If your reading this now chances are it sucks to be you… or you’re paranoid.  (Too stressed for prelude?  Just scroll down to where I have packaged all the forms you need together into one tidy zip file.)  I had my Canadian passport stolen in Istanbul, one day before my return flight to Korea. Try not to have your passport stolen on a Friday as I did, Canadian embassies and consulates only work a half day on Fridays and are closed all weekend.  Due to this and time zone differences it took me four days to get out of Istanbul.

Being Canadians, it should come as no surprise that when a Canadian passport is stolen, damaged or lost we must fill out mountains of paperwork and wait patiently as the gears of Canadian bureaucracy grind away.  If having your passport, money and credit cards stolen, missing your flight and incurring excess charges for ticket rescheduling and accommodating isn’t enough of a blow, Passport Canada will also slap you with $345 bill.  Why so much?  I don’t know but it breaks down as follows: $190 for the 5 year passport, $110 for the temporary passport and a $45 “lost/stolen/damaged fee” just to teach you a lesson.

Replacing a Canadian passport abroad is a hellish process and I’ve put the following documents together in the hopes they can make your life a little easier in whichever country you find yourself stranded in now.  Here’s what I’ve done for you:

1. Collected all the forms necessary for a Canadian wishing to replace a passport that has been lost, stolen or damaged abroad.

2. Scanned any forms that could not be found online.  The two scanned forms (PPTC 132 & PPTC120) are non-editable and indicated as such in the file name.  Essentially you need to write on the image.  You must use a program such as Mac’s Preview, Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop, Indesign, or one of the many other free or paid pdf editing applications out there to overlay text onto them.  You can also just print them out and write on them if you still remember how to write by hand.

3. Ordered the forms in what I feel is a logical sequence to complete and submit them in.

4. Added place holders for other personalized documents and important reminders.

Once completed I like to merge all the pdfs into a single pdf document to simplify printing and storage.  Again this can be done using Mac’s preview, Adobe Acrobat or other detected pdf editing applications.  It’s not necessary though, you can also just hit the print button eight times.

PLEASE NOTE:  These are the correct documents up until August 4th 2014.  Canadian forms, fees and requirements change frequently so be sure to verify that my forms aren’t outdated.  This process worked for me, I make no guarantees that it will work for you.  I will however keep my fingers crossed for you.

Download Greg’s Lost, Stolen or Damaged Adult Canadian Passport Abroad Application Bundle.  The following files can be found in the zip file:
000-Read-Me.rtf
001-PPTC 203-Declaration-Concerning-Lost-Stolen-Damaged-Passport.pdf
002-Your-Police-Report-NonEditable.pdf
003-PPTC 040-Adult-Abroad-General-Passport-Applicatoin.pdf
004-Get-And-Attach-Passport-Photos-NonEditable.pdf
005-PPTC 132-Statutory-Declaration-In-Lieu-Of-Guarantor-NonEditable.pdf
006-PPTC 120-Temporary-Passport-Exchange-Agreement-NonEditable.pdf
007-PPTC 116-Limited-Validity-Passport-Agreement.pdf
008-Credit-Card-Authorization-Payment-At-Canadian-Office-Abroad.pdf
009-Additonal-Documents-NonEditable.pdf

Good luck!  Post your story in the comments while you wait for your new travel document!