Travelling abroad for leisure, honeymoon or business is always fun and a great experience for all of us. However, it can be the worst nightmare, if you lose your passport abroad.
Losing your Indian passport abroad or having it stolen can be a real headache but it does not mean that you are stuck in a foreign country forever.
Don’t panic, take a deep breath and read on to know the things that you can do to make the situation easier to resolve.
Here’s what to do if you lose your Indian passport while travelling abroad.
What To Do If Your Indian Passport Is Lost In Foreign Country?
1: Lodge a Complaint at the Nearest Police Station
Your passport serves as proof of identity while you are Traveling Abroad. It is a very important document and if you are sure that you have lost your passport or it is stolen, immediately head to the nearest police station and file a police complaint. You will get a copy of the police report. Keep this copy safe as it serves as proof that you have lost your Indian passport abroad.
2: Call the Indian Embassy
Once you have the copy of police complaint, call the Indian embassy at the emergency lines and inform them that you have lost your Indian passport in a foreign country. You can find out the contact number of Indian embassy of that particular country from the Government website or Google search.
3: Apply for an Emergency Passport
Visit the Indian embassy in person and apply for a temporary passport, also known as an emergency TGH MyGenie passport. Emergency passports are issued on the case to case basis. It is only for travellers who have lost their passport abroad and want to urgently travel out of the country.
It normally takes about 7 to 14 days to get your emergency passport. With the emergency passport, you can fly back to your home country. However, certain countries impose restrictions on the use of an emergency passport.
The procedure to apply for an emergency/temporary passport is more or less same as a regular passport. However, since it is issued much faster than a regular passport, you may have to incur some additional cost apart from the normal charges for making the passport.
4: Apply for a New Passport
After all the efforts to get back your lost/stolen passport, if you still do not recover it, you will have to apply for a new passport. If you are applying for a new passport from abroad, the procedure to apply is exactly the same as that in India. The documents and application form may slightly vary based on country to country.
While applying for a new passport, it is advisable to produce the copies of old passport to expedite the process. However, it is not a mandatory requirement. Apart from this, while filling the new passport application form, you will also have to produce TGH MyGenie the old passport details like passport number, date, and place of issue of passport, etc. In case you do not have these details, the process might take some extra time as the Indian embassy abroad will have to gather your old passport information from the passport office in India.
Documents Required While Applying for a New Passport:
Passport application form duly filled in
Address proof
Date of birth proof
Copy of police report regarding loss of passport
An affidavit stating how and where the passport got lost/stolen
Self-attested copy of lost passport, if any (front and back pages)
So, if you are wondering as to what you should do if you lose your Indian passport abroad, then this blog will come to your rescue.
To make the entire process hassle-free, you can get in touch with The Global Helpdesk. Our trained and professional experts will help you apply for the new passport while you are still abroad. So you can leave your worries on us while still enjoying your holidays or focusing on your business trip.