If you lose your passport abroad

Losing a passport is stressful, but it is a known problem with a known process. Stay calm, report it, contact your country's embassy and fix your visa records afterwards.

The first hour

• Search properly once: bags, pockets, the last place you used it, and ask the hotel, venue or transport company.
• If it was stolen, report it to the local police; the University of Greenwich says to report to the police without delay and that you will usually get a crime reference number for theft.
• A police report is useful even when not strictly required: OSAC (part of the US Department of State) notes a formal police report may be needed for travel insurance claims or replacing a visa.
• Tell your family where you are and what has happened, and contact your travel insurer if you have one.
• Find your scan of the passport photo page: GOV.UK says a photocopy or photo of the passport can help you answer questions when cancelling it.

Contact your embassy or consulate

• Your replacement passport or emergency document always comes from your own country, through its embassy, consulate or official app.
• Greenwich advises students who lose a passport outside the UK to contact their country's embassy or high commission where they are.
• Ask what you need to bring: typically a passport-style photo, any other ID, the police report and your travel details.
• Tell the embassy if you need to travel soon, so they can consider an emergency document.

For Emirati citizens

• Gulf News reported in October 2022 that the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched an electronic Return Document for citizens abroad whose passport is lost, damaged or expired, issued in under 30 minutes by email at no charge.
• The report said you apply through the ministry's website or smart app and do not need to visit an embassy to receive it.
• u.ae says citizens abroad can request passport renewal through the UAEICP app and choose delivery to a UAE embassy or consulate in their country of residence.
• Before you travel, register with MoFA's Twajudi service: MoFA says it is free, uses UAE PASS, and lets the ministry contact and assist UAE nationals abroad in an emergency.
• MoFA lists 800 44444 (toll free) and +971 800 44444 as support numbers for the Twajudi service; save the number in your phone before you travel.

For British citizens (example of another country's process)

• GOV.UK says you must cancel a lost or stolen passport as soon as possible, to reduce the risk of someone else using it.
• If you need to travel urgently, you may be able to apply for an emergency travel document, for a fee; GOV.UK says cancellation is part of that application.
• GOV.UK says eligibility includes needing to travel within 6 weeks and being unable to renew or replace the passport from abroad before you travel.
• An emergency travel document is usually valid for one single or return journey, through a maximum of 5 countries.
• Other nationalities have their own rules, so find your embassy's page before you travel and save its phone number.

Afterwards: fix your visa and ID records

• UKCISA says that after replacing a lost passport, students must update their UKVI account with the new passport details.
• Greenwich adds that this reduces the risk of problems at the border, because your eVisa is linked to your travel document.
• UAE residents who lose an Emirates ID should report it: u.ae says to report the loss to ICP within 7 days and request a replacement.
• Update airlines, banks and any other account that recorded your old passport number.
• Write a short note of what happened, dates and reference numbers, in case you are asked later.