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Replacing a Lost or Stolen US Passport in the Kingdom of Thailand

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the loss or a passport being stolen while an American citizen is in the Kingdom. 

This can be a really trying set of circumstances for someone who is in a foreign country and loses or has their passport stolen and for this reason I decided to make this video; I won't go as far as to say as a public service but that is kind of the thinking behind this video is because those who are put in that situation, somebody like myself is probably not going to be able to offer a great deal of assistance, but that being said I hope that this video acts as a kind of road map for those who were put in this position.  

If you have a passport that is lost or stolen, generally speaking the first thing you want to go ahead and do is file a police report and then get with the Embassy to get a new one. Once you go to the Embassy, they are probably going to give you this document here, the DS-64; statement regarding a lost or stolen US passport, book and/or card. I will go ahead and post this up on this video so that you can see this form. But basically you go to the US Embassy, you tell them “look my passport was lost or stolen.”  Depending on the jurisdiction here in Thailand generally speaking they want to see a police report that says that you lost your passport and then they will go ahead and process an application for a new passport. So generally speaking they are probably going to go ahead and process such a request using this form DS-5504, application for a passport; we will put that back up there as well.  Those individuals again who have had a passport lost or stolen; they are going to go ahead and need to get a new one before they can leave.  Another concern with respect to passports and losing passports here in the Kingdom is the necessity to get one’s immigration, their visas stamps, transferred from their old passport to their new one and where a passport is stolen, again Immigration is probably going to want to see a police report stating that the passport was stolen and they are going to want to see the new passport. There is also a letter that is issued in association with a transfer of an Immigration Stamp.  That letter is generally issued by the US Embassy or US Consulate to the Thai Immigration apparatus requesting that they go ahead and move those stamps, move that entry stamp back over to the new passport. The problem with trying to exit without doing, especially here in Thailand, without doing the transfer of immigration status is that you can get held up at the airport because Thai Immigration Officers are going to wonder why you don't have an entry stamp and they are probably going to question whether or not you are an illegal alien in the Kingdom which can result in a prolonged period of explanation, even possibly detention. So it's a good idea to get all of one's ducks in a row with respect to the new passport so that one can easily depart the Kingdom without any hassle upon departure. 

Again this is something that is the source of a lot of confusion, frustration and anxiety. It is difficult when one has their passport lost or stolen in a country abroad and for this reason we made this video. But there is a procedure, there is a protocol. The first thing to do is probably contact US Embassy with respect to a lost or stolen passport and I suspect the second thing to do, or concurrently the two things to do is going to also be to get a Thai police report of having one passport lost or stolen.