Lost your Indian passport in the UK? Replacement and emergency travel steps

Reporting steps, replacement or Emergency Certificate, and UKVI checks before travel.

Key takeaways

• If the police direct you to the mission, save that response and ask the mission or VFS what evidence it will accept for the police-report requirement.
• Pursue a replacement passport if you are staying in the UK or need continuing travel; an Emergency Certificate is for one-way travel to India when a new passport cannot be issued immediately.
• Travelling outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man before a pending Student visa extension or Graduate visa decision will withdraw that application.
• Update your new passport in your UKVI account; while waiting for a visa decision, you cannot change document details through this service and should contact UKVI before arranging travel.
• For travel using an eVisa, check that your valid passport or travel document is added to UKVI, your eVisa status is correct, and document details match the passenger information supplied to the carrier.

If you have lost your Indian passport in the UK, report it to the Indian mission and follow the local police reporting route. Then decide whether you need a replacement passport to continue your plans or an Emergency Certificate for one-way travel to India. Before any later UK return, deal with your UKVI account and immigration documents separately.

A flight booking alone cannot tell you which route will work. The decision turns on where you need to go, whether a new passport can be issued in time, and how you will return to the UK.

Report the missing passport and keep the response

India's Passport Seva guidance says to report a passport loss immediately to the police and the Indian mission when abroad. Save any passport scan you have, its number and issue details, and a short account of when and where it went missing. Keep copies of reports, acknowledgements and your correspondence.

There is a reporting mismatch worth knowing before you spend hours looking for a police certificate. HCI London's replacement checklist asks for an online police report. But the Metropolitan Police's foreign-document guidance directs people located in, or living in, these areas to report a loss to their embassy or high commission:

• Greater London, excluding the City of London;
• Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and the West Midlands;
• Wales.

For other locations in England, that guidance says to visit a police station. Follow your local force's instructions elsewhere in the UK. If the passport was stolen, report the theft through the police crime-reporting route.^[2]

If the police direct you to the mission, save that response and ask the mission or VFS what evidence it will accept for the checklist's police-report requirement. Do not assume a paid lost-property certificate will satisfy it. Explain the reporting difficulty when you contact them, alongside your passport details and travel date.

Choose a replacement passport or a one-way return to India

A replacement passport is the route to pursue if you are staying in the UK or need a passport for continuing travel. HCI London provides reissue in place of a lost or stolen passport through the passport application process.^[2]

An Emergency Certificate is for one-way travel to India when you have no valid passport and a new one cannot be issued immediately. HCI London says it is issued after cancellation of the existing passport. Once in India, you must contact the Passport Issuing Authority for a new passport. It therefore creates a further passport task before a future international journey.^[3]

If you have a pending Student visa extension or Graduate visa application, GOV.UK says travelling outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man before the decision will withdraw that application. Resolve an urgent India journey with your immigration adviser before departure.

For example, a student who has lost their passport during term and has no urgent journey can pursue replacement in the UK. A student who must urgently return to India should explain that need to the mission and ask whether an Emergency Certificate is appropriate. These are examples of how to frame the request; the mission decides what it can issue.

Apply through the right mission and prepare the documents

Use the Indian mission's current consular-jurisdiction page to identify the post responsible for your area before completing the form. Its current list includes London, Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester.

Complete the online form through the Global Passport Seva Portal linked from the mission's guidance. HCI London's lost-passport page directs applicants to submit the printed form at VFS. VFS's UK instructions require a prior appointment and the printed application for both replacement and Emergency Certificate applications. Make sure the mission selected on the form matches the submission arrangements VFS gives you.^[2][4]

For either route, VFS also requires UK address proof, Indian-nationality evidence, the applicable lost-passport undertaking and VFS Declaration Form. Bring available originals for verification and self-attested copies. If a passport copy is missing, give its number, issue date and place if known, plus other Indian identity evidence.^[4]

For a replacement after loss or theft

HCI London's checklist calls for:

• The completed, printed application and photographs meeting the official passport-photo rules below.
• Self-attested copies of the passport's first and last pages, endorsements and visa pages, where available.
• A self-attested UK entry-visa copy and UK eVisa evidence with share code, or indefinite leave to remain (ILR) evidence as applicable.
• Annexure E and Annexure F, plus a letter to the Passport Officer explaining the loss or theft.
• The police report, with any reporting difficulty resolved as above.^[2]

