Lost or Stolen Maltese Passport Abroad: What to Do Next

What should you do first if your Maltese passport is lost or stolen abroad?

If your Maltese passport is lost or stolen while you are abroad, the first steps are to contact the nearest Maltese embassy, high commission or consulate, which advises on travel documents, and to start gathering what Identità requires for a replacement: Form A, a recommender's confirmation and an original police report issued in Malta.

Losing a passport far from home is stressful, and the order in which you act matters more than speed. Every Maltese passport, including a replacement, is decided and printed by the Passport Office of Identità in Malta, whether the application is made at the counter in Marsa or at a mission abroad. A passport cannot be replaced online, because your photograph, fingerprints and signature must be captured in person each time.

A sequence that works for most people:

1. Contact the nearest Maltese mission. Explain where and when the passport was lost, whether it was still valid, and when you need to travel. The mission advises on the travel documents available to you while a replacement is arranged.
2. Write down what happened while it is fresh. Note the date, the place and the circumstances, and the passport number if you kept a record of it. You will need consistent details for the forms.
3. Raise the police report at your first contact. Identità requires an original police report issued in Malta and does not accept foreign police reports. Ask the mission how the requirement applies to your case before you book anything else.
4. Identify a recommender. Section 7 of Form A must be completed by a recommender for every lost or stolen passport, and the recommender must meet strict criteria.
5. Book the biometrics appointment. Once the file is complete, attend the mission in person to have your photograph, fingerprints and signature taken.

Will Identità accept a police report from the country where the passport was lost?

Identità does not accept a police report issued outside Malta for a lost or stolen Maltese passport: the published requirement is an original police report issued in Malta, submitted with Form A, so a report from the police in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada or any other country will not satisfy it.

This is the rule that surprises most Maltese citizens abroad, and it is the one most likely to delay a replacement. A local report may still be useful for your own purposes, for example an insurance claim, but it does not take the place of the Maltese report in the passport file. The requirement applies whenever a passport is reported lost or stolen, for adults and children alike.

Because the rule is strict and the official sources do not set out a separate route for citizens abroad, the sensible approach is to ask the mission at your first contact how you can meet it from where you are, and to plan around that answer. Discovering the gap at the appointment usually means a second appointment, and at a busy mission in peak season that can cost weeks.

How much does it cost to replace a lost or stolen Maltese passport?

Replacing a lost or stolen Maltese passport costs the normal fee for the holder's age band, which for an adult is €70 from September to March or €80 from April to August, plus a €15 supplement for the oath you swear about the loss when the passport was still valid at the time it was lost.

These are Identità's government fees, published on its adult passport page and read on 13 October 2026. Applications made through an embassy, high commission or consulate add a mission processing fee and courier charges set by each mission, and some missions charge in local currency, so the total you pay abroad is higher than the figures in the table. Mirabello's service fee is always separate and confirmed per case.

Two details are worth knowing before you budget. The adult fee follows the season: €70 from September to March and €80 from April to August, the peak travel period. And the urgent fee of €160 for an adult buys a 4 working hour turnaround only for applications made in Malta; from abroad you can ask the mission to treat an application as urgent and the urgent fee applies, but no 4-hour timeframe is offered. In Malta, fees can be paid in cash, by card or by cheque, although cheques are not accepted for urgent applications or for amounts under €20. Our guide to Maltese passport fees in 2026 sets out every fee in one place.

How do you apply for a replacement Maltese passport through a mission?

A replacement Maltese passport applied for abroad goes through the nearest Maltese embassy, high commission or consulate, where you attend in person for biometrics with Form A, including sections 7 and 8, your identity documents and the original Maltese police report, before the mission sends the complete file to the Passport Office in Malta.

The documents for a lost or stolen passport

• Form A, the passport application, with section 7 completed by a recommender. Applications made abroad also complete section 8.
• An original police report issued in Malta. Foreign police reports are not accepted.
• Your original valid Maltese ID card with a copy of both sides, if you hold one. Without a valid Maltese ID card, one photograph must be endorsed by a recommender.
• Photographs that meet Identità's rules: white background, eyes open, lips closed and no headwear.
• The fee for your age band, the €15 supplement where the lost passport was still valid, and the mission's own fee and courier charges.

Who can act as your recommender

For an adult, the recommender must be a Maltese national with a university degree who has known you for at least two years. The recommender confirms your identity on Form A and, where needed, endorses your photograph. Finding a qualifying recommender is a common obstacle for people who have lived abroad for many years, and after a loss it is often the slowest part of the file to arrange, so it is worth solving before you book the appointment.

What happens after the appointment

The mission sends your application to the Passport Office in Malta, where the replacement is decided and printed. The new passport is returned to you by courier, or it can be held for collection in Malta if you tell the mission that you will be there. For the full picture of applying from outside Malta, our guide to renewing a Maltese passport from abroad walks through the mission process step by step, and our Maltese passport renewal service page explains how we prepare the file.

If your passport has gone missing and you want the replacement file right the first time, Mirabello Consultancy can check your documents, your recommender and your police report position before you attend the mission. Book a free consultation and we will tell you exactly what your case needs.

