working days after you apply. It can take weeks if the old passport has expired, the application is for a child under 16, the fee is unpaid, or they need an appointment. Check that every country on the route accepts it, and whether you need a visa, before you apply. Do not book travel until the email says when and where to collect it. If the plan changes, you apply again and pay again. Flying to the UK, border control keeps the document on arrival. Other countries may do the same.

If you have not had a UK passport issued on or after 1 January 2006, the online emergency document is usually unavailable. GOV.UK describes a narrower route for exceptional travel, and says holidays and weddings do not qualify for that route.

Anyone else

Contact the embassy of the country that issued the passport. Ask whether reporting cancels it immediately, what emergency document they can issue where you are, how long it takes, what it costs, and whether your airline will board you on it. We have not written those steps country by country. A wrong fee is a wasted day.

When you are home, replace the emergency document if your country requires a full passport for the next trip. A US emergency book can be exchanged for a full-validity passport later. A UK emergency travel document is not a ten-year passport. If the old book is found, hand it in. Do not pack it.

Before the next trip, photograph the photo page into a mailbox you can open without the phone, and keep a paper copy with someone at home. That is the prepare list on Passport lost or stolen abroad. The copy does not get you through the border. It gets you through the form at the embassy, which is the part you can actually prepare.

  • Passport lost or stolen abroad. You are outside the country that issued your passport, and the passport is missing. You cannot board a flight on a cancelled book, and the replacement is not the same document everywhere.
  • Scammed or fraudulent bank charge. Money left your account that you did not authorise, or you were talked into sending it and have just realised.
  • Phone lost or stolen. Your phone is gone, and it is signed in to your email, your bank, your messages, and the codes that protect everything else.

Questions

I found the passport after I reported it. Can I travel on it?

No. The United States and the United Kingdom both cancel a passport you report lost or stolen. It stays invalid if it turns up. Apply for a replacement instead of trying to board.

Can the country I am visiting print me a new passport?

Only if they are also the country that issued it. Otherwise you need the embassy or consulate of the issuing country. The local police can give you a report. They cannot issue your passport.

Should I book the new flight now?

Not until you know when you can collect a replacement and whether the airline and the next country accept it. UK guidance says not to book until that email arrives. Emergency documents are refused often enough that the booking should wait.