What happens to a passport once you report it lost or stolen

The passport is cancelled

The US State Department cancels a passport once you report it lost or stolen. It is no longer valid for travel, even if you find it later ¹.

Australia does the same and notifies border authorities in Australia and overseas. You cannot use the passport again, even if you recover it ². New Zealand cancels the passport and adds an alert to your record ⁶.

The UK asks you to cancel a lost or stolen passport as soon as possible to cut the risk of anyone using it or your identity ⁷.

Interpol's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database

Interpol runs the Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database. It holds details of travel and identity documents reported lost or stolen, along with revoked, invalid and stolen blank documents. It holds around 138 million records ⁵.

Only the country that issued a document can add it, through its Interpol National Central Bureau or another authorised law enforcement agency ⁵.

Officials search the database through Interpol's secure police network, I-24/7, including at airports and border crossings. It was searched 3.6 billion times in 2023, giving 232,423 positive matches ⁵.

What a match means for a traveller

When a document is flagged, officials see at once that it was reported lost or stolen. Interpol says that with an invalid document, entry or boarding is denied, the document is seized and the traveller cannot travel ⁵.

Ireland's Passport Service says it reports lost and stolen passports to Interpol, and if you find a passport after reporting it you should not travel on it ³.

National and regional alerts

Countries run their own systems too. In Germany the passport authority tells the police at once so the passport can be stored in the INPOL search system and the Schengen Information System (SIS) ⁴.

Germany lets you reuse a found passport in some cases. You report the recovery, the search entry is deleted, and only then may you use it. Even so, foreign authorities may refuse or seize it, and the city of Heidelberg advises applying for a new document ⁴.

Effects on your next passport

Frequent losses can limit your next passport. In Australia, two losses in 5 years mean your next adult passport is valid for 5 years in place of 10, at the full fee. Three or more can mean 2 years or no passport ².

Ireland may restrict a new passport to between 1 and 10 years if you lost two or more in the last 10 years, and processing may take longer ³.

If your passport turns up

Do not travel on it. Australia says that if you find it and show it to the Passport Office, the loss may not count against you, and you complete a B11 form ². In the US, a reported passport stays cancelled even if found ¹.