A lost passport is inconvenient enough when you’re at home, but when you’re overseas it can be terrifying. After all, you need your passport to get home, and being stranded in a foreign country with no ID is just not fun. Fortunately, you can get your lost passport replaced quickly if you take the proper steps to do so.
The procedure for replacing a passport while overseas is different from the procedure for replacing a lost passport in the United States. Here’s what you’ll need to do:
Contact your nearest US Embassy. It’s a good idea to make a note of where the nearest US embassy is and get its contact information before you travel. You can look up this information here.
You will need to visit the embassy or consulate in person and provide information to verify your identity, including your name, your birthday, where you were born, your passport number, and when and where your lost passport was issued to you. This is why experts recommend that you make copies of your passport’s information pages and carry them separately from the actual document. The embassy will do its best to help you obtain and verify any information you don’t have.
If you don’t have any proof of identification, you may need to get a traveling companion to vouch for you.
If you’re completely alone, your friends or family may be able to contact the embassy and confirm your identity.
You will need to pay the standard passport fees, but if you don’t have money and there’s no way for you to get access to funds before you are supposed to leave, the Embassy may issue you a free passport good only for 3 months.
Passports are not issued on weekends or holidays; however, there is always one officer on duty for life and death emergencies and if you have an urgent situation the officer may be able to make arrangements with your airline and immigration to have you transported home to the US without a passport. However, this is not guaranteed.
You’ll need new photos, and the embassy will direct you on where to get them.
Alison Kroulek is a freelance writer and blogger with a focus on the travel industry.
