Don't Lose Passport

Note to self:  DO NOT LOSE YOUR PASSPORT.

I go through many moments of paranoia while travelling - obsessively checking and double checking my bag to be sure my passport is where I put it. Losing it has always been a concern of course... like the time in 2005 when a train conductor took it from me in Italy and wouldn't give it back until my friend and I got off...

That concern is only doubled when your passport contains a very valuable visa stamp indicating you have right to work in a foreign country.



Recently, an American friend living and working here was on a business trip in NYC and she misplaced her passport. After getting a new USA passport within 24 hours and getting her parents to overnight her birth certificate to her to do this, she headed to the British Embassy to replace her visa. The embassy very kindly turned her away and said sorry, go reapply.

Even though they have all her information, including her fingerprints to identify her, she had to completely reapply for the visa, a process that takes at least a week.

In order to obtain a new visa, you have to do the following:

1. Have your new USA passport on hand
2. Complete the visa application with the same information previously supplied
3. Attach a letter from your company stating you still work for them.
4. Get your fingerprints taken at an official designated location - an appointment that can take up to a week or more to make.
5. Attach a UK regulation size passport photo
6. Get a police report stating your Visa was lost.

Needless to say, this loss was all very expensive, costing around $1,000 for the expedited USA passport and UK visa replacement alone.

If you try to go back into the UK without the visa, you technically don't have the right to be working there without. Not sure what happens. I don't want to find out.

What happens if you lose your passport and you're not in the USA at the time but some other random country? I really, really, really don't want to find that out either.