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What Should I Do about a Stolen Passport?

By Tiffany Manley
Updated: May 17, 2024
Views: 28,691
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Passports allow individuals to travel between countries legally. It is important to safeguard your passport to avoid things such as identity theft or the inability to obtain a new passport. Several steps are available to you if you have a stolen passport, such as reporting the stolen passport to law enforcement officials, reporting it to your country’s embassy or consulate if you are out of the country, filing the necessary paperwork with your local passport office and alerting all necessary parties to try to detect or prevent identity theft.

One of the first steps to take if your passport is stolen is to notify law enforcement officials. This should be done no matter whether the passport is stolen in your home country or in a foreign country. Local law enforcement officials will be able to assist you with filling out the paperwork necessary to document the circumstances surrounding the theft of your passport.

If you are out of the country and your passport is stolen, you also should notify your country’s consulate or embassy after you have notified law enforcement officials. This is helpful for a variety of reasons, such as getting assistance with your stolen passport in your native language, notification of any other officials within your home country who might need to be notified and obtaining additional documentation to note that you have had your passport stolen. In addition, this is one of the things that will help you obtain a new passport.

After you have made all of the necessary notifications, you should file stolen passport paperwork with your local passport office. Some offices require you to come in and fill out the paperwork, but others allow you to do so online. If you choose the latter option, you likely will need to send in certain pieces of information for consideration with your online application. It is a good idea to document everything, including when you mailed or submitted information, how you submitted it and to whom you submitted it.

For many people, obtaining a replacement passport is one of the main things on their mind after their passport is stolen. This is important, but it also is imperative that you begin monitoring your credit report. It is quite possible that someone who has stolen your passport will also try to steal your identity. You might contact credit bureaus immediately to make them aware of the situation, and you might enact some type of service to monitor your credit reports.

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Discussion Comments
By tigers88 — On Jan 03, 2012

I had my passport stolen when my husband and I were traveling in Indonesia. It was such a pain in the neck and for a while it was a really stressful situation.

The problem was that when it was stolen we were in a very remote part of the country and no where near an American consulate. They were the only place that would replace a lost passport. Luckily we were able to make it back to Jakarta and get the situation resolved but it looked kind of hairy there for a while.

By John57 — On Jan 03, 2012

Trying to find my passport when I needed it turned out to be very frustrating for me. I had a current passport, but was getting ready to go on a trip overseas and could not find it anywhere.

I turned the whole house upside down looking for my lost passport. I did not think it was stolen, as nothing else has turned up missing.

Either I misplaced my passport, or mistakenly threw it away. Even as frustrating as this was to get a lost passport replacement, it was much better than knowing my passport was stolen.

I was able to get a replacement in time to go on my trip. Since then, I have been much more diligent about where I store my passport when I am not using it.

By andee — On Jan 03, 2012

When my son was living in Chicago, he was robbed and lost all the identification he had in his wallet.

He realized that he had nothing with him to prove who he was so that he could get some new identification.

Because he had a stolen drivers license and stolen social security card, the only thing he could use was his current passport.

Having the passport made it easier for him to prove who he was so he could get the needed documentation.

It's a good thing his passport was not lost or stolen as well. That would have made things even more complicated and frustrating than they already were.

By sunshined — On Jan 02, 2012

Thankfully I have never had my passport stolen. Even though you can get a passport replacement, I would worry about my identity being stolen as well.

If someone was able to steal your passport, who knows what kind of other information they would be able to get their hands on.

After reporting a stolen passport to the proper authorities, I would make sure and monitor all of my bank accounts and credit information for a long time afterwards.

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