Replace a Lost Passport

A passport that was still valid when it went missing should be reported once you are satisfied that it is gone. The report cancels the passport electronically, after which it cannot be used for travel or presented as identification by anyone who finds it, including you. Because the cancellation cannot be reversed, search your usual places first: luggage, coat pockets, desk drawers, the glove box, and anywhere the passport was last used. A passport that had already expired when it was lost is not reported, since an expired passport cannot be used for travel in any case; it is simply recorded on the replacement application. A report you have already made is not repeated.

The replacement is a new passport application, not a renewal, because the passport that would have supported a renewal is no longer in your possession. You therefore establish citizenship and identity again. Citizenship is shown with an original or certified copy of your birth certificate, Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or certificate of naturalization or citizenship, and identity with a current physical photo identification such as a driver's license. One recent color photo is included, taken within the last six months and measuring two inches by two inches. If your name has changed since the lost passport was issued, a certified marriage certificate or court order documents the change. The report itself asks for the approximate date and place of the loss and a short account of how it happened.

You tell us at the start whether the passport was still valid and whether it has already been reported. From those two answers our system decides whether a report is needed and prepares it alongside the replacement application, with the details of the loss entered once and carried into both. If the passport was expired, or already reported, only the replacement application is completed. Our team prechecks your answers for completeness and consistency, including that the passport details, the dates, and the account of the loss agree with one another. Once your application has been processed, the report, the replacement application, and instructions for the remaining steps are available together in your account.

A replacement for a first loss is normally issued with full validity: ten years for an adult, five for a child under 16. When more than one valid passport issued to you has been lost or stolen, the replacement may be limited to a shorter period, so the new passport is worth keeping somewhere you will not have to search for it. If the original passport turns up after the report, it remains cancelled and cannot be used for travel; anyone presenting a cancelled passport may be detained, so the found passport should be returned for destruction rather than kept. Your original citizenship document is returned to you separately from the new passport, which carries a new number.