How to Deal with Passport Problems Abroad
When Cullen and I were backpacking around southeast Asia, I ran into the unfortunate problem of being completely out of passport pages. Since a typical requirement of entering countries is to have two blank visa pages, I knew I was in trouble. When this happened to me, I spent so much time stressing over the situation and worrying about if I was going to be able to make it home and get a new passport quickly so our adventures to continue, but I’ll tell you right now that it really isn’t a difficult process at all. And now that I’ve been through it, I wanted to share all my tips and tricks to getting through this situation as painlessly as possible.
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What is an Emergency Passport?
An emergency passport is a temporary travel document issued in special circumstances to citizens who need to travel abroad urgently due to:
- Lost or stolen passport: An emergency passport can be issued if your original passport is lost or stolen and you need to travel immediately.
- Damaged passport: If your passport is damaged to the point it’s no longer valid for travel, you can also apply for an emergency passport.
- Death or serious illness of a close family member: If you need to travel urgently to be with a family member who is dying or critically ill, you may be eligible for an emergency passport.
- Other urgent situations: Some embassies or consulates may issue emergency passports for other urgent situations, such as attending a funeral or receiving critical medical treatment abroad.
Emergency passports are limited validity documents that are valid for one year and only have five visa pages. Therefore, it’s important to get it replaced with an official one as soon as possible. They’re also purple, which is just so fun.
An emergency passport costs $130, but the good thing is that if you apply for an official US passport during the year in which your emergency passport is valid, you don’t need to pay the renewal fee. The only additional fees you’ll need to pay is if you need your renewal expedited.
Be aware that NOT ALL COUNTRIES ACCEPT A US EMERGENCY PASSPORT. It’s important to return to the US as quick as possible afterwards to get an official passport.
What To Do When You Need an Emergency Passport
1. Make an Appointment ASAP
Once you realize that you’re going to have a passport issue, IMMEDIATELY MAKE AN APPOINTMENT AT AN EMBASSY OR CONSULATE. If there are none available in the time frame you need, email them to explain the situation, give your date of travel, and send a picture confirming your travel information. It seems like they’ll usually squeeze you in if possible, but do note that not all embassies/consulates have appointments every day. At both the Chiang Mai (Thailand) consulate and the Vientiane (Laos) US embassy, they only had appointments available on Tuesdays or Thursdays, so you may need to adjust your travel schedule to fit their availability.
2. Print out your Appointment Form
When you make an appointment at an embassy/consulate, MAKE SURE YOU PRINT OUT YOUR APPOINTMENT FORM AND BRING IT FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT. If you don’t, they may not let you in, or it may take a lot longer than expected. When I had my appointment, I only brought my appointment confirmation print out and my passport, and I filled out all other paperwork there. If you’ve lost your passport, you’ll need alternate forms of identification.
3. That’s It!
Just attend your appointment, fill out some paperwork, pay the $130 fee, and pick up your new emergency passport either later that day or the next day! Easy!
How to Get a New Passport in Under Two Weeks in the US
1. Make an Appointment ASAP
If you have already applied for a new passport, make an appointment by calling the number provided on the travel state department website if you have not received it and will be traveling in 14 days. If you have NOT applied already, make an appointment online. The image below shows the information you’ll need to scroll to on the link provided below.
I’m not sure if you’ll be able to schedule the appointment more than 14 days before your international travel with the new online appointment process, but it’s worth a try! If you can’t, just try exactly 14 days in advance and they’ll likely have some appointments available.
Make an Appointment Online or by Calling the Number on the State Department Website
2. Bring all of your required documents to the appointment
I brought both my emergency passport and my old filled one, as well as a completed passport renewal form and a print out of my travel confirmation plans. You’ll also need cash or a credit card to pay for the services provided – it cost $60 for the appointment and another $20 for overnight shipping.
3. That’s It!
Either wait to get your new passport in the mail the following day, or wait until it’s ready to be picked up in person at the passport center.
My Story
Tragic Beginnings
I was in Chiang Mai, Thailand when I realized that my passport didn’t have the two free empty pages required for me to enter Laos. I actually only had one free page – the rest at the end were “endorsement” pages. Thus, panic ensued. I dragged Cullen to the Thai consulate in Chiang Mai, where I discovered that I had to make an appointment online. Unfortunately there were none available, though when I explained the situation over email, the consulate offered to squeeze me in before my flight. However, conflicting travel plans forced me to gamble, so I decided to try to enter Laos with one page and tackle the issue at the embassy in Vientiane.
A Gamble Gone Well
When I was entering Laos, I was super nervous that I would be turned away and sent back to Thailand, but no one said anything! The Laos visa took up the entire last free page I had, but I was in the country! That was the most stressful part of my travels, but everything ended up being okay. Note that this is not the smartest thing to do, because I could’ve been turned away at any point during the process of flying to Laos – at the immigration check point Thailand, at the flight gate, or at the Laos immigration check point. However, I luckily made it into Laos without an issue.
Embassy Appointment
When it was time for my appointment in Vientiane, I made sure I had all the documents I needed and headed in. Be aware that you can bring someone along if you want, but they’ll need to be on your appointment form (there’s an area where you can put the name of an accompanying person) and they’ll need to bring their passport. The whole process of getting into the embassy and having my appointment took about an hour, and they had my new emergency passport available for pick up four hours later (though I think it can take overnight, I just got lucky). The process was super easy and just like that I was on my way!
Traveling Home
Luckily, Cullen and I had plans to head home for a brief hiatus after Laos, but we had overnight stops in Thailand and Qatar on the way. I had no issues getting into or out of either of these countries; border patrol agents were usually just very interested in why I had an emergency passport and liked to see my completely full passport.
Getting a New US Passport FAST
Homeward bound with travel plans up in the air, I had mere weeks to secure a fresh passport. Expedited options loomed, but time was my enemy. Thankfully, the US State Department website offered a lifeline: an in-person appointment for travel within 2 weeks. Back in November of 2023, calling was the only way to make an appointment, but as of December 2023, online bookings are available if you haven’t applied for your passport yet.
While I still lacked a flight and destination (Asia, maybe?), I boldly declared travel 12 days away and snagged an appointment. I didn’t have to provide any flight information or proof of travel reservation to make the appointment, I just had to give a date of travel and a destination (which both ended up changing by the time my appointment came along, but no one said anything about that). The lady who took my call just informed me that I would have to have a print out confirming my travel plans for the appointment, and those travel plans would need to be within 14 days OF MY APPOINTMENT DATE, NOT OF THE DATE I MADE THE APPOINTMENT. It ended up being really easy to get an appointment; a Friday call gave me the choice of day and time for all of the weekdays the following week.
Success!
By the time my appointment date came along, I had finally booked flights to Central America that were 10 days away from my appointment date. I went in with all of the necessary documents, and was in and out of the passport center in 20 minutes. They gave me the option of picking up my passport there in person the following week, but I decided on overnight shipping to get my passport in the mail THE FOLLOWING DAY.
Overall, for a process that seems very daunting, both getting the emergency passport and getting an official US passport were incredibly easy. So even though it’s a stressful situation when it happens to you, just follow these steps and try not to let it stress you out too much!
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International Medical Insurance: We highly recommend SafetyWing for Digital Nomads and HeyMondo for those not traveling full-time, or who frequently engage in higher-risk adventure activities.
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