Missed passport abroad. What do I do?
Long-awaited vacation, you are traveling abroad. Entertainment, trips to museums and local attractions - all this brings a lot of positive emotions. But here's the annoyance: passport or important documents have been lost or stolen. What to do in such a situation?
First, you need to calm down and not panic. Secondly, to pull yourself together and act according to the following scheme:
Go to the police.
The institution you should contact first is the local police of the country you are in. There you will have to write a statement about the loss or theft of the document, after which a copy of the statement will be made for you and certified. This document will be useful to you in further actions. In addition, the police will give you a temporary identity card.
These actions will not be difficult if you can speak freely in the language of the state in which you are located. But if this is not the case, then you need to seek the services of an interpreter, who will allow you to freely and quickly explain your situation to the police and other government agencies to which you will have to contact.
Let's go to the consulate.
Your next action will be to go to the consulate of the Russian Federation in the territory of the state in which you are located. A consulate is a diplomatic representation of a state on the territory of another country, its mission is to protect the interests of its citizens on foreign territory. To contact the institution you will need:
• Police report (statement of temporary absence of identity document).
• Temporary identity card.
2 of your photos (3.5 x 4.5 cm).
Photocopies of your lost document or internal passport proving your identity. If there are no such documents, then you may have to confirm your identity in another way at the consulate. For example, it can be done by your friends – compatriots or relatives. Otherwise, the consulate will make a request to your homeland for identification.
• Consular fee. It is worth remembering that this service is paid, its cost depends on the case and the state (the price varies from 20 to 100 US dollars).
If you acted according to the scheme and everything is in order with the documents, then the certificate of return to your homeland will be issued on the same day. This is what you will show at passport control when you return home. This certificate is valid for 14 days.
It is good if you are in the capital, not excluding the situation that you may have lost documents in remote places from the embassy. Remember that you will not be allowed on a train or plane without accompanying documents. Then you will have to get to the place by car or bus.
Important! Do not confuse the body of the diplomatic mission to which you need to apply in case of loss of a passport abroad. You need to contact the consulate, not the embassy (these institutions are often confused, which leads to a misunderstanding of which body to contact for civil matters). On the territory of foreign countries, as a rule, there is an embassy (one in the capital city), and consulates (there may be several of them: as many as the state deems necessary). These institutions differ according to their main function: The embassy deals with political issues of the state on the territory of another state, and the consulate deals with issues related to citizens’ appeals (including working with lost documents).
Let's go to FMS.
Return to Russia - contact the FMS, where you were issued a passport. After the application and submission of your temporary documents, the lost passport is restored within 10 to 14 calendar days. If the documents were stolen, then obtaining a passport can be delayed, because the police are given time to search for the thief (about 3 months).
Before contacting the FMS department in your home country, call them and clarify whether it is necessary to make an appointment. Bureaucratic procedures often involve the need to sign up – this will save you time, not waste it.
In conclusion, some useful tips that can be useful in case of loss of a passport abroad:
Abroad, you should not leave your passport or important documents to anyone for safekeeping or as a pledge: always keep documents with you.
Before traveling, make photocopies of all important documents at home, as well as an internal passport, which must be notarized.
• A couple of photos should be prepared.
Also, before traveling, write down the address and contacts of the consulates of the country to which you are going.
Leave a note in your bag or folder with your contact details: if lost, someone can find your belongings and return the contents.
If you do not know the language of the country you are going to, then prepare phrases in advance to help you in the situation.
During the trip, it is necessary to take the storage of documents seriously. Be careful, vigilant, and then your trip will not be overshadowed by trips to all state institutions and the restoration of documents.
Text by Irina Mitrofanova
Photos: travel, avtoblog