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Disaster Lab
PlaybooksPassport lost or stolen abroad
Accessserious30 minutes to 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.

01DetectConfirm the signal
02ContainStop more damage
03RecoverRestore control
04VerifyProve it works

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What this means

The passport is both a travel document and a high-quality identity document. Report it missing to the country that issued it, so a stranger cannot travel on it. Once that country cancels it, you cannot use it either, even if it turns up in a hotel drawer.

You then need whatever emergency document that country issues, from its embassy or consulate in the place you are now. The government of the country you are visiting cannot print you a passport from home, unless that is also the country that issued it. Airlines and the next border may refuse an emergency document even when the embassy issued it properly. Ask before you book a new ticket.

If the bag also had cards, freeze those the same day. That path is Scammed or fraudulent bank charge. If your phone went too, use Phone lost or stolen from a borrowed device.

The detailed steps we have checked are for US and UK passports. Every other country has its own form, fee, and appointment system. The shape is the same. The counter is not.

Warning signs

  • The passport is not in the safe, the bag, or the jacket where you kept it.
  • You are at a check-in desk and it is not in your hand.
  • A hotel or a police station calls to say they found a passport with your name. Do not try to travel on it until the issuer says it is still valid. Often it is already cancelled.

Recover now

First 15 minutes

  1. Search once, properly. Hotel safe, taxi receipt, the scanner at the last security check. Ask the hotel and the airline desk. Then stop ransacking and start the report. A cancelled passport is safer than a missing one that still works for someone else.
  2. If you are in danger, or the passport was taken in a robbery, contact local emergency services first. The UK’s FCDO tells British people abroad to do that, and to report the crime to local police before they leave the country if they want it investigated. A written police report is what many insurers ask for. It is not always required to replace the passport. Ask the embassy of the issuing country.
  3. Contact the embassy, high commission, or consulate of the country that issued the passport. Use the official site for that service, not a search ad. Tell them the date you need to travel.
  4. Do not book replacement flights until you know when you can collect a document, and whether the next country accepts it.

If the passport is from the United States

The US State Department says to report a lost or stolen passport immediately. You can report it with their online form. They cancel it within one business day and email you a confirmation. After that report, it is not valid for international travel. A later country can refuse you entry, or refuse to let you leave, if you try to use it.

To replace it abroad you appear in person at a US embassy or consulate. If there is not enough time for a full passport, they can issue an emergency passport valid for up to one year. Bring:

  • One passport photo, 2x2 inches or 5x5 cm.
  • Identification, such as a driver’s licence or an expired passport.
  • Proof of US citizenship, such as a birth certificate or a photocopy of the missing passport.
  • Your travel itinerary.
  • Form DS-11.
  • A copy of the police report if you filed one, and the details of when and where the passport went missing. If that detail is missing from the DS-11, they may pause the application and ask for Form DS-64.
  • The passport fee.

From the US or Canada you can reach them at 1-888-407-4747. From overseas the number they publish for emergencies abroad is +1 202-501-4444. Most embassies cannot issue passports on weekends or holidays. After-hours duty officers are for life-or-death emergencies, serious crime, or when you need to travel and the section is closed. Ask that post whether your next destination accepts an emergency passport. At least some US posts warn that some countries refuse them, and that an airline can refuse boarding.

If the passport is from the United Kingdom

Cancel a lost or stolen UK passport as soon as you can, at gov.uk/report-a-lost-or-stolen-passport. You need a phone number. A photo or photocopy of the passport helps you answer the questions. You can report one for someone else if they cannot.

If you are abroad and you need to travel within 6 weeks, you may be able to apply for an emergency travel document instead of cancelling first. GOV.UK says that if you apply for that document, you do not cancel separately. The old passport is usually cancelled once you pay. The fee is £125 and is not refunded.

You can apply online if you are a British national outside the UK, you need to travel within 6 weeks, you cannot get a full replacement in time, and you have had a UK passport issued on or after 1 January 2006. You need a digital photo that meets their rules, a phone number, an email address, and a card for the fee. A friend can pay if you cannot. The document is usually only valid for one single or return journey, through at most five countries. It is usually ready to collect two working days after you apply. It can take several weeks if the old passport has expired, the application is for a child under 16, the fee is unpaid, or they need more documents or an appointment.

Check, before you apply, that the countries you will leave, enter, and cross accept an emergency travel document, and whether you need a visa. Do not book travel until the email tells you how and when to collect it. If the plan changes, you apply again and pay £125 again. If the destination is the UK, border control will keep the document when you arrive. That can also happen in other countries.

If you have not had a UK passport issued on or after 1 January 2006, the online emergency document is usually not available. GOV.UK describes a narrower route for exceptional cases, such as urgent medical treatment or a funeral, and says holidays and weddings do not qualify for that narrower route.

For help, GOV.UK lists the FCDO on +44 (0)20 7008 5000, and the nearest British embassy, high commission, or consulate if you are already abroad.

If the passport is from anywhere else

Report the loss to the authority that issues passports for your country, then contact that country’s nearest embassy or consulate. Ask three questions and write the answers down:

  • Is the missing passport cancelled as soon as I report it?
  • What document can you issue here, how long does it take, and what does it cost?
  • Will my airline and my next country accept that document?

We have not written the local steps for other countries. A wrong fee or a wrong form is worse than this list.

Verify recovery

  • You have a written confirmation that the missing passport is cancelled, or the replacement application itself cancelled it, as with the UK emergency travel document.
  • You are holding the replacement document, and you have checked it against the itinerary the embassy printed on it.
  • The airline has confirmed they will board you on that document for this route.
  • Cards that were in the same bag are blocked. The police report number, if you needed one for insurance, is in your email.

After recovery

When you get home, replace the emergency document with a full passport if your country requires that. A US emergency passport can be exchanged for a full-validity book after the trip. A UK emergency travel document is not a ten-year passport. Apply for the normal passport before you travel again.

If the old book is found later, do not use it. Hand it to the issuer. The US State Department says a reported passport stays invalid.

Prepare now

Copies

  • A photocopy or a clear photo of the photo page is in your email and with someone at home. It is not the only copy, and it is not stored only on the phone you are carrying.
  • You know the passport number without the book in your hand.

Contacts

  • The embassy finder for your country is saved offline, or written on paper, because the phone may be gone too.
  • Travel insurance details are somewhere other than the suitcase. The policy number is what the insurer asks for with the police report.

Practice

  • Before a trip, you have checked how your country replaces a passport abroad, including the fee and whether an emergency document is accepted where you are going.
  • A second payment card lives separately from the wallet that sits next to the passport.

Common mistakes

  • Travelling on a passport you already reported. The US and UK both cancel it. The next border is where you find out.
  • Booking the new flight first. UK guidance says not to book until you know when the emergency travel document can be collected. A US emergency passport is not issued at every post on a Sunday.
  • Using a visa agent from a search ad. Contact the embassy through its own site.
  • Assuming an emergency document works for every onward country. Both the US posts that warn about this, and GOV.UK, tell you to check the route.
  • Forgetting the cards in the same bag. The passport office does not call your bank.

Sources

Last reviewed October 31, 2026Guidance changes. Confirm provider-specific actions in the linked official sources.