Lost passport, Help!

[gato]

He's just the easily flustered sort. Lost his passport his first day in China, he thought he'd just replace it later and has been traveling all around the Northeast the last month and, for some reason, has settled in Yanji near the North Korean border, ready to stay for a year. The US embassy told him he needs to go back to Beijing, report the loss of his passport to the local PSB, and then apply for a new passport, but he's worried about the cost of staying in Beijing. He doesn't speak any Chinese and has been traveling with a Chinese-speaking friend who's been in China for a year, but it seems the friend doesn't want to go back to Beijing and they are a bit on the outs.

It seemed incredible that someone could be so cavalier about the traveling without a passport in a place like China, which why I made my initial comment. That apparently ticked him off, and he really went off the deep end after nomad's comment. No tough-love with this guy. I suppose if we were in his shoes, we'd be flustered, too, but hopefully we will never be in his shoes.

[nomad]

I'm sorry if the truth hurts, but travellling around China without your passports/doc., is in a sense lying. People may not have asked you for them, but they assumed that you had them on you, which you didn't.

You tell us that you lost your passport, what happens if that passport is used for illegal means later? You seem to be more concerned with your travelling than to get this cleared up.

My point was not meant to be rude, but to point out to you that this has become a serious matter for you. If you really want to do all the things that you said, then you need to do something now- you may have to go to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang, Chengdu... to get this sorted.

You make up a lot of excuses for why you did this or didn't do that, its always someone else's fault. What were you looking for, people to say that its alright that you lost your passport but continued to travel because, hey, I can't speak Chinese and my friend... .

Gato, if I were in his shoes, I'd have never gotten on a train and left Beijing w/o my passport or at least reported it.

PS, you're going to need tougher skin than this to survive in China.

I think the people that post here are real gentlemen/ladies- its a much nicer crowd than on most forums.

Thanks Roddy

[cdn_in_bj]

Did he lose his passport in a taxi? I thought I remember reading that he did, but it looks like he's deleted all of his posts. If so, I was going to suggest that he check the taxi # on the receipt and call up the taxi company. Oh, it's been a month since? I guess he probably didn't keep the receipt (if he got one in the first place). Look at me, now I'm the idiot talking to myself... grrrrrreeat

PS: If we're too 'unfriendly' for him, I suggest that he post to thatsbj.com. They are VERY FRIENDLY and EXTREMELY HELPFUL over there.

[Shadowdh]

Oh god I have soooo wanted to post many comments and thoughts on this matter but have refrained specifically because Roddy keeps a tight ship and this particular forum is not the place unlike perhaps another forum mentioned above... technically this little fella has been breaking the law since day one, and then not to have the sense to go immediately to the authorities to report a lost passport, this little guy then starts bagging out a few good suggestions he gets (I think there were one or two remarks made that would have aroused the ire of other forums). Good god if this little person had gone to thatsbj the flesh would have been torn from the bones in very short order... ah bless... so on a related note does anyone know why US tourists get a bad name???

[adrianlondon]

does anyone know why US tourists get a bad name???

off topic, but ... I think it's just cos they're louder than all the others. Yes, they can be arrogant and easily confused when things aren't the same as they are back in their own country, but I reckon tourists from anywhere can be like that. It's just that we hear the Americans whingeing the most, because they're the loudest ;)

[heifeng]

w/o having the patience to read thru the mess above hopefully I can provides some helpful information about lost passports.

Last time I was at the US embassy in BEIJING a girl who had her purse stolen was talking to the embassy about how to get a new passport. From the portion of the conversation that I could hear, 1) the embassy definitely needed the police report. 2) They also specifically asked her if she needed money (loan) and other such assistance since many hotels would require her passport to check in and she may not be able to exchange or withdraw mone without here wallet and any I.D.. They also mentioned something about an emergency passport which is only valid for a while (maybe it was a few months, maybe one year, I forgot) Anyway,the embassy is here to help citizens, so when in doubt perhaps those who find themselves in such a problem can just contact the embassy directly for such lost passport assistance.

[Prodigal Son]

I lost my passport a few weeks ago, finally got a new emergency passport yesterday from the US consulate in Chengdu. The process with the consulate wasn't that bad but the real pain was getting the zheng ming from the PSB. Every PSB I went to told me I had to go somewhere else. After 3 afternoons of running back and forth between the same PSBs one of the cops finally broke down and just gave it to me, I'm sure just because he was sick of me coming back every day. One in the consulate I paid 800yuan for the emergency passport, which is valid for one year. I went back to the PSB with the new passport this afternoon and filed for a new one month visa which they're processing now.

[Qcash3]

PS: If we're too 'unfriendly' for him, I suggest that he post to thatsbj.com. They are VERY FRIENDLY and EXTREMELY HELPFUL over there.

I've been in your shoes mate, I lost my passport when I first got to China after having a few drinks during a certain Chinese forums meet-up. The biggest piece of advice that I could have given you was, DON'T WAIT! The process is tedious, and can be a pain, but it is worth it. The family I was staying with took me to the PSB the next day to report the loss and get the 证明, and although we ended up going back and forth between PSB's in Wudaokou (why are there two?), we finally ended up getting it. The next step is easy, take your paperwork to the embassy and get an emergency passport. They can print one for you in an hour. I hope that you have already taken action on this matter, because if you let more time pass things will end up bad for you. What type of visa did you have? I am assuming that you had at least one month's validity. If your visa has expired, for how long has it been expired. Have you reported the loss yet? Unfortunately for you, a few years ago this might have been a relatively minor issue, but with the coming of the olympics the PSB is rounding up everyone with invalid visas. If you have let too much time pass, then I am afraid that the chances of you ending up in a 看守所 are high.

The PSB are very finicky about the length of time they will let you have an expired visa before they arrest you, alot of it depends on what country you are from. A friend of mine is an immigration officer at the Entry/Exit Bureau in Beijing, and he told me that they have arrested people for visas expired just one day. They don't list that along with the 500 kuai/day fine as a punishment for an expired visa, but it is. If you are American, you should call the embassy in Beijing and have them advise you as what you really need to do now. A Ms. Kim Steinberg (I think?) is the consular officer who will most likely handle your case. It is not often that Americans and Europeans are arrested for visa expiration, the 看守所 are mostly filled with African detainees, but it does happen. I don't know if it is supposed to be so, but the time served in a 看守所 differs depending on your nationality. Africans tend to spend around 45-65 days, while Americans and Europeans tend to spend around 14-30 days. During this time the PSB is supposed to "investigate" your case. Also, deportation usually comes accompanied by a five year ban on entering China, unless there are special circumstances.

I hope this information is helpful, and I hope that you act with all haste in resolving this matter.

[Qcash3]

You keep talking about having a 120 day visa, wanting to get an apartment in Yanji, staying a year etc... but you don't have a visa anymore. The minute you lost your passport, your visa is technically moot.

Technically, but if he had not reported the passport stolen then no one knows it is gone, and therefore he can get out of this mess without added complications. If someone has happened to exit the country using his passport, or done something illegal with it, then he is SOL. He is gonna have a hard time explaining that to the PSB.

There were, for anyone confused, 6 or 7 posts by enlight22 which he deleted. We were not, contrary to appearances, talking to ourselves.

I for one, thought you had gone off the deep end for a moment roddy.