Losing your passport is the most worrisome experience someone has to go through, especially if you’re in a foreign country and got no friends to ask help with. What’s the first thing you can do if your passport got stolen? Is a passport wallet a must? What to do if you just simply lost it? Who and where to go to ask for help? In this article, we will cover all the dos and don’ts of keeping your passport safe for your next travel abroad.
Travelling abroad and going places is the best experience you could ever have, until you can’t find your passport anywhere in your luggage and you start to panic. Passport is the most vital thing you carry with you and losing a passport is a personal crisis, it will cause so much trouble and stress.
What to Do If !Your Passport Got Stolen
Pick pocketers, grab gangs, and other criminals are your biggest threats. And tourist’s luggage, purses and backpacks are favored targets of thieves, that’s why it’s not ideal to bring your passport wherever you go. Zippered bags, hard sided bags are not secure, no matter how you lock them. Any reputable hotels has either safety deposit boxes or in-room locker/safe which in case you lost the key, the hotel always has its duplicate key.
In a locked storage leave your passport and travel documents behind and bring with the only laminated photocopy of the passport, for some identification occurrence. A digital copies of all your travel documents is helpful as well. Save a copy on your smartphone, google drive, dropbox or even sending an email to yourself worked too.
If unfortunately, your passport got stolen, the first thing you can do is report it right away to the nearest police station for a police report, needed for a new one and for insurance if you have. Run to your nearest home embassy to ask for immediate help. Most foreign embassies are quick to get you a new passport, or enough temporary documentation to go back to your country.
You’ll probably have to pay for a new one so as a safety measure, it’s good to keep a bit of cash or cards separately for situations like this so you can always load money in. Avoid putting all your cash, cards, passport in one place so if your travel wallet got stolen, you’re not left out empty handed. A police report is a must so make sure to bring it with you before going to your home embassy.
What Are the Things You Can Do In Case You Lost or Misplaced Your Passport
More than anything, don’t freak out, if it’s lost, it’s lost. The best thing you can do is to run to your nearest embassy and ask for help.
First thing’s first, add a small note to your passport pages. If someone finds it, chances are, they will report it to the nearest police station and it will be hard for them to trace you if there aren’t any emergency contact information. Take a small piece of paper, write down your name, hotel name and address, your phone number, your email address and even a small note. That way, the officers can immediately contact you or your hotel.
Almost in every country, it’s illegal to have someone else’s passport without the owner’s consent. If someone refuses to give your passport back, simply report it to the police and he could go to prison for years.
What Are the Other Tips and Hacks for Keeping Your Passport Safe
Once you land, check your visa date, and store your passport and other original travel documents separately in a secret pockets or in a passport wallet.
In some other places, one might require to confirm their identity by the law forces. If you’re someone who doesn’t bring it anywhere in the fear of getting it stolen, it’s always a good idea to bring a photocopy of your passport’s front page and your visa. And keep a digital photocopy on your phone too for safe keeping. It will appeal to the better sense of the law to accept the photocopy with a promise to show the original if they accompany to the hotel.
If the place you’re staying doesn’t look safe enough, then you might want to bring your necessary valuables with you including your passport and other identification cards. It is better not to place it inside your pants front pocket, jacket or blazer because at time you might take them off and put them on a rack may forget to take it out. It doesn’t hurt to have at least one luggage that is locked, water-resistant and theft resistant. For double safety against rain, keep it in a ziplock plastic bag first before putting it inside your purse.
Have a theft resistant bag that’s not so big, that you can hide it under your blazer or jacket. A bag that has a function of a waist bag leather that you can place firmly and tightly into the belt. Try to keep the waist belt pouch in front position not in the side or back. Unlike backpacks, you can always check it because it’s always in front of you and nobody will attempt to take it away from you or even get their hands on it.
If you’re not a belt bag type of person, a stylish small crossbody purse is the perfect anti-theft solution for you. With the use of the detachable long shoulder strap that comes with it. Again, try to always place it in front position. It’s not advisable to wear it over the shoulder as it might be easier for thieves to grab it.
And last but most importantly, try not to display your passport in a public places or take it out often. In case you require to prove your identity, always take out the photocopy version of your passport’s front page, only take out the original one if required.