That’s an obvious thing to do, so
why mention it? The matter’s raised since statistics have just revealed that in
Spain last year, over 6000 passports were either lost or stolen. Bag theft was
the largest cause at 39%. Theft from cars accounted for 20% and pick-pockets
helped themselves to 15%. Break-ins of apartments or villas was the lowest
cause of passport loss at 14%, but still involved a large number of passports.
Then, this statistic is truly amazing. Interpol has a list of 40 million lost or
stolen passports on its database
Losing a passport abroad, whatever
the reason, means a visit to the nearest British consulate. In the case of
Moraira residents, a trip to Malaga or Madrid is involved, to acquire an
emergency passport. Aside from all the time spent in doing this, there’s a
financial cost too – the euro equivalent of £95 per person. A family of 4 will
face a bill of almost £400 for emergency travel documents.
The British Consular Regional
Director for Spain tells us to keep our passport in a money belt under our
clothing, rather than in a rucksack or handbag, and never to leave passports in
cars. He also suggests the avoidance of carrying all your passports together in
the one place.
Obtaining new travel documents while
abroad is expensive and time consuming, but it’s also a real hassle.
Consequently, here are some ideas to eliminate, or at least, reduce that hassle
–
·
Scan your passport with
relevant visa pages and upload to a secure on-line storage site…
·
Record your passport
number and phone nos of credit card companies
·
Keep a photocopy of your
passport.
·
Carry a few extra
passport photos.
Remember, you cannot fly to the UK
on your Spanish Residencia ID. You could try to fly using the Guardia Civil
report on the passport loss, but our Malaga Consulate predicts this would be
rejected even before aircraft boarding.
So, it appears the only thing to do
is to get a new passport – and here’s how you can go about it.
·
If the passport has been
stolen, report the theft to the police
·
Go to //www.embassy-worldwi
· Obtain forms C1 (8 pages) and LSO1 (2 pages). C1 is the application form for a new
passport. LSO1 is the form for notification of stolen or lost passports. Obtain the notes as well to help you make sure the form is completed
correctly. Any mistakes will cause a delay to passport issue.
·
The British Consulate
will require your physical address for the addressing of the return package, so
include this on the C1 form. They are not allowed to use a PO Box for return
delivery.
·
Originals of Birth (and
Marriage Certificate if you are a married woman, divorcee documentation etc as
detailed on form C1) need to be enclosed with form C1. Please note that
photocopies of these documents will not be accepted.
·
A photocopy of the police
report filed with the Guardia Civil needs to be presented along with a
photocopy of the stolen passport, if you have it.
·
Two passport photos will
be required – one certified to be of your likeness by someone who has known you
for 2 years or more.
·
Go along to the British
Consulate at Malaga, to present all this information.
·
It is assumed your trip
to the UK will not result in an early return to Spain. In this case, there’ll
be plenty of time to acquire a full and new passport, for future use. If
however, you need to return to Spain in the following few days, then a visit to
the Madrid consulate will be necessary.
You can obviously see the wisdom of
keeping your passport safe, and your life hassle free.