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As mentioned earlier, an orderly organization and secure store of your travel documents will prevent losing and theft, but what if the undesirable things still happen?
I. Apply for a new passport
1. Lose passport within your country
If you find your passport lost or stolen, you should immediately report the loss! The following are the detailed reporting and replacing procedures of passport in the United States and Canada.
In America, Consular Lost/Stolen Passport Section of U.S. Department of State takes charge of all the matters related to passports. When your passport is missing, you need to fill in Form DS-64 - Statement Regarding Lost or Stolen Passport to report it and complete Form DS-11 - Application for Passport to get a new one. When providing information about your previous passport, do the best you can - try to answer all questions of the two forms in details. Do not mail your new passport application to Department of State. In order to obtain a new passport, you must appear in person at its Passport Agency or Acceptance Facility.
For Canadian citizens, as soon as the passport is believed to be missing, the bearer is required to report the circumstances of the loss or theft to the local police and Passport Canada. Mandated by the Canadian Passport Order, Passport Canada is responsible for issuing, revoking, withholding, recovering, and providing instructions on the use of Canadian passports. You can pick up a Canadian passport application form at a participating Canadian post office outlet or a Canadian passport office. You can also visit the website of Passport Canada to fill in the electronic forms and print them for submission.
What needs to be emphasized is that passports reported lost or stolen are no longer valid and can not be used for any travel. If you rediscover your passport, which had previously been reported lost or stolen, you are required to submit it to the related government institution in both two countries.
2. Lose passport overseas
If your passport is lost or stolen overseas, you should report the loss in person at a local police office or the nearest embassy or consulate of your citizenship without delay. If you cannot reach there immediately, make a timely call to the embassy or consulate. Before issuing a replacement passport, the authorities will take an investigation into the circumstances. An official report document will be presented to you by the local police or consulate for the later application process. All these will lead to delays in processing the new passport, so be patient and prepared for additional fees and new passport photos.
Some countries also issue conditional passports in the condition that the embassy or consulate still has doubts about your identity but has satisfaction with the information you have supplied and decides to let you go back to your country. It can be valid for ten years as a standard one if you offer the embassy or consulate the proper information and documentation they need to confirm and record.
II. Apply for an emergency travel document
If you are in an emergency and cannot afford the long time waiting for reapplication, you can apply for an Emergency Travel Document. Before you make your decision, you have to take a look at some details for the ETD in order to make a better choice since there are advantages and disadvantages.
An ETD can be applied in a shorter time but is only valid for a maximum of one year. You have to turn in your ETD if you reapply for a standard document, which means your visa will be invalid with ETD and you have to apply a new visa again. More than that, you may run into problems if you decide to enter several countries.
No travelers would ever want to lose their passports, but anything could happen. In order to best react to the might-happening situation, it is necessary to know the general procedures that can help the victims report and reapply a replacement in the shortest time. Wish all travelers a very safe and secure travel!
