Official documents lost in Paris: what to do?
Losing official documents is a mishap that can happen at any moment. It is important to know how to react and who you can turn to if you lose your official documents during your stay in Paris. Because nobody is protected from unforeseen events, Lodgis wants to show you the procedure to follow if you lose your official documents in Paris!
Step 1: Report it to the Police
In order to do this, you have to go to the nearest police station or police headquarters to report the loss of your official documents in Paris.
It’s very important to keep a copy of the statement or the loss report that the police will give you. It’s a document that the embassy will need you to have later and that will let you avoid going back and forth between the embassy and police station.
We recommend that you go to the police station before going to your country’s embassy.
Step 2: Contact the Embassy
It’s important to contact your country’s embassy in Paris before turning up, so you can ask them the exact documents they will need you to bring so you can be properly prepared before getting there.
The embassy can also provide you with “emergency travel documents” if you have to catch a flight soon. In this case, you’ll need to make an appointment by phone and get photocopies of all the official documents, as well as the flight tickets, loss report and passport photos.
Find the contact details and addresses of the foreign embassies and consulates in Paris at the Convention and Visitors Bureau’s official website.
Step 3: Call the Lost and Found service
It’s pretty common to panic in these kind of situations and totally forget that it is possible that someone found the documents and brought it to the staff where you lost them. That’s why we recommend that you go back and ask the staff to check the Lost and Found for you.
If they don’t find anything, you can also contact the “Lost and Found service” at the Préfecture de Police at 3430 or you can go directly to 36, rue des Morillons, 75015 with the loss report the police provided you with and a copy of your documents.
Find more information on the police prefecture’s official website.
Lodgis’ tip: Think ahead!
You can avoid facing major problems and wasting your time if you lose your official documents in Paris. We recommend that you make color scans and photocopies of your official documents, such as passport, identity card, driver’s license or even car registration.
We recommend that you leave your passport at home and take the photocopies instead.
If you lose your documents, having these scans and photocopies will speed up the replacement process and allow you to obtain an “emergency travel document” so you to catch your flight if you’re traveling soon.
This won’t take you more than 5 minutes and will help you save time if you lose all your official documents in Paris!
