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Service Tipp and Checklist: Damaged Passport: What to Do?

Travel documents go through a lot when you're a business traveler or frequent traveler. It's not uncommon for a passport or ID card to start looking “worn out” well before its expiration date. But is a damaged passport still valid, and can the document’s poor condition cause problems when entering or leaving a country? Our service tip sheds some light on the matter. What are the consequences of major damage? What about minor damage? When do you need a replacement document, and how do you get one?

The following types of damage often render an ID invalid:

  • The personal data is no longer legible
  • The ID number, stamps, or security features are no longer recognizable
  • The photo is unrecognizable
  • For paper passports: Pages are missing or have been torn out. As a result, the passport is generally considered to have been tampered with and is therefore invalid.
  • For card-style ID cards used as travel documents: The chip is damaged and cannot be read electronically

What should you do if your passport is damaged while traveling?

If any of the aforementioned types of damage occur while you are traveling abroad, you should apply for a replacement document at the embassy. To do so, however, you must be able to prove your identity by other means (e.g., an ID card instead of a passport, or a driver’s license). Digital copies of your ID, such as those on your smartphone, can also be helpful. In most states the basic principle is usually this: A country issues its citizens a temporary travel document so they can return home. Ist is often called, for example: Emergency Travel Document (ETD),Temporary Travel Document or Laissez-passer.

There is even a common system for this within the EU. For example, if a EU citizen loses or damages his passport in a third country and there is no home country’s embassy there, he can contact the embassy of another EU member state. That embassy can issue an EU Emergency Travel Document (EU ETD). This allows the person to return to the EU.

 

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What are the consequences of minor damage?  

Minor damage, such as stains or creases, does not automatically render the passport invalid. The officials conducting border checks will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept the document.

Border control officers may apply quite different standards in this regard: Citizens returning to their home country from abroad are generally scrutinized less closely than people seeking to enter a foreign country.