What steps do I take to replace a lost passport in Korea without trouble with immigration?

Don't panic. Lost passport cases are routine here and the sequence is fixed. Take these steps in order.

Step 1: File a loss report (분실신고) at the nearest police station. Bring your alien registration card and any photo ID. The officer issues a 분실신고확인서, the loss report certificate, which the embassy and immigration will both ask for. The Yongsan, Jongno and Itaewon stations have foreign affairs officers who work in English. Outside office hours the 1330 tourism hotline can arrange phone interpretation.

Step 2: Contact your embassy or consulate to apply for an emergency travel document or a replacement passport. Most Seoul embassies are in Jongno, Yongsan, Hannam-dong and Gwanghwamun, and nearly all of them require an online appointment. Bring the police certificate, passport photos, and proof of citizenship such as a photocopy of the old passport, a driving licence or a birth certificate. Fees and processing times are set by your own government and change, so take them from your embassy's own page rather than from a guide: as a rule an emergency travel document for immediate departure is issued quickly and a full replacement passport takes longer.

Step 3: Report the new passport to Korean Immigration within 15 days. Under Article 35 of the Immigration Control Act, a change to your passport number, issue date or expiry date is a change to your alien registration particulars and must be reported within 15 days, with your new passport and your alien registration card. HiKorea lists a passport-change report as one of the matters handled without a visit appointment, and it also appears on the e-Minwon list, so check online first. The 1345 immigration contact centre can walk you through it in your language.

Step 4: Update everything else that holds your passport number. Your bank — Hana Bank, or whichever you use — generally needs an in-person visit. Tell your phone carrier (KT, SKT, LG U+). Travel insurance and any pending visa application need the new number. A Korean driving licence is tied to your alien registration, not your passport, so it is unaffected.

Key reminders: do not try to travel on the old passport even if it turns up later, because it will have been cancelled. Keep cloud copies of your passport, ARC and visa documents so a replacement is quick. Check the lost-and-found channels for the place you lost it, and the police lost property portal at lost112.go.kr. While you wait you cannot travel internationally, but you can move freely inside Korea on your alien registration card, and reporting promptly is what keeps this an administrative matter rather than a status problem.

Sources: 출입국관리법 제35조, 찾기쉬운 생활법령정보, 하이코리아.

Last verified: 2026-09-28