Lost Passport in Poland: What to Do and How to Get a New Document

Step one: report to the police Step two: apply for a new passport

A foreign passport is the primary identity document for Ukrainians abroad. But what should you do if your passport has been lost and you cannot find it? In this undeniably stressful situation, you need to keep a cool head and act quickly and decisively.

How to renew your passport in Poland — read on.

Step one: report to the police

If you cannot find your lost passport — for whatever reason, with the same outcome — your first step is clear. Perhaps the document fell out of your bag, you lost it along with the bag itself, or it was stolen — unfortunately, that happens too. In any case, the very first thing you should do is go to the nearest police station. In the best-case scenario, the police, using their own resources, may be able to locate the document. That way you will avoid the hassle of obtaining a new passport and all the associated time and money spent.

At the police station you will receive a certificate for the Consulate of Ukraine in Poland. This is required to obtain one of the temporary documents.

The first type of temporary document is a certificate of identity and Ukrainian citizenship. With this certificate you can apply for a new foreign passport in Poland. It confirms that you are legally residing in the country. You can also use it when dealing with Polish government agencies — in practice, it serves as a temporary substitute for your missing passport.

If you plan to return home in the near future, the consulate will offer you a second type of temporary document — a certificate of return to Ukraine. It allows you to cross the Polish-Ukrainian border, and then take care of renewing your documents once you are back in Ukraine. This certificate is valid for only 30 days — keep this in mind when buying tickets and making plans. You should contact the nearest consulate to your place of residence — relevant offices operate in Warsaw, Gdańsk, Kraków, Wrocław, Lublin and Katowice.

At the consulate, you will fill in an application to establish and confirm your identity; you can also present your Ukrainian internal passport if you have it with you. Photocopies of the lost foreign passport or Ukrainian internal passport will also help speed up the verification and identification process.

Step two: apply for a new passport

If you have your Ukrainian internal passport with you during the consulate visit, you can apply for a new foreign passport on the spot. The entire process of producing a new document takes approximately three months. It is not free of charge — you will need to pay a consular fee and a data processing fee.

This is not the only way to obtain a Ukrainian passport in Poland. We have already covered how Ukrainian citizens can get a new Ukrainian internal or foreign passport in Poland at branches of the Ukrainian state enterprise "Dokument". In the summer of 2022, offices opened in Warsaw, Gdańsk and Kraków.

These offices offer Ukrainians access to the core passport services:

• obtaining an internal passport (ID card),
• obtaining a foreign passport,
• exchanging a driver's licence.

The cost of obtaining a foreign passport through the standard procedure (approximately 3 months) is 733 hryvnias + 335 zloty (administrative fee, blank document, personalisation + service fees). An expedited document (currently approximately 1.5–2 months) costs 1,373 hryvnias + 335 zloty.

In this article we explain the passport service's working hours, the application procedure, how to book an appointment, which documents you need to bring, the price list and other important details.

Gremi Personal helps workers obtain the documents required for working and living in Poland, including the Residence Card (Karta Pobytu). In difficult situations, our workers always have access to a coordinator who knows how to handle any issue.

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