Lost or stolen passport, ID card or permit card in Switzerland

Last checked: 8 October 2026. Unofficial student guide, not EPFL or government advice: confirm on the linked official pages before you act. Unfamiliar abbreviation? See the Glossary.

Orientation for students and newcomers near EPFL / Lausanne. This is not legal or immigration advice; your embassy, the police and the Vaud Population Service (SPOP) have the final word on your case.

The short version

1. Report it to a Swiss police station (loss) or file a complaint (theft). You get a written loss or theft declaration (déclaration de perte / avis de perte ou de vol). Almost every replacement step asks for it.
2. Foreign passport or ID: contact your own country's embassy or consulate in Switzerland for a replacement or an emergency travel document.
3. Swiss passport or ID card: take the police declaration to the cantonal passport office (in Vaud, the Centre de biométrie in Lausanne) or, for an ID card only outside Lausanne, to your commune.
4. Swiss permit card (B, L, C, G...) lost too: after the police report, ask for a duplicate through your commune / SPOP.
5. Do not use the old document again if you find it. Once reported, it is cancelled and its number is circulated for national and international searches.

Sources: fedpol, Lost documents · SEM, What to do if you have lost your travel document (PDF)

Step 1: police report (loss) or complaint (theft)

The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) says to immediately report any loss, theft or destruction of a travel document to the police of the place where you are staying. The police issue a confirmation of loss. Once that confirmation exists, the lost document is invalid and must not be used again, even if it turns up.

Before you go: the loss or theft form asks for the document number, date of issue and issuing authority (Police Lavaux). Police Ouest lausannois tells holders of a foreign passport or ID card to contact their embassy first to get the number and issue date. For a lost permit card, Police Lavaux says to ask your commune's population office for the permit number and issue date.

Where (EPFL area):

Counter hours of the Renens and Ecublens posts (Police Ouest lausannois contact page, 8 October 2026): Monday 09:00 to 11:30 and 13:30 to 18:30; Tuesday to Thursday 08:00 to 11:30 and 13:30 to 16:30; Friday 08:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 16:30. Hours can change, so check the page before you go.

If it was stolen: Lausanne asks you to file a criminal complaint (plainte pénale) at a police counter (Flon, La Sallaz or Ouchy posts if other items were stolen too; the Hôtel de police if only ID documents were stolen). Lausanne states that theft of an identity document cannot be reported through e-plainte (the online complaint form).

How to file a complaint (where to go, what to bring, deadlines): see Police report and criminal complaint.

Sources: Ville de Lausanne, Déclaration de perte ou de vol de documents d'identité (page updated 7 Jan 2026) · Police Ouest lausannois, Perte de document · Police Ouest lausannois, Contact · Police Lavaux, Document d'identité

Living elsewhere in Vaud? Report it as soon as possible at the nearest police station (Police Lavaux gives the same advice). In an emergency, call 117.

Step 2a: foreign passport or national ID (most international students)

SEM: foreigners should immediately report the loss of a travel document to the diplomatic or consular representation of their home country, which as a rule issues a replacement travel document.

• Find your embassy or consulate in Switzerland: the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) links the addresses of foreign representations in Switzerland. SEM's own example is a Canadian citizen contacting the Canadian embassy in Bern. Check which office (embassy or consulate) covers residents of Vaud.
• Ask what they can issue and how long it takes (for example a new passport or an emergency travel document). The type of document, the papers they need and the price are set by your country, not by Switzerland. To verify on your embassy's own website: fees and processing times differ by nationality.
• EU/EFTA citizens: SEM says EU/EFTA citizens without a valid travel document are admitted to Switzerland if they can prove their citizenship (for example with a photocopy or an expired document), but it recommends applying for a new document as soon as possible and warns that airlines may refuse passengers without a valid one.

If you hold a visa (third-country nationals)

SEM adds: once you have your replacement travel document, nationals subject to Swiss or Schengen visa requirements should immediately contact the migration authority where they are staying to get a replacement visa. In Vaud that is the Service de la population (SPOP), Division étrangers, which has its visa counters at Avenue de Beaulieu 19, Lausanne. If your visa was issued by another Schengen country, SEM recommends contacting that country's representation in Switzerland.

Sources: SEM, Lost travel document (PDF, July 2018) · SEM, FAQ Entry (travel documents, Q1.6) · FDFA, Foreign representations in Switzerland · État de Vaud, Visa de retour

Once you have the new passport

You will need a valid passport for any return visa (see Step 3) and at your next permit renewal. To verify: whether your commune's residents' office (Contrôle des habitants / bureau des étrangers) wants to see the new passport before then (a visit, an email copy, or nothing until the renewal). The official Vaud and commune pages checked for this guide (8 October 2026) do not describe a separate "new passport" step for foreign residents; Ecublens, for example, lists civil status changes and births as declarations to make, not a new passport. If in doubt, ask your commune.

Foreign civil-status documents for a Vaud office (apostille, legalisation, translations): see Getting documents accepted: apostille, legalisation and translations.

Not lost, just renewing or registering with your consulate? See Registering with your own embassy or consulate.

Step 2b: Swiss passport or Swiss ID card

fedpol: in Switzerland, report the loss at a Swiss police station, then present the loss report to your cantonal passport office and apply for a new document. If you lose it abroad, report it to the local police and the Swiss embassy or consulate there; if you do not replace it abroad, report it to the police in Switzerland once you are back.

