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What to do if you lose your passport in Thailand

Last reviewed 2026-06-28 · AraiWa editorial

Step 1: report to the local police and get a report

Before you contact your embassy, you need a police report. Go to the nearest police station, or call the Tourist Police (1155, English-speaking) to ask where to report. Explain that your passport was lost or stolen. The police will issue a written report — keep multiple copies.

1. Bring any form of ID you have: a driving licence, a scan of your passport if you have one stored on your phone, a travel insurance card.
2. Ask for the report in English if possible, or confirm it states your nationality, passport number (if known), date, and the officer's details.
3. Tourist Police 1155 is English-speaking and can advise on which local station to go to — they cannot issue the report themselves, but they can help you navigate the system.

Step 2: contact your embassy or consulate

Most countries with a large number of nationals in Thailand have an embassy in Bangkok. Some have a consulate in Chiang Mai as well. Contact your embassy as soon as you have the police report. They will tell you exactly what documents they need and how long the process takes in their system.

1. Use your country's official government website to find the embassy contact — do not rely on a third-party 'embassy finder' site as these are often out of date.
2. Typically required: the police report, passport photos, a form of secondary ID, and a fee. The embassy will tell you their current list.
3. If you need to travel within days, ask about an Emergency Travel Document (ETD) — some embassies can issue one faster than a full replacement passport. An ETD is usually valid for one trip home only.
4. If your embassy is in Bangkok and you are in another province, ask whether they can handle the process by post, courier, or via a local consulate.

Overstay risk and Thai immigration

If your passport is lost and your visa or permission to stay is tied to it, you are in a legally uncertain position. Thai immigration can verify entry stamps digitally, but if your visa was stamped in the lost passport and you overstay your original permission to stay, you may face a fine when you exit — even though the loss was not your fault.

1. Go to Thai Immigration (or call 1178, their hotline) to report the situation before your permission to stay expires — bring the police report.
2. Thai immigration can in some cases give a short extension or a waiver note for travellers in genuine distress. They cannot guarantee this, but reporting early gives you a better outcome than arriving at the airport on overstay.
3. Your embassy can also advise on what to say to Thai immigration and may issue a supporting letter.

Replacing the passport

A full replacement passport takes longer than an ETD — typically 1–4 weeks depending on your nationality and whether your country can process remotely or needs to send to a home office. During that wait, keep your police report and any immigration paperwork on you at all times in lieu of your passport.

Practical prevention

1. Store a photo of your passport (data page) in your phone's photos and also email it to yourself — you will thank yourself later.
2. When you check into accommodation in Thailand, hotels and guesthouses will want to photocopy your passport. Keep a few spare photocopies yourself to hand over in future rather than giving away the original.
3. Consider leaving your passport in the hotel safe and carrying a photocopy or a secondary ID day to day — especially on beach trips, busy markets, or nights out where the risk of loss is higher.

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