Lost or Stolen Passport in Thailand: Steps in Order

Report the loss at a local police station first, because the embassy needs that report before it will issue a new passport. Then ask your embassy for a replacement, and once you have it take the embassy's letter to the Immigration Bureau to get a new arrival stamp. The Tourist Police hotline is 1155.

The order matters more than the speed: police, then embassy, then Immigration. Foreigners who lose a passport in Thailand must report it at a local police station before submitting a request to their embassy for a new one, and skipping the police report stalls everything after it.

Report it to the police first

Go to the police station nearest to where the loss happened, or the nearest one to you. The Tourist Police hotline is 1155 and is the quickest route to someone who speaks English. Ask for a copy of the notification, because the embassy request needs it.

Report the loss at once, since a British passport holder must report a lost or stolen passport immediately, and a police statement also supports your insurance claim. For the wider routine after a loss or theft, see our emergency numbers guide.

Ask your embassy for a new passport

The embassy request needs a copy of the police notification and a copy of your previous passport data and photo page, if you have one. For a US passport you also bring the original police report, and you make an appointment to submit the application.

If you find the old passport afterwards, do not plan to use it. A US passport reported lost or stolen must be replaced even if you find it, and arriving in Thailand with one will not get you admitted.

Get a new arrival stamp at Immigration

A new passport carries no Thai arrival stamp, so you request one. When the new passport arrives, you need a letter from the embassy to the Immigration Bureau asking it to provide a new arrival stamp.

The request is made at the Change Passport Book Department counter, Sub-Division 2, Immigration Division 1. Bring the new passport and the embassy letter, and ask the staff there what else they need.

If you leave in under two weeks

A flight inside the next two weeks changes the order of the day, not the steps. The US embassy asks you to use its contact form and send a copy of your confirmed itinerary. A British passport holder can apply to the FCDO for an emergency travel document when a replacement will not come in time. Whichever nationality you are, the police report still comes first.

Keep copies for next time

A copy of the passport photo page helps twice. Police may ask to check your passport, and if you do not have it with you, a copy of the photo page is usually enough. The same copy is the “previous passport” page your embassy asks for after a loss. Keep a photo on your phone and a paper copy in a different bag.

For when a rental or hotel asks to keep your passport, see our guide to scams and how to report them, and read the passport carry rule so you know when a copy is enough.

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Not confirmed: This page covers the Thai procedure plus the US and UK embassy rules. Other embassies differ in forms, fees and waiting time: ask yours which documents it wants before you go. The Immigration Bureau fee for the new arrival stamp was not found, so ask at the counter.

General information checked against the sources listed above. Prices, opening hours and other details change; confirm them with the provider before you act. See how guides are checked.

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