Tips on Keeping Your Passport Safe When You Travel
Losing your passport, or having it stolen or damaged when travelling abroad can be a nightmare; enough to ruin your carefully planned business trip or holiday. Also, let us not disregard the added increase in expenses that will be incurred on applying for a duplicate passport from an outsourced passport provider!
With this in mind, we at BLS International present tips to help ensure that your passport stays protected and safe with you, no matter where you go.
How to Protect your Passport
1. Be Aware of Your Surroundings
Being cognizant of your surroundings lowers the chances of you losing your passport or of someone stealing it from you. Always pay attention to what is going on around you – whether you are standing in a queue at a train station, waiting for your luggage at the airport, or checking in at your hotel – scan your surroundings and be aware of your surroundings at all times.
While it is important to be alert, it is also important not to openly display your passport (even if standing in the immigration line). Always conceal your passport to the best of your ability and make sure that it is secure in a zipped bag that is always with you.
2. Leave Your Passport at the Hotel
Although your passport is required as an ID when travelling abroad, you don’t really need to carry it around with you everywhere. Consider moving around the city with your driver’s license instead, and leave your passport behind in the hotel safe. A screenshot of your passport, or any other form of ID will usually suffice in most scenarios.
3. Keep Several Copies of Your Passport with You
Ensure that you are carrying multiple copies of your passport with you. They will come in handy in an emergency.
1) We recommend that you keep 2-3 copies of your passport with you when you travel. Do make sure they are kept in different places and not together.
2) Mail yourself a copy of the confirmation email sent to you by your visa and passport outsourcing company, along with separate copies of your visa and passport for easy reference and access
3) Email a copy of your passport to a family member or a trusted friend
4. Consider Investing in a Passport Holder
Travelling with a fanny pack or a passport pouch that you can wear around your neck can help ensure the safety of your passport. Cross-body bags too serve the purpose very well. Avoid keeping your passport in your pocket, shoulder bag or carry-on luggage at all costs. While it may be convenient to keep your passport in your carry-on bag, we recommend against it. You never know when you may be required to check in the suitcase or leave it behind in an emergency. To be safe, always carry your passport in your cross-body bag, fanny pack or passport pouch that will always be with you.
5. Never Give Your Passport to Anyone for Safekeeping
Whether in a group or solo, be responsible for your own passport. Never give your passport to anyone else to carry, no matter how responsible or trustworthy they may be. You never know when he/she may get robbed or pick pocketed!
6. Protect Your Passport from Damage
While safeguarding your passport from theft and ensuring you don’t lose it is important, it is also important to protect your passport from damage. Extreme sun or humidity can damage the passport Therefore, always keep your passport in a cool place and dry place.
Use a Passport Cover
It is always better to keep the passport in a passport cover as it
- Protects the passport from wear and tear
- Keeps it safe from getting damaged by water
- Keeps the passport pages from bending over time
- Allows you to identify it easily amongst other things and reduces the risk of misplacing your passport
In fact, owning a passport cover is very much in vogue these days as you can customize a passport cover to your liking and draw inspiration from it to travel often. It serves as a thoughtful personalized gift too!
What Should You Do if Your Passport is Lost/Stolen?
In the unfortunate event that your passport gets stolen or lost:
- Inform your hotel and ask them to guide you to the nearest police station
- File an FIR at the police station and ask for a copy for yourself.
- Request your hotel to help you locate your country’s embassy/mission, or find an outsourced passport provider like BLS International in the city.
- Show the FIR and passport copy at the embassy/mission/outsourced passport provider, and ask for a replacement passport or an Emergency Certificate to enable you to return to your home country.
What Should You Do if Your Passport is damaged?
A passport is considered damaged if the passport number is indecipherable, the name is illegible, the photo is not intact or it is damaged beyond recognition. In this unfortunate scenario, you should apply for a duplicate passport at your country’s embassy/mission in the city or look for an outsourced passport provider.
However, for passports that are partially damaged, in which the name, photo and passport number of the holder are visible and legible, then you can apply for a re-issue of the passport once you are back home before your next travel.
How Can an Outsourced Passport Provider help me?
The role of an outsourced passport provider is similar to that of the consulate or embassy. BLS’s state-of-the-art centres are available across 66 nations across the world where we aid diplomatic missions by accepting and processing applications for duplicate passports and re-issue of passports.
Hence, if you are in a city or country that doesn’t have the presence of your country’s embassy/mission, then look for an outsourced passport provider of your country there.
Though prevention is better than cure, we at BLS, strongly recommend noting down the address of your respective country’s embassy/ mission before you commence your travel, along with the address of the outsourced passport providers in the city, so that you are well-prepared and well-informed if needed.
We urge you to follow the tips above for a stress-free travel experience.
Visit our website www.blsinternational.com to know more.