In Vaud (Swiss citizens living in the canton):

• Passport, passport + ID card, or ID card only if you live in Lausanne: book an appointment online and go to the Centre de biométrie, Voie du Chariot 3 (Flon), 1014 Lausanne (appointments only, Monday to Saturday 07:30 to 16:30). Bring identity proof and the old document or the police loss/theft declaration. The photo is taken there.
• ID card only, and you live outside Lausanne: go to your commune's Contrôle des habitants with a passport photo and the required documents (Ecublens, for example, charges CHF 70 for an adult card, postage included).
• Delivery: by registered post within 10 working days at most in Switzerland after approval (and biometric capture for passports).
• Emergency: Vaud states a provisional passport can be issued the same day on site in urgent cases.

Vaud prices (adult): ID card CHF 65 + CHF 5 postage · passport CHF 140 + CHF 5 postage · combined passport + ID CHF 148 + CHF 10 postage · provisional passport CHF 100 (at the airport: min. CHF 150). Under 18: ID CHF 30, passport CHF 60, combined CHF 68 (plus the same postage). Payment is made on the day of your appointment.

If you find the old Swiss document later: it stays invalid. ch.ch says to hand it in to the cantonal passport office.

Sources: fedpol, Lost documents · ch.ch, Pass oder Identitätskarte verloren oder gestohlen (DE) · État de Vaud, Demander un passeport et/ou une carte d'identité suisse · État de Vaud, Documents d'identité (Centre de biométrie hours) · Ecublens, Carte d'identité et passeport

Swiss citizens abroad can reach the FDFA Helpline (365 days a year, around the clock): +41 800 24-7-365 or +41 58 465 33 33, helpline@eda.admin.ch (FDFA).

Step 3: if your Swiss permit card was in the same wallet

A residence permit card (B, L, C, G...) is a separate document with a separate duplicate procedure:

1. Declare the loss or theft at a Swiss police station (fee above: CHF 50 in Lausanne and Ouest lausannois).
2. Ask for a duplicate (duplicata). Start at your commune's residents' office; the canton's Service de la population (SPOP) is the authority for residence permits. Example of an official commune page: Nyon asks you to come to the Contrôle des habitants with the Swiss police loss/theft notice and your passport or ID card, lists fees of CHF 35 to CHF 67 depending on the permit type, and says the duplicate is posted to you within up to 1 month. Nyon also says a Swiss police declaration is mandatory even if the loss happened abroad.
3. To verify the exact counter, form and fee for your own commune (Lausanne, Ecublens, Renens, Chavannes, St-Sulpice...). Their websites do not show a duplicate fee (8 October 2026); Renens's fee rules refer to the cantonal regulation on fees for foreign nationals. Ask your residents' office.

Cross-border G permit holders in Vaud send form G2 to SPOP with the Swiss police notice, online or on paper (paper form: tick "duplicata: perte/vol") (État de Vaud page below).

Travelling while the card is missing: Vaud's return visa page explicitly covers L, B and C holders from non-EU/EFTA countries who do not physically have their permit, including after loss or theft. You ask at the SPOP Division étrangers counters (Avenue de Beaulieu 19, Lausanne) with a valid passport and a passport photo less than 6 months old; the fee is CHF 85 from age 12, and if all conditions are met the visa is issued at the counter. EU/EFTA nationals (and nationals of the few other countries listed on the page) do not need a return visa. So if you also lost your passport, get the replacement passport first. Details and the full exemption list: Leaving Switzerland before your permit card arrives. Read it before you book a trip.

Lost abroad? If the card is lost while you are abroad, contact the Swiss embassy or consulate where you are and SPOP before you travel back (SEM says questions about return visas go to the cantonal migration authority). For the duplicate you still need a Swiss police declaration (see the Nyon example above). To verify: the exact return-visa steps from abroad for your nationality, with that Swiss embassy or consulate.

Sources: Ville de Nyon, Demander un duplicata de son permis suite à une perte ou un vol · Ville de Lausanne, Titres de séjour · État de Vaud, Autorisations frontalières sur carte (G permit loss) · État de Vaud, Visa de retour · SEM, Contact (travel documents and return visas)

Lost on a train, a tl bus or in a station?

SBB Lost & Found handles items found on trains and on partner networks including tl. Found foreign passports and ID cards are sent to the relevant embassy or consulate, not posted abroad to you. See SBB lost property and parking. Even if you hope it will be found, file the police declaration if you need to travel or replace the document.

Lost something else in town (wallet, keys, phone)? Commune and police lost property: see Lost property in Vaud: commune and police.

Prevention checklist (5 minutes, today)

• Photo or copy of your passport data page, visa page and permit card (both sides), stored separately from the originals. fedpol and Police Lavaux both recommend a copy of the personal data page so you can give the document number.
• Note your embassy or consulate address and phone number for Switzerland.
• Keep the passport at home on normal days if you have another ID that the place you are going accepts.
• Before a trip home, check the expiry date of your passport and permit card (B permit renewal).

Leaving Switzerland for good with a replacement document?

If you are ending your stay, see the commune departure steps in Leaving / deregister and Permit & commune, and bring your current passport or replacement travel document to the counter.