What’s the one thing you can’t travel abroad without? Whenever I pack, whether I’m leaving home, returning or travelling in between, my passport is the first thing on my checklist – like it would be for most people. But I get it – things can, and sometimes do, go wrong. And perhaps more often than you’d think… like numerous times each day among Australians overseas.
Aussie travellers reported an average of 10 lost or stolen passports every day in the last financial year. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s (DFAT) recently released Consular State of Play, 2,043 passports were reported lost overseas, while 1,578 were reported stolen in FY23.
This was an overall increase of 168 per cent from 2021-22, which whilst extremely high, came during a period when Australians returned to international travel en masse.
So where did Aussie passports go astray most during the year?
Predictably, the United States tops the list, likely due to the sheer number of Australians visiting the US, with 452 lost or stolen passports.
More surprising, however, is the inclusion of Italy and Spain among the top five destinations, where Aussies reported 387 and 203 lost or stolen passports respectively.
Also near the top of the list were the UK (315) and France (230) – two of Australia’s most popular holiday destinations.
On the back of the rise in lost and stolen documents, the Australian Government also issued more emergency passports than ever before – a record 10,801 to be precise. Emergency passports are for Australians overseas who have a genuine and urgent need to travel but are only valid for up to 12 months.
Tips for passports
To help protect your passports from theft (and damage), DFAT’s Smartraveller website has the following recommendations:
- Always know where your passport is: your passport is a valuable document that can be targeted for ID fraud, so always keep it in a safe place.
- Never allow anyone else to use it: some people may trick you into handing over your passport, so never leave it as a security deposit, for instance with a hire company or accommodation provider.
- Leave a photocopy of your passport with someone you trust back home before you go overseas: this will help identity you in the event your passport goes missing. Or at least record the document number and expiry date, which can be useful for your own reference and in certain travel situations.
- Keep it dry: travellers are responsible for ensuring their passport isn’t damaged.
- Don’t bend the cover back: this can damage the stitching that holds the passport together – and when this happens, your passport can be rendered invalid.
- Keep your boarding passes away from your photo page: ink from boarding passes can transfer to your passport photo page and obscure its details.
All of this isn’t to mention as well that the Australian passport is the world’s priciest – and is about to get even more expensive.
Your passport is a valuable document – your proof of identity and citizenship overseas (plus a cool memento of your travels after it expires). Take care of it and it’ll take care of you.