Children need additional parental documents and declarations, so use the mission's minor-applicant checklist.^[2]

For an Emergency Certificate

HCI London's EC checklist asks for the printed application, compliant photographs, available passport-page copies, UK entry-visa and eVisa copies, and Annexure E. Loss or theft adds the police report, the explanation letter and Annexure F. Minors need additional parental documents and declarations. Tell the mission which originals and copies are missing so it can direct you on your case.^[3]

Alongside the common VFS requirements above, its EC checklist lists an undertaking for emergency/short-validity cases without a valid visa, and a separate undertaking if the Home Office holds the passport. Include the forms applicable to your circumstances.^[4]

For London applications, the mission's digital-photo guidance specifies a colour image of 630 × 810 pixels, a white background and an unaltered photograph. VFS separately asks for two recent physical photographs measuring 35 × 45 mm. Prepare both forms of the photograph as directed by your application instructions.^[4]

Budget for the loss category, rather than ordinary renewal

HCI London's fee schedule, effective 1 July 2026, lists £185 for ordinary 36-page replacement after loss, damage or theft, £222 for 60 pages, and £12 for an Emergency Certificate. These figures exclude Indian Community Welfare Fund charges; confirm the full amount and service charges at submission.

VFS explicitly excludes UK residents replacing a lost, stolen or damaged passport from Tatkaal. Its separate provision for casual visitors does not apply to a UK-resident student. HCI's Tatkaal fee entries do not override those eligibility rules.^[4]

Give your actual travel date when asking the mission about processing, and seek an application-specific answer rather than treating a general renewal estimate as your departure date.

Add the new passport to your UKVI account

Once you have your new passport, update its details in your UKVI account. This keeps the identity document associated with your eVisa current; it does not change your immigration permission. GOV.UK says you cannot change your passport or travel document details through this service while waiting for a visa application decision. If that applies, contact UKVI about the loss and obtain advice before arranging travel.^[5]

You need your account sign-in details and access to the registered phone number or email. GOV.UK provides account recovery if you cannot sign in, and a separate error-reporting route if your eVisa itself is wrong. A new passport number and an incorrect immigration status are different problems to resolve.^[5]

Check the UK return journey before you leave

For travel using an eVisa, GOV.UK requires a valid passport or travel document added to your UKVI account. Check that your eVisa shows the correct status and that your personal and document details exactly match the passenger information supplied to the carrier. Incorrect details can prevent boarding or delay you at the border. A travel share code can provide additional status evidence; it does not replace your travel document.^[6]

If you obtain a new passport in India, resolve the UKVI record before returning. Subject to the pending-decision restriction above, GOV.UK gives these overseas update routes:

• With either a biometric or non-biometric passport, you can update the passport number and expiry date online.
• With a biometric passport, you can also update your name and nationality online.
• For other personal-detail changes, ask UKVI to update the account through its separate service. You may need to provide fingerprints and a photograph at a visa application centre. With a non-biometric passport, this includes changes to your name or nationality.^[6]

An Emergency Certificate gets you home to India for its stated purpose. Build your later UK return plan around the new passport you obtain there and the UK permission and account checks you need for that journey.

If the disruption affects classes, an exam or a placement, contact your university's international student advice team with your application record and expected absence. For the resulting study and career planning, our Post Study Career Support^[1] provides high-level immigration and work-route guidance and in-country support. You can speak to a career advisor through the page's phone, email or query form to adjust your plans around the visa constraints.

FAQs

What if my lost Indian passport contained a UK visa sticker?

If you are still in the UK, ask UKVI or your university's immigration advice team about the missing visa sticker before leaving. If you are outside the UK, current GOV.UK guidance says that in most cases an eVisa can replace a vignette: access your UKVI account and add the new passport details. Use the official replacement guidance for exceptions.

Can I update my replacement passport details while a UK visa decision is pending?

GOV.UK says you cannot change your passport or travel-document details in the account-update service while waiting for a visa application decision. Contact UKVI about how to handle the loss in your pending application.^[5]

Sources

1. Admissify — Post Study Career Support - Admissify
2. Passport — Lost, Stolen or Damaged - High Commission of India, London
3. Emergency Certificate - High Commission of India, London
4. UK passport services: application instructions and document checklists - VFS Global
5. Update your details in your UKVI account - GOV.UK
6. Travel with your eVisa - GOV.UK