Lost Your Passport? Don’t Cancel Your Trip Just Yet!

It’s not uncommon for people to lose or damage their passports before a trip. Sometimes, people might even find out too late that their passport has expired, preventing them from leaving the country. In such cases, overseas travel becomes impossible.

Here are some methods you should follow if you face passport issues right before an overseas trip.

In urgent circumstances, you can obtain a temporary non-electronic passport. This is possible even at Incheon Airport, which happens to be the fastest place to get a passport issued in South Korea, provided you meet the eligibility requirements and have the necessary documents.

Temporary passports are only issued in situations such as passport damage or loss when there is a humanitarian reason or official business. They can only be applied for when there’s not enough time to issue an electronic passport or when there’s an urgent need for a passport.

Temporary passport applications can be made at the passport service centers located in Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of Incheon Airport. It is also available from 16 metropolitan autonomous bodies, 25 district offices in the Seoul area, areas in Gyeonggi and other regions, local governments near international airports, and overseas consulates.

However, if it’s impossible to confirm the applicant’s identity or if the applicant has lost their passport twice within a year or more than three times within five years, it’s not possible to issue a temporary passport.

To obtain a temporary passport, you need an application form for issuing a temporary passport. You also need one passport photo taken within the last six months, an ID, and a certificate of family relations.

Most travelers don’t bring passport photos. But there’s a photo booth set up in front of the service center. You also need to print out documents proving the urgency. If you go up to the 4th floor using the escalator in front of the consular service center, you can use and print out documents at a cafe called Coffee@Works, which is marked as [6] on the map. You only need to pay a small fee equivalent to the cost of an A4 paper, so it’s not a burden.

Once you have your documents and photo, you can enter the consular service center and will be instructed to fill out forms for three items. The time it takes to issue a passport after submission is about 1 hour and 30 minutes, and you should plan for about 2 to 3 hours to be safe. If you arrive at the airport late, you won’t be able to get an emergency passport. The fee for issuing a passport is $47.

A temporary passport is issued temporarily under special circumstances and can only be used once. To prevent abuse, you can only issue up to 2 times a year, with a total of 3 times within 5 years. It is necessary to check this.