Can you travel without your Maltese passport while a replacement is prepared?

Whether you can travel before a replacement Maltese passport reaches you depends on the travel documents available in your situation, and the nearest Maltese embassy, high commission or consulate is the place that advises Maltese citizens abroad on those documents while the replacement passport is prepared in Malta and sent back.

We do not set out a procedure or a fee for this step, because the official sources we rely on do not publish one for citizens abroad, and arrangements can depend on your circumstances and your destination. Contact the mission before you rebook flights, explain your travel dates, and ask what it can issue and what it needs from you. Keep any confirmation it gives you in writing.

Three practical points help. Keep your Maltese ID card safe if you hold one, because the replacement application asks for the original card with a copy of both sides. Do not plan around the urgent service unless you will be in Malta, because its 4 working hour timeframe applies only to applications made there. And if you are travelling with children, check every family member's documents at the same time, since the child consent rules below take longer to arrange than an adult's file.

What changes when the lost Maltese passport belongs to a child?

A lost or stolen passport belonging to a Maltese child is replaced under the same rules as an adult's, with the €15 supplement where it was still valid and an original Maltese police report, plus the requirements that apply to every child's passport: both parents' consent, a recommender who qualifies for a minor and, from age 6, the child's attendance.

Both parents must sign section 6 of Form A in front of the recommender, with original ink signatures; scanned or electronic signatures are refused. If one parent is in another country, that parent signs Consent Form I at a Maltese mission, which sends it to the Passport Office. Children under 6 do not attend the appointment; from age 6 they attend for facial biometrics, and abroad a minor attends with a parent or guardian. Children aged 0 to 5 need two photographs, one of which the recommender endorses as a true image of the child.

The recommender for a child may be a Maltese, EU or Commonwealth national living in Malta with a university degree who has known the child for at least two years. The fees are €40 for a child aged 10 to 15 and €16 for a child under 10, plus the €15 supplement where the lost passport was still valid. Our guide to a Maltese passport for a child in 2026 covers consent, photographs and attendance in detail.

How long does a replacement take when you apply from abroad?

No official processing time is published for a replacement Maltese passport applied for through an embassy, high commission or consulate, because the application travels to the Passport Office in Malta and the new passport travels back, whereas an application made in Malta is ready in 4 working days, or in 4 working hours through the urgent service.

Three factors make applications from abroad slower than replacements in Malta. Appointments at busy missions can be booked out for several weeks in peak season. The file must travel to Malta and the passport must travel back by courier. And an application can be held while your Maltese nationality is confirmed if your records in Malta are incomplete, which can happen where citizenship rests on descent and the family's records in Malta are thin. Plan for several weeks at least, and do not book non-refundable travel around an assumed date.

A lost passport can also hold up other family applications. If your husband or wife is preparing a Form B application for Maltese citizenship by marriage, the passports, identity cards or residence cards of both spouses are among the documents Aġenzija Komunità Malta asks for, so replacing the Maltese spouse's passport early keeps that file moving.

How can Maltese citizens abroad reduce the impact of a lost passport?

Maltese citizens abroad can reduce the impact of a lost or stolen passport by keeping a private record of the passport details, holding a valid Maltese ID card, identifying a qualifying recommender in advance and knowing which Maltese mission serves the place where they live or travel, so that a replacement file can be assembled without delay.

• Keep a record of the passport. A private copy of the data page, stored separately from the passport, makes the forms easier and the details consistent.
• Keep your Maltese ID card valid. Without one, the mission asks for a photograph endorsed by a recommender, which adds a step at the worst moment.
• Know your recommender. A Maltese national with a university degree who has known you for at least two years is not always easy to find abroad; knowing who you would ask saves time.
• Register the family's records in Malta. Applications are held while nationality is confirmed when records are thin. If your children were born abroad and their births were never registered, our page on newborn registration and the first passport explains the steps, and our guide to registering a baby born abroad to a Maltese parent goes into more detail.
• Renew before you travel. An adult passport is valid for 10 years and a passport for a child aged 10 to 15 for 5 years; checking the dates before a long trip avoids a renewal and a replacement in the same season.

How Mirabello Consultancy helps with a lost or stolen passport

Mirabello Consultancy helps Maltese citizens abroad replace a lost or stolen passport by checking the file before the appointment, preparing Form A, confirming the recommender and any consent signatures for children, booking the mission appointment and following the application through to collection, working remotely from our offices in Zurich, Dubai and Hong Kong SAR.

You can apply for a replacement yourself, and many people do. Our role is to remove the friction at a stressful moment: we confirm which fees and supplements apply, make sure the police report requirement is addressed before you attend, and check every signature and photograph so the file is not returned. Every decision rests with Identità; no third party can speed up or influence it, and the only official urgent service is the 4 working hour service for applications made in Malta.

Government fees are always paid at cost and shown separately from Mirabello's service fee, which we confirm per case after a free consultation. All of our services for Maltese families, from passports to registering a child and citizenship by marriage, are brought together on our Maltese citizen services page.