Living Overseas – Precautions
Safeguarding Your Passport
Your passport is a valuable document which must be safeguarded carefully. When living abroad, the Department of State recommends that you keep your passport at your home in a safe and secure place. Although a storage facility outside of your home might offer maximum security, it may be difficult or impossible to obtain your passport from this facility in the case of immediate or emergency departure. In these cases, it might not be possible to receive a temporary or replacement passport before the intended travel time.
Loss or Theft of an American Passport
If your passport is stolen or lost overseas, be sure to report the loss immediately to local police authorities and the nearest Foreign Service post. If you can, provide the consular officer with the information from your old passport as it will facilitate quicker issuance of a new passport. Therefore, be sure to photocopy the data page of your passport and keep it in a separate place for convenient retrieval.
Passport Fraud
Fraudulent and multiple US passports are used in a variety of criminal activities, including illegal entry into the country. When processing lost passport cases, the Department of State must take strict precautions that can delay the issuance of new passports. If you suspect that an American passport is being used fraudulently, contact the nearest domestic passport agency or an overseas American consulate or embassy.
