Expedited Lost Or Stolen Passport Replacement Can Be Used In An Emergency

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:36:36 EST

Imagine being abroad and having the time of your life, only to reach into your bag one day and realize that the passport is not there. How about getting ready to leave on a trip and thinking that the passport is in the safe deposit box and when it is checked a few days before the big trip, no passport. It is situations just like this that are the exact reason that there is an expedited lost or stolen passport replacement service.

Methods will change depending upon where the passport holder is located, but there are ways to get the passport replaced rather quickly. While it is a lot easier to get it replaced on U.S. soil, there are measures in place to be able to get a new passport when the original is lost abroad. It may be a bit more involved, but there is no need to panic.

As soon as anyone realizes that their passport is gone, it is important to start the replacement process right away. It should be reported to the State Department immediately that the passport is gone and that the original owner has no idea where it is. This allows them to take the proper precautions in making sure that the passport is not used for anything illegal.

Phone contact with the State Department is always a good place to start and that toll free number is 877-487-2778. This would be the initial contact, but in order to get a new passport, some forms are going to have to be filled out. The DS-64 is the standard from and it should be available for download over the Internet.

Once the DS-64 form is completed, the standard new passport application will also have to be filled out again. The same protocol applies to getting a stolen passport replacement at this point that applies to a new passport, so the whole process should be fairly familiar to anyone that has to do this. In essence, it is just the need to fill out the additional form.

When the passport is lost or stolen before a trip, using a passport expediting service is going to be needed. The fee for this is identical to that of regular expedited service as it costs $60 plus shipping fees. Paying this fee will get the whole process sped up and a replacement passport will be mailed back in about three weeks. If it is needed quicker, that can also be accomplished for more money.

If the citizen is abroad, that changes things considerably. The traveler will have to find out where the closest U.S. Consulate or Embassy is and report to them. Once there, they will go through the process of what has to be done and expedite it to make sure that the person can get home and that their trip is not ruined.

The whole process goes much quicker if the citizen has copies of their documents, which is why it is recommended that photo copies are always made and kept in an area (like a compartment in the suit case) where they can be accessed in just such a case.

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Expedited Lost Or Stolen Passport Replacement Can Be Used In An Emergency