A lot of you emailed me about my annoying lost passport situation I wrote about last week so I wanted to post an update. I reported my passport lost last Wednesday because I couldn’t afford to wait for UPS to hopefully find it because I needed a visa ASAP for Suriname. I did expedite my new passport. Literally as I was going to pick up my new passport at It’s easy, I got a call from UPS saying they miraculously found my passport and were going to deliver it to the Consulate in Miami. Of course I had already cancelled it so it is not even valid anymore.
Additionally, it was after 2pm on Friday when I got this news and it has already been delivered so the Suriname Consulate was already closed and I couldn’t get in touch with them. The problem is if they had received it and issued a visa to me in a passport that wasn’t valid: 1. I couldn’t use it anyway; 2. I would lose the $116 money order that I had already reported as lost; 3. When they received my replacement passport and application, they might reject it as a possible fake or fraud because they would’ve received two separate passports in 2 days for the same person. All of these things were not good for me.
So first thing this morning, I called down to them and reported what happened and they “almost kind of” understood and said they wouldn’t issue the visa and would return the passport on my dime of course and not on UPS’s. They also couldn’t understand why I sent the new passport to the Embassy in Washington DC this time instead of to them. I basically said that I used FEDEX this time and am using the other alternative because nothing good came from the Consulate in Miami. Hopefully, my luck will be better with the Embassy and I do actually get it back before the end of the week.
The bottom line in this mess for me is that I will never use UPS ever again and will receive no compensation from them. As they told me, “We didn’t lose it” as they did find it-2 WEEKS LATER after a whole lotta stress on my part. They ended up costing me at least $500 plus the extreme irritation and annoyance of having to go through the beaurocratic red tape in getting a new passport and visas. At least I will hopefully get my old passport back with all my other stamps and visas but maybe next time I will just drive my visa application to Washington instead of sending it through the mail.
Thats great, at least you are getting the old passport back
Guess we shouldn’t be looking for a UPS.com uner yours “Useful Travel Links”?
No, UPS will not be recommended by me-EVER
I had a similar experience! I was approved for a Visa to the UK and somewhere between the British Consulate and UPS, they lost my passport and my partner’s passport. We just reapplied for new passports and then have to send my passport back to the British Consulate in NY to get another Visa. UPS says there is an “investigation” going on and to date I have not been reimbursed for the passports that still have not shown up. It shouldn’t be this complicated, you’d think. I hope everything worked out for you!!
Thanks Jess, I eventually got my passport back but only after I had to cancel it as UPS advised me because they said generally they don’t find these things as an investigation goes on. So I did cancel and eventually they did find it. Unfortunately, I had cancelled it and had to rush to get my new passport so I could get my Suriname visa in time. It ended up costing me about 500$ after all was said and done and the annoyance and stress factor was huge. I will not be using UPS ever again and they would not reimburse me for anything because as they said-they found what they lost-just a little too late for me.
lucky for me i can wait. my delay will only cost me 1300, a day, to miss some work but i did not want to rush off into a war zone anyway..happy to read you got your affairs in order…and without dealing with DUMB to make it happen…FED EX—FED EX—FED EX….