Beijing is not the worst place there is if you lose your passport, there is embassies all around and your country’s will certainly be there to help you. Still, there is a lot of issues, including visa ones.
Here is a couple of things you should know about this situation if it occurs, from the Chinese authorities point of view.
A document you will need for all the procédure is a CONFIRMATION OF REPORTING THE LOSS OF PASSPORT.
This precious document is issued by the:
Entry & Exit Control Office of Municipal Security Bureau
2 Andingmen Dongdajie
Tel: (010) 8401-5295
You probably already know it or will very quickly know it as a foreigner in Beijing, since this is a place where foreigners are used to in Beijing.
This is this police bureau east of Yonghegong Lama Temple, this large office where you have to go each time you have to change your visa in Beijing.
You’ll probably have to ask them precisely what they need there to issue the precious “Confirmation of reporting the loss of passport”, but as far as I knbow they should ask you:
– the copy of your lost passport; you really need this, if you dn’t have it anywhere you’ll have to do your best to provide them with relevant ID material, Cars ID, driving license, ID card, maybe with the assistance of your embassy. The best thing is the copy of the lost ID so be careful and make a scan as soon as you can, if you don’t already have it.
– two identity photos (recent ones of course)
and:
– the most important piece: the loss report issued by a local police station where you declared the loss, this shouls be the relevant one where you lost your passport. This means that as soon as you have lost your passport you should run to the closest police office and have a report recorded.
Once you’ve got the precious “Confirmation of reporting the loss of passport”, there is two important procedures you can start:
1) ask for a new passport at your embassy in Beijing;
2) ask for a new visa while your passport is being replaced, this is to be done at the Entry & Exit Control Office of Municipal Security Bureau.
And to conclude this post, the most imprtant tip: keep cool, everything is going to be OK !