Lost or Stolen U.S. Passport Abroad: Emergency Consular Replacement Protocol
How to ask a U.S. embassy or consulate for a limited-validity passport. Issuance is usually the next business day, and Form DS-5504 does not extend every limited book.
1. Immediate Triage When Your Passport Is Lost or Stolen Overseas
Do not panic and do not cancel your return international flight until you contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate American Citizen Services (ACS) unit. Almost all U.S. Embassies can print an Emergency Limited-Validity Passport (EPDP) the same business day so you can board your flight back to the United States.
- ▸Step 1: Obtain a local police theft/loss report reference number if safe to do so (required by certain host countries like Thailand, Italy, and Mexico to replace entry stamps or satisfy airline gate security, though a U.S. consular officer will never deny a U.S. citizen an emergency passport solely for lacking a local police report).
- ▸Step 2: Locate a digital photo or photocopy of your lost passport data page, your state driver’s license, and your printed return airline itinerary.
- ▸Step 3: Report to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate American Citizen Services (ACS) entrance with Form DS-11, Form DS-64 (Lost/Stolen Statement), a 2x2 photo (most embassies have a coin/card photo booth inside the waiting room), and the $165 statutory fee.
2. Airline & Transit Country Restrictions on Emergency Passports
An Emergency Limited-Validity Passport does NOT contain an embedded biometric RFID chip and is normally valid for 1 year (or the duration of your direct return journey).
While an Emergency Limited-Validity Passport is 100% valid for boarding a direct flight back to the United States, several countries (including France, the UAE, and certain Asian hubs) do not permit visa-free entry—or sometimes airside terminal changes—on a non-biometric emergency passport. Always route your return flight directly to a U.S. port of entry or via UK/German/Canadian airside transit.
3. Free Upgrade to a Full 10-Year Passport Once Home (Form DS-5504)
Keep the endorsement letter the U.S. Embassy gives you with your emergency passport! Within 1 year of the emergency passport’s issue date, you can submit Form DS-5504 along with your emergency passport and a new 2x2 photo to receive a full-validity 10-year biometric passport book for $0 government book fee (only pay $60 if you choose optional expedited processing).
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