Lost or stolen passport in Nepal — what to do

Go to the police station covering the area where the passport was lost or stolen, and file a report. In tourist districts, the Tourist Police (1144) are the better first contact for foreigners and generally have better English.

Nepal's Department of Immigration is explicit that you must report the loss to the police, and a local police report is what the immigration department requires before dealing with your visa. Your embassy will also want it.

Also report it where it was lost if you know — the hotel, the bus company, the airport — because passports do turn up, and a recovered passport short-circuits the entire process.

Contact your embassy or consulate in Kathmandu as soon as you have the police report — or immediately if getting the report will take time. Most run an emergency line.

They will need to establish your identity. Bring the police report, passport photographs, and a photocopy or photo of the lost passport if you have one — which is why photographing your passport before you travel is such a high-value thirty seconds.

You will be issued either an emergency travel document, valid for travel home only, or a full replacement passport allowing onward travel. Timescales differ by country, but a reasonable expectation is a few days for an emergency document and considerably longer — potentially weeks — for a full replacement.

This is the step people miss. Your Nepali visa lived in the passport you lost. The new document has no Nepali visa in it, and without one you have no legal record of lawful presence in Nepal — which means you will be stopped on departure.

Take the new travel document, the police report, and your embassy's documentation to the Department of Immigration in Kathmandu, and have the valid visa transferred to the new passport or reissued.

Allow time and expect a queue. Go early in the day, take photocopies of everything, and take cash for fees.

Assume you are not leaving on your original booking. Between a police report, an embassy appointment, document processing and an immigration visit, the realistic minimum is several working days, and it is longer if a weekend or a Nepali public holiday intervenes — and Nepal has many.

Contact your airline early and explain. Changing a ticket is far cheaper than being a no-show, and airlines deal with this scenario regularly.

Contact your travel insurer as well. Lost-document cover often includes the cost of the replacement, the extra accommodation and the flight change — but usually only if you reported the loss to the police promptly, which is another reason step one comes first.

The common bad scenario is a stolen bag containing passport, cards, cash and phone. The order changes slightly because you now have a money problem as well as a document problem.

Before you travel, photograph your passport photo page and your Nepal visa, and email them to yourself. Do the same with your insurance policy and flight tickets.

This single act materially shortens every step above — the police report, the embassy identity check and the immigration visa transfer all go faster when you can produce the original document details.

Carry a physical photocopy separately from the passport, and leave a copy with someone at home. Consider carrying the passport itself only when you need it and leaving it in a hotel safe otherwise — though note you must carry ID, and a photocopy plus another photo ID is usually accepted for day-to-day purposes.