I lost my passport in Moscow and this is how I returned back to India safely

Husband and I visited Moscow sometime back in September 2018 as our yearly trip. On our 3rd or 4th day of our trip we were sitting in a restaurant for lunch. It was rainy, soo we kept the backpack we carried in the chair next to us in the same table and was ordering food. When the waiter came she had a big plate with all the orders. Husband and I turned for a minute to receive that and the next moment our bag was stolen. Full panic mode on and were clueless for sometime what to do. We tried checking throughout the restaurant and finally decided it was lost. We tried looking at the cctv coverage but we were siting exactly at place where the coverage was less and it was a crowded chain of restaurant. Our bags had both my husband and my wallet with all Indian documents such as passport, pan card, driving licences, credit card, debit card, local currency etc. We decided to seek the help of police and tried communicating with them. There was one lady police who knew English and helped us translate to the officer to file the FIR. I remembered reading about lost passport and how people reached out to Indian embassies. We got the copy of the FIR and called up the Indian embassy’s emergency contact. We also blocked all our Indian debit and credit card immediately through the banking apps. The officer told to come the next day morning immediately with the copy of lost passport, visa, hotel details, passport size photos and copy of the FIR. Luckily we had everything handy and went there next day morning provided we lost our bag on Sunday. When we went to the embassy the officer had already informed his team about my call and there were ready to help immediately. We were given the form to fill and handed over all the copies of the documents they wanted. They even asked us if we had enough money to travel back or need financial help also. Luckily we had local currency and some Indian currency handy. Since we wanted help with exit visa also they called up the Russian embassy and told us to pay the fine with the nearby bank and gave us the officer details whom we had to reach our before boarding the flight at the airport. We had 2 more days left for our trip to end. And luckily we got the emergency certificate which looks similar to our passport but has one way return back to India. We got all the necessary documents needed within 24 hours. And was back to Chennai as planned. The Russian officer at the airport was also courteous enough to stamp out exit visa before the immigration. When coming back to India, you have to go to the separate line where the officer will check the emergency certificate and update their systems, cancel the certificate and give it back to you, which you can use for applying new passport.

We usually keep our passports locked in hotel room safe. But since we visited Kremlin that day we took our passports in case they wanted to check. One thing we usually follow during travel is we take only the local currency required for the day and keep the rest in the suitcase or the safe. So in that way we had enough money to cover the next few days, pay the Russian embassy fine and we shopped the last few days after we got the emergency certificate :)

Our stolen bag with the passport and all the contents of the bag was given back to the embassy next day by a dump yard worker since they got hold of the bag. The consulate officer even sent back all our belongings through one of the colleague travelling to Chennai after a month. So we avoided going through the hassle of getting all our pan card, driving licences etc. again in Chennai :)

Things learnt and can be followed :

1. In case of emergency like lost or stolen passport , report to the police and get the FIR copy immediately

2. Reach out to the nearest Indian embassy for help. They would need the FIR copy to proceed forward. The emergency contact would be listed country wise in the website.

3. Always keep the passport, visa copies handy in mails or phone, Also keep some passport size photos when you travel.

4. Do not carry passport when sight seeing unless it’s necessary. It’s better to keep it safe in the room. Many countries accept driving licences as proof. You could even take the copy of the license (which I’ve done many times and they won’t mind it)

5. Do not carry all the money you have, plan how much is needed for the day and keep the rest locked up in the room or anywhere safe. Even if you need financial help, Indian embassy can help you with it.

6. If you think your credit card or debit card is stolen block it immediately. Many Indian banks allow it doing through their app which is easier ( I did mine the moment I know my wallet is also gone)

7. Most of the credit cards come with travel Insurance which you can claim it back if you had used it for purchasing air tickets

8. Worst case always buy travel is insurance which is cheaper (around 1000-1500) and will be useful in situations like this and you can claim back for the lost/stolen things

9. Install google translator it helped a lot in communicating with the local police and in a place where English was very sparsely spoken

10. This didn’t stop us from travelling again as we did a 2 week Egypt tour and also a short trip to Malaysia. One bad incident shouldn’t stop people from travelling. Take it as a lesson learnt and be positive!

One thing to note with emergency certificate is you cannot do international transit. You have to travel back to India from the place it was provided. In our case we had the flight from Moscow to Delhi. So it wasn’t an issue. If you have multiple transfers internationally you could ask for new passport which they could provide but I guess it might take couple of days.