It can be quite stressful to lose your passport in a foreign country you are visiting. “What to do if you lose your passport in India: a guide for foreigners” helps you navigate step-by-step through the process of recovering or getting a new passport along with a few tips. Read on to find out more.
Recheck everywhere
Check and recheck all your bags, rooms, and belongings thoroughly to make sure that your passport is definitely lost and not misplaced.
Remain calm
Yes, losing a passport can definitely send you in panic mode, but the first thing to do is to remain calm so that you can think things through. It is scary to lose a passport, but there are ways to fix the situation. Make sure you have access to all your other essential documents, such as your original ID or copies, some cash, or cards.
File an FIR
- Then, go to the nearest police station immediately to file an FIR (First Information Report). Let them know that your foreign passport has been lost or stolen.
- They will ask you for details such as your name, nationality, visa type, passport number, and where it got lost or stolen.
- Ask for a copy of the FIR, NCR (Non-Cognizable Report), or a document of acknowledgement from the police, which you might need at your embassy or consulate.
- If you have a digital or physical copy of your passport and visa, it will help a lot.
Contact your embassy or consulate
- Once you get the police report, contact your consulate or embassy in India.
- Your embassy or consulate will help you apply for a temporary passport or emergency travel document.
- You will need to submit some documents like the police report, copies of your passport and visa, ID proof, and passport photos.
- Pay the applicable fee.
- Your embassy will issue an emergency travel document within a few days.
Visit the FRRO in India
- If you also lost your visa along with the passport, you will also need a visa replacement or exit permit from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO).
- First, you need to apply online via https://indianfrro.gov.in. This is necessary before you visit the FRRO nearest to you.
- Carry documents like a copy of the police report, a letter from your embassy or consulate confirming the issue of your new passport, digital or physical copies of your passport, proof of stay in India, and a few passport photos.
- If you have plans of staying longer in India, apply for a visa reissuance. The replacement Indian visa, once issued, will let you continue your travels.
- If you plan on leaving soon, apply for an exit permit. This visa is valid for a single exit and it should match your flight date. It takes around 2 to 5 days, although it can be quicker for emergency cases.
Make copies of the documents
Once all these steps are completed, make multiple digital and printed copies of all the documents: FIR report, embassy letter, emergency temporary passport, visa/exit permit, and flight tickets.
Reconfirm flights
Once you get your exit permit or visa, book a new flight or reconfirm your original flight. Travel insurance may help you reimburse the flight costs. Airlines will check the documents like your new passport, exit permit, ticket, and police report. Even if you get an emergency passport, your airline will not let you board without a visa or exit permit.
Departure process
While leaving India, immigration officers will verify your temporary passport and match it with your exit permit number. They will stamp “exit” and keep a record of your lost passport. Keep all your documents in order for a smooth procedure.
What to do after returning home?
- After you are back in your home country, you need to apply for a new permanent passport.
- Inform the authorities that your old passport was lost – it will be marked as canceled.
- You may also need to update your visas and IDs.
- Claim your travel insurance, since most insurance companies refund fees for passport replacement and visa reissue, lost luggage, flight changes and hotel extensions.
What if you lose your visa, ID, cards, and cash along with your passport?
- It is quite possible that your entire bag containing all your documents gets misplaced or stolen.
- If that happens, go to the nearest hotel or police station, calm down, and file an FIR. request a stamped document explaining that all your belongings were lost or stolen.
- Your embassy or consulate can verify your identity using previous passport records or biometric data, personal verification, and any digital information from your country’s database.
- You can also ask your embassy to help you contact your family or friends back home who can wire you money.
Read also: e-Visa and Visa on arrival for India
What to do if you find your passport after filing a report?
It is quite possible for you to find your passport after you have already filed a report and maybe even applied for a replacement passport. Here is what you should do in that case:
Inform the police immediately
Go back to the police station where you filed the FIR and tell them you found your passport. The police will cancel or amend the report to show that your passport has been recovered or they will issue a new certificate that confirms the recovery of your passport. This is an important process because the authorities may check the FIR status.
Contact your embassy or consulate
If you have not received a new passport, inform your embassy immediately. They can cancel the replacement request and you can continue using your original passport. If you have already received your temporary emergency passport, your embassy may ask you to keep the emergency passport to travel and exchange it for a permanent passport once you are back in your country. Usually, if your replacement passport has already been issued, you cannot keep using the original passport since it is cancelled in the embassy system.
Keep all documents with you
Keep all the correspondence with police, embassy, and other authorities as proof. Keep the new passport and a copy of it safe. If a replacement passport has been issued, do not travel on the original passport, since it can be considered invalid. If you were reimbursed by your insurance, update it to show the original recovered passport.
General tips to remember
- Always, always keep digital copies and a few photocopies of your passport, visa, ID, travel insurance, and bookings while traveling. Keep them in 2-3 different places.
- Report your lost or stolen passport as soon as you can.
- Most embassies have 24-hour emergency numbers, so use those hotlines.
- Be aware of the extra fees you might have to pay for reissuance of your passport and visa.
- Remember to get travel insurance and use it – it can reimburse a lot of your fees.
- If your cards or IDs also got stolen with your passport, remember to cancel or block all cards and inform your bank about the same.
- Remember to get all your documentation before leaving India, or airlines will not allow you to board.
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