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Losing your passport is every traveller’s ultimate overseas nightmare. Sure, missing your flight connection, forgetting your swimmers or catching a bout of food poisoning all suck – but none of them will leave you stranded in a foreign country for who knows how long.
In 2024-25 alone, the Australian Passport Office (APO) issued more than 9,000 emergency passports to Aussies overseas. Of those, more than 2,600 were lost and 1,800 were stolen – but which country saw the highest volume of passport panic?
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (DFAT) Consular State of Play report, Italy was once again the country where Aussies reported the most lost or stolen passports – despite not even cracking our ten most-visited destinations. The European nation is a notorious hotspot for pickpockets, especially around iconic landmarks like the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum and Milan’s Piazza del Duomo.
If you’re heading over anytime soon, remember to keep your eyes on the prize: your passport, not the monument. Australia has one of the world’s most expensive passports, priced at $422 for a ten-year adult document – so you definitely don't want to misplace it.
Next up were the United States and United Kingdom (our fifth and ninth most-visited countries), followed by two new entries: Spain and Japan. Given Australia’s growing obsession with Japan, we’re not surprised to see it enter the top five. Though with the country's famously low crime rates, we’d assume those lost documents were simply left behind on a bullet train rather than stolen.
What to do if you lose your passport overseas?
If your passport goes missing overseas, you should contact the nearest Australian embassy or consulate. Penalties apply for those who don’t report it immediately. Once notified, the APO will cancel your passport and alert international border authorities. You’ll also need to lodge a local police report within 24 hours of the incident, and remember to notify both Australian police and DFAT when you return home.
To actually get back to Aussie soil, you'll need to apply for an emergency passport at the closest embassy or consulate. These are valid for up to 12 months, carry a $265 fee (plus overseas processing costs), and usually take two to three business days to issue after your application is lodged. Alternatively, you can opt to apply for a full-replacement ten-year document.
Australia's top 5 destinations for lost and stolen passports:
- Italy
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Spain
- Japan