How to recover a passport lost abroad

Publication date: August 6, 2024

The successful case of the NGO Center for Support of Local Initiatives is relevant to many people who have moved abroad, mainly due to the war. The organization’s lawyer, Oleksii Kormiletskyi, uses a case study to explain what to do if a person loses their passport while outside Ukraine.

Volodymyr, a Pavlohrad, Dnipro oblast resident, contacted the NGO Center for Support of Local Initiatives to help his wife.  She had lost her passport in another country, where she was staying with her children, and needed help figuring out how to get it back or where to start.

The loss of a passport abroad is an unpleasant situation, but not hopeless, assured lawyer Oleksii Kormiletskyi and explained the sequence of actions to be taken:

1. Contact the Embassy or Consulate of Ukraine

• Report the loss. First, you must report the loss of your passport to the Ukrainian embassy or consulate in your country of residence.
• Report the loss. Write a statement about the loss of your passport.
• Get a certificate. If your application is accepted, you will receive a certificate confirming your application to a diplomatic institution. You will need this certificate to return home or to apply for new documents.

2. Contact local police

• Submit a report. Report the loss of your passport to the local police station. This is necessary to block your passport and prevent its illegal use.

3. Prepare documents to return home

• An identity card to return home. The embassy can often provide you with a temporary identity card for your return to Ukraine. This document will allow you to return home and apply for a new passport.
• Airline ticket. You will usually need to purchase an airline ticket to return home. Some airlines may allow you to travel with this temporary ID.

4. Apply for a new passport

• After you return home. You must apply for a new passport at the State Migration Service upon returning to Ukraine.
• Documents required. To apply for a new passport, you need:

• Passport of a citizen of Ukraine;
• Identification code;
• A certificate of loss of passport obtained from the embassy and any other documents required by the Migration Service.

Useful tips

• Make copies of your documents. Before traveling abroad, make copies of all essential documents (passport, tickets, insurance) and keep them separate from the originals.
• Take photos of documents. Take pictures of your passport and send them to yourself via email or cloud storage.
• Inform your loved ones. Let your family and friends know you are traveling and where you will stay.
• Check your insurance policy. Check to see if your insurance policy covers the loss of documents abroad.

Attention! The Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine # 1201 of October 21, 2022, “On Implementation of the Pilot Project on Issuance of an Identity Card for Returning to Ukraine on the Territory of Ukraine”, provides for the possibility of issuing an Identity Card for Returning to Ukraine both in a consular office and on the territory of Ukraine.

The procedure for the implementation of the pilot project on the issuance of the Return to Ukraine Identity Card on the territory of Ukraine is determined by the Procedure for the Implementation of the Pilot Project on the Issuance of the Return to Ukraine Identity Card on the Territory of Ukraine for Persons Forcibly Displaced to the Territory of a State Recognized by Ukraine as an Aggressor or Occupying State, approved by the said Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

The State Migration Service of Ukraine issues an identity card (without the person’s presence) based on an application:

● one of the parents or other legal representative of a person under the age of 18

● one of the parents, one of the spouses, an adult child, a sibling (full or half)

● an official request from the Ministry of Reintegration.

After consulting with a lawyer and receiving an algorithm of action, Volodymyr passed the information to his wife, and within a month, the woman restored her lost passport.

The material was created with the support of GlobalGiving, an international charity platform, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The Legal Development Network is solely responsible for the publication’s content.

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