I’m not sure which is worse: knowing you’ve lost your passport or knowing someone else lost it for you.
I vote for the second. in the first case, you know who to blame, you know most of the story (“I remember I took it out of my wallet when I checked into the hotel…”), and you have some hope of finding it by retracing your steps.
but finding a lost passport between your origin and your mailbox is a special hell.
here is your anti-hades guide to solving a passport lost in transit.
start here
The Department of State’s website, travel.state.gov, gives you the information you need to replace your passport if you can’t find it. (Did you look in your carry-on pocket? Sock drawer?)
but what if it never came? This recently happened to a colleague. She and her family, including her school-age daughter, planned to travel to Europe in six weeks.
Processing times to receive a passport are four to six weeks, depending on the state’s website. To make sure her daughter’s passport arrived on time, she requested (and paid for) expedited service. expedited service takes two to three weeks, the website said.
Her daughter’s expired passport and birth certificate, submitted as part of the application process, were returned in the second week. (the new passport does not arrive in the same envelope).
When he didn’t receive his passport on day 2 of week 4, he called the National Passport Information Center, 877-487-2778, and was given a tracking number.
The passport had been delivered about three weeks ago, according to the tracking number.
“That’s when I panicked,” he said. he was told to submit an urgent reissue request, which he did. (She also knew that if time ran short, she could make an urgent appointment at the Los Angeles passport agency. A recent article by another colleague detailed a good outcome after she forgot to renew her daughter’s passport and realized realized that it was 30 hours before takeoff. : lat.ms/fastpassport.)
On a hunch, you decided to check with a neighbor, whose address is one digit different from yours. the neighbor leafed through her mail and presto! there was the priority mail envelope with the document. her breathing again, she was able to cancel the urgent request.
next steps
I knew your trip had a happy ending, but my palms are sweating from things like this, so I asked the state department what to do if the passport is lost in space. this is what they told me:
Step 1:Call the National Passport Information Center: 877-487-2778 or 888-874-7793 (tdd/tty). hours are 7 am to 7 pm Monday-Friday.
Step 2:Get the tracking number from the clearinghouse and ask for instructions on what to do in case of non-receipt, non-loss. ask for the address where you sent your original application. ask for the date the document was issued. the reasons for this will become apparent.
Step 3: You will probably be asked to complete the ds-86 form (which you will find here: lat.ms/ds86). it must be sent to the same place where you sent your original application.
Step 4:Go to the post office and get that form in the mail as quickly as possible.
The good news is that you don’t need proof that you didn’t receive your passport (because how do you prove a negative)? You must submit this form within 90 days of issuance of the original document.
The other good news is that if the documentation you used was also not returned (again, the 90-day rule applies), you will be reimbursed for the cost of replacing those documents (save your receipts); credit control will also be included.
You will not be reimbursed for the wear and tear on your psyche.