When it comes to traveling, one of the most common fears is having your passport lost or stolen. Hopefully this stroke of bad luck never happens to you, but in the interest of being prepared, there are a few things you can do that will greatly assist you in proving your identity to the local embassy, and one of the best tools at your disposal is your smartphone. Here are 3 ways that your pocket computer can help you obtain a new passport:
Lets You Keep A Scanned Image Of Your Passport Identification
Page
When you’re traveling in a foreign country and you realize that your passport has been lost—or that some enterprising individual has removed it from your possession—the first thing you want to do is contact the local U.S. embassy and schedule an appointment to obtain a replacement. This appointment takes the form of an interview, during which the officer will informally gather information and ask questions about your life, ultimately proving that what you say about yourself is true.
One of the best documents to have is your passport identification page, which will have your name, photo, when you left the U.S., and more. So even though your physical passport is being passed from hand to hand in a foreign nation’s underworld, you can always keep a snapshot on your phone for easy reference. Your identification page definitely contains some sensitive info, so you’ll want to keep it in a secure location on your phone, but it’s an invaluable reference to have when you’re proving yourself to a U.S. embassy.
Keeps Travel Documents In
One Place For Easy Reference
Allows You To Easily Display Other Important Details Of Your
Life
In addition to providing thorough details of your trip, the embassy officer will conduct a general interview of your life, looking for any signs that you may be trying to commit fraud by obtaining someone else’s passport. Your smartphone can be an incredible help during this portion of the audit: the dozens of friends and family members in your contact list that will collaborate your story, photos from your home, job, and favorite restaurants that will prove you’ve spent time in your home city, and even the activity log from your wireless carrier that proves your phone was used where and when you say it was. All of these facts will lay the foundation for your interview and will eventually get you a new passport from the embassy.
If you’re planning on a lengthy trip abroad, it’s a good idea to make arrangements with someone at home to assist you in the event of your identification getting lost. But in addition to that failsafe, having your smartphone on hand will be an incredible help to you during the interview process.
Author bio:
John is a blogger who has thankfully never lost his
passport, although he has lost his smartphone while abroad. He writes for protectyourbubble.com,
an Internet insurer that provides the travel insurance needed to protect you on
your journey across the globe